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University Interviews

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Well, everyone is interviewed for Oxbridge, nearly everyone for medicine/dentistry/vetsci (I think). Other than that, it seems to be individual uni/course policy. According to a friend (who applied for Biology), most of them are a friendly chat with a tour of the uni; it's definitely not as rigorous as the Oxbridge interviews and most gave her an offer on the spot.

Reply 2

bex_26797

14

ambiguous

Oxbridge obviously do interviews, but I have heard that some other universities may invite you for an interview. Any ideas why some universities will interview, and those that do, why would they ask you for an interview? Because they are unsure whether to make you an offer.....?

Replies much appreciated.

If it is a competitive university it needs to view candidates and see if they are suitable for the position. Additionally most teaching training courses require an interview!

Reply 3

mtbab

17

courses that involve you to be in contact with the public with generally interview, eg Nursing, Social Work etc etc. a few law places interview for a number of reason eg Kent will interview some people who they think applied to oxbridge to give them a lower offer to make them put Kent as their insurance

Reply 4

kellywood_5

17

Apart from Oxbridge and certain courses such as medicine, teaching and social work, the majority of unis and courses don't interview, but for those that do, there could be many different reasons. Some only interview candidates with non traditional qualifications, such as mature students. Some might interview borderline candidates who they're not sure about. Some might interview in order to give you a lower offer if they like you. As Excalibur said, they're usually just a chance for you and the staff to get to know each other a bit and for you to find out more about the uni, rather than a formal and rigorous academic interview like the Oxbridge ones.

Reply 5

WokSz

17

Imperial is renowned to interview a great deal of candidates, especially for Physics and Chemistry.

UCL interviews mature law candidates.

Reply 6

The West Wing

18

UCL interview for most subjects don't they?

Reply 7

WokSz

17

No idea. I know they do for Law (mature only) and Medicine.

Reply 8

prestidigitator

Out of the six Universities I applied for, 5 wanted an interview - this was unconditional and if I did not attend they considered this to be a withdrawal of application.

That being said, the interviews were easy and painless - generally lasting about 15 minutes with the interviewer telling me whether my application would be considered or simply saying 'goodbye' or 'it was nice meeting you'. (meaning I wasn't good enough :frown:

without actually saying it)

However, some people who were interviewed before me took up to half and hour, yet at the end of my interview, which was definately shorter than 5, I was told I had a conditional offer. Lesson learnt? Keep it short and sweet and don't ramble!

Reply 9

arguendo

14

my limited knowledge of interviews --

warwick interview for at least some courses; i and a number of friends were invited to interview for english lit, and i'm told warwick interview mostly to confirm that they want to make an offer -- unless a candidate screws up the interview, they generally receive an offer. no idea how true that is, though. oh, and they also interview/hold open days for drama.

ucl also interview for english, and i think for classics? not quite sure on classics though, i just know that a friend was either interviewed or asked to answer some classics-y questions. i also seem to recall a friend being interviewed for maths.

imperial and manchester interview for engineering.

reading and durham interview for comp. sci/comp. sci-related courses (am thinking cybernetics).

interviews are just another stage of the sifting process; most of the people i know who've been interviewed for courses received offers. certain unis interview for different reasons -- i seem to recall reading on the king's website that they only interview borderline candidates, so in that case, yes, it would be because they were unsure about an offer. warwick, i think, referred to interview slots as 'premium places' -- and i think someone there told me that their interview process helps them to sort through the applications thusly: out of all the applications not declined, decisions are made on interviewees first. offers are made and applications declined. those left undecided are considered against the non-interviewed applicants who've not been declined, and the rest of the decisions are then made. so in their case it's more to confirm that they want to give you an offer, rather than because they're unsure.

interviews, for the most part, seem to be part of the application process for competitive universities and courses.

Reply 10

prestidigitator

ambiguous

interesting post. what were you applying for?

I applied for Managing Performance, Archaeology and English Literature.

Only one of the Archaeology courses didn't require an interview.

(trying writing a Personal Statement to match all of those courses!)

University Interviews

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