Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Should all universities interview?

I understand that universities get thousands of applicants every year so to interview everyone individually would be timely/costly. However, I think it would shorten the list as I wouldn't go to 5 interviews around the country I would go to my top 3. So the university that I'd reject for an interview could offer my spot to someone else who really wants it.

2. Some people lie on their PS left, right and centre. A good friend of mine lied about working with disabled kids, work placement and working with children at a riding school. She also said that she worked with deaf and blind kids so any interviewer would be able to tell that she didn't do it with a simple 'How do you communicate?' etc.

3. I know a few people going to university who their parents wrote their PS and done all their coursework throughout school. I don't want to sound like a snob or come across like i'm better than some people but some people aren't cut out for university. One lad in my year is going to university to study business management and he can't organise himself let alone a team. In Barcelona he thought that candles were edible, generally laughed at and can't put together a FB status let alone a uni essay.

I've noticed a few 'people shouldn't go to university who don't get AAB' or 'Universities under the top 40 should close so they'll stop devaluing degrees'. I know a few people who are going to university to party and not bother about their course. They've told me that they'll quite after freshers if they don't like it.

Peoples' thoughts?

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Reply 1

Annuhlees

I thought I would have a debate going on :/

Reply 2

Origami Bullets

I started a thread yesterday too and thought I'd get some healthy debate, but alas, nothing

Unfortunately it simply isn't practical to interview everyone, both in terms of
- time - Oxbridge & medical schools only manage it because they start three months earlier
- resources - how many staff would be needed to interview candidates? And they would need to be at least PhD students so as to be able to hold a decent conversation on the subject and trap out nonsense

In addition, from a widening participation perspective
- many kids can't afford the train fare to attend interviews, and universities won't want to have to fund that many train fares
- kids from private schools tend to come over better at interview than those from state schools, at least in part because they will have been coached by their school. Many state schools can't organise themselves with regards to uni admissions as it is, so interview technique would just exacerbate the problem.

Reply 3

KingMessi

Well - I do believe that the application process for university should be as competitive as possible, and as fair as possible, and obviously interviews augment both the competitiveness and, when conducted with equanimity, the fairness of the applications process - but to interview all candidates is implausible unless every university were to filter out candidates prior to interview. For some of the hugely popular universities like Manchester, even the filter wouldn't necessarily make interviewing plausible.

Reply 4

Joinedup

Yeah I do wonder if unis have gone into full bums on seats, sausage factory mode rather than carefully rationing what's supposed to be a valuable resource. Can't see how you'd force an interview to be taken entirely seriously though, Compulsory interview alone wouldn't do anything to change the calibre of applicants to each university and interviewers would take as many of the people they expected to do well as they could, then fill up with suspected wasters if necessary.

Reply 5

SillyEddy

How does it work for international students? Are they expected to attend interviews, or do they have some other method of communication?

I doubt there would be enough time to interview everyone. Perhaps if applicants started one year after receiving their grades then it might give more time to get people in to speak with them, but that's probably not a popular idea for most (and indeed could lead to many forgetting the basics. A summer is long enough to forget just about everything from one year to the next).

Reply 6

TenOfThem

Original post by Annuhlees

I attended all 5 interviews when I applied to university so you assertion here may be unrealistic

Therefore they would have to assume that everyone they invited would come and be an unrealistic option

2. Some people lie on their PS left, right and centre. A good friend of mine lied about working with disabled kids, work placement and working with children at a riding school. She also said that she worked with deaf and blind kids so any interviewer would be able to tell that she didn't do it with a simple 'How do you communicate?' etc.

So you are talking about an interview that does not relate to a person's ability or interest in the subject but a check on the PS ... I am sure there are easier ways of doing this ... your example here could be easily exposed if the application process required verification

3. I know a few people going to university who their parents wrote their PS and done all their coursework throughout school. I don't want to sound like a snob or come across like i'm better than some people but some people aren't cut out for university. One lad in my year is going to university to study business management and he can't organise himself let alone a team. In Barcelona he thought that candles were edible, generally laughed at and can't put together a FB status let alone a uni essay.

This has always been the case ... hence the drop-out rate at every university

I've noticed a few 'people shouldn't go to university who don't get AAB' or 'Universities under the top 40 should close so they'll stop devaluing degrees'. I know a few people who are going to university to party and not bother about their course. They've told me that they'll quite (sic)after freshers if they don't like it.
Peoples' thoughts?

I assume these people would lie at interview so I am not sure how an interview would affect this

Reply 7

pandabird

No. Because I think the advantage would then be to private school individuals, who may be no more capable, but more eloquent and confident. They may also have more practice training in interviewing.

i do see your point though.

Reply 8

1234sam1234

Hell No.
I would have literally got no offers at all if they did.

Reply 9

Vicodin

It would take them FOREVER to get through everyone. However, i'm glad that mine were interiews cause it gave me a chance to get to all the uni's have a look around the city etc. which helped with my final decision. Also, the lecturers who i met on the day was kind of my deciding factor as at some unis they were really kind/enthusiastic about their subject and wanted you to get all the info you needed. In some uni's they were... not as enthusiastic or friendly.

I know some people who have conditional offers and haven't visited any of their unis! But yeah it was be rather complicated to get every single person to an interview at every single uni. I do think the right courses have to have an interview like medicine, nursing, social work etc.

Reply 10

nexttime

I agree that the PS is a complete joke OP. As my tutor says, its merely a test of the english language skills of the child's teachers and parents. If you get a bad PS, that's probably because its one of the few completely genuine ones out there!

Original post by Origami Bullets

Unfortunately it simply isn't practical to interview everyone, both in terms of
- time - Oxbridge & medical schools only manage it because they start three months earlier

Oxbridge don't start 3 months earlier because they need more time. In fact, they conduct all interviews in a single 2 week period. Its purely for tradition.

Besides, if unis were serious about admissions, we could just have everyone apply in October. The problem is though, that unis below the very top just don't see a proper admissions process as worth the money.

In addition, from a widening participation perspective
- many kids can't afford the train fare to attend interviews, and universities won't want to have to fund that many train fares

Skype interviews?

- kids from private schools tend to come over better at interview than those from state schools, at least in part because they will have been coached by their school. Many state schools can't organise themselves with regards to uni admissions as it is, so interview technique would just exacerbate the problem.

That would definitely be a problem, but would it be worse than it currently is? Interviews at least give you a decent snapshot of the actual person - with the PS as it currently stands you're lucky if the parents didn't just write the whole thing.

At the end of the day, i do think that the PS should be scrapped. Replaced by a purely factual questionnaire about work experience or something. However, its going to be very difficult to convince unis that conducting interviews is worth it. Admissions tests or sending in work samples are possibilities, but again, why would a cash-strapped middle-grade uni bother?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

master y

I agree, and interviews can now be done over skype or whatever, so there is no added cost for travel.

Reply 12

Namige

For those in the top 10, they should definitely all interview, especially for the courses that require AAA or higher.

Reply 13

carpe diem 123

Original post by Annuhlees

I wouldn't go to 5 interviews around the country I would go to my top 3.

Is this because you couldn't afford to? For the sake of a few hundred quid and a couple of extra days off college, is surely seems sensible to go to all your interviews. After all, surely, given you are going to be spending the next three years of your life at a university, you want as wide a choice as possible.

Reply 14

Vibenation

I only had 1 interview,even that shown if I had real interest on the degree that I wanted to study.

The government plans of widening participation for higher education by 50% is very unbalanced. Many people prefer working and learning through experience but since majority goes university. There have little choice but to go through the university route. Its tough but you gotta look out for yourself in this recession.

Reply 15

Elle_95

I think for courses which require both high grades and people skills - medicine in particular everyone should have an interview. Someone may have straight As or A*s but if you can't communicate then it's not much use. I think it would really help to filter applicants

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Reply 16

KayleighG

I would haven't got a place if I was interviewed even though I'm so hardworking and I deserve a place :frown:

Reply 17

Student-95

Wouldn't be practical.

Reply 18

evantej

Most courses where it actually matters interview anyway so this is a fairly redundant issue (e.g. healthcare and teaching).

Skype is not a useful way to interview for a number of reasons. For the types of courses above, the actual interview is only one part of the day (e.g. presentation, listening and writing tests, and group tasks). In addition, you are putting up additional financial and technological barriers up to applicants.

Another way to get around your problem would be to remove choice altogether. You get allocated to your local university for your undergraduate education. For postgraduate education, you can go where ever is most suitable given your research interests. I know lots of academics like this idea because it would reduce student numbers and give them more time to research. It is partly how it works in the US, where people can transfer between different colleges towards the end of their degree. This would eliminate the whole social reason for going to university for many as it really becomes about the study.