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Are open days/interviews essential ?

Hello,
I'm applying for unis now but unable to get to visit them.
So, is it essential that I go to these open days or not ? More importantly, if they call me in for a interview and I cannot attend, is that my application f#ck3d ?
Thank you.
(edited 2 years ago)
I would have thought that if you are going to be studying at a university for 3+ years you would want to see the town/ campus where you will be studying?
Maybe see if any of the universities that you're interested in, do online 'virtual' tours? Hope everything works out for you :-)
Open days are to help you deide if you like the course and place. If you really dont know then you are making a blund guess for something you intend to spend tens of thousands of £ on and spend 3 + years at. If you are unsure then it is very helpful for some people as they soon see they like it or they do not.

Use the coach or megabus. Some unis do give travel expenses, but I think its very very rare. If you are poor then see if the local authority or your school have any available funds.

Interviews are a different matter. If you say you cnat attend, then they may or may not give you an offer, i'd say it was much less likely. You cna find out which of your uni's does them. If requested for an interview I woyld make every effort to go.
some universities will offer you travel expenses to attend open days/interviews, I don't think all do thought and I'm not sure if you'd have to prove you come from a low income family or anything - but I do know a couple of people who got train fare paid for to visit the university

surely your dad would take you to an interview/help you with train fare? given it would be a lot more important

as far as how important visiting is... in my opinion it's really not the most important thing, you will be given a tour of the nicer parts of the university, get a talk from your department which is essentially a sales pitch (usually by the most charismatic teachers!) and see a little bit about extra curriculars (which you can get online) - it's not really possible to get a good view on what the place would be like to live in or what your actual lectures will be like (I had a talk from a woman who was really impressive but taught one module over three years), any important questions you have you can ask elsewhere and tbh how many specific questions or requirements do you have about the location etc? You can decide for yourself if you want a city/campus and so on without seeing the city itself
1. I really do recommend going to open days for options you'd realistically be interested in because there's only so much you can learn from how the course looks like on paper. For instance, in my case Southampton's course looked awesome from the website but I really didn't like it when I visited it, whereas UCL's course looked less interesting but I really loved it when I went.

2. If you can't attend an interview then it's very unlikely you'd get an offer, but if there are financial issues then I'd recommend contacting them first (or potentially your school as well) because they may have funds available for that.
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tg1998
10
If you get called to interview you will have to go.

With regards to open days you don't have to go, but could be helpful. Frankly unless you are applying to a rubbish uni, it won't be bad. You can find out everything from crime statistics to appearance of buildings to course details online so not the end of the world if you can't go. I'm applying to Southampton and York and never been! Also unis often offer 'virtual guided tours'.

Can't you go to uni with friends in their cars?

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