Primary Education 2012 Scotland

Hi,

I've applied to Aberdeen and Stirling. Haven't had any offers yet.

I'm not really sure what to expect with regards to the interview?? Do they tell you about it before you go, or do you just turn up? Haven't recieved any information from either about anything yet, presumably will if I get an offer or something - could someone clear this up for me?!

Thanks :smile:

Reply 3

et_29

Does anyone know if Edinburgh and Glasgow are holding interviews this year? At the open days they said they weren't but on UCAS and in the prospectus I'm pretty certain it said they were. Just wondering if anyone knows! Thanks :smile:

Reply 4

Original post by evie1234

Hi,

I've applied to Aberdeen and Stirling. Haven't had any offers yet.

I'm not really sure what to expect with regards to the interview?? Do they tell you about it before you go, or do you just turn up? Haven't recieved any information from either about anything yet, presumably will if I get an offer or something - could someone clear this up for me?!

Thanks :smile:

Hey

I don't know about Stirling, but I'm at Aberdeen just now and when I went for my interview last year I had to do a 5 minute presentation on a video (they gave us a choice of 3 or 4 in a letter we were sent when we were given the date of our interview) and then I was asked questions afterwards. It was just me and someone from the university (one of the lecturers/course co-ordinators etc.) and a head teacher from a school in the area which the university sends students to when they are on placement.

I'm not sure if it'll be the same this year, but when they send you the letter with the date for your interview they will give you details.

Reply 5

OP

Original post by HeatherHatter

Hey

I don't know about Stirling, but I'm at Aberdeen just now and when I went for my interview last year I had to do a 5 minute presentation on a video (they gave us a choice of 3 or 4 in a letter we were sent when we were given the date of our interview) and then I was asked questions afterwards. It was just me and someone from the university (one of the lecturers/course co-ordinators etc.) and a head teacher from a school in the area which the university sends students to when they are on placement.

I'm not sure if it'll be the same this year, but when they send you the letter with the date for your interview they will give you details.

Long time no speak! Get on msn or text me!

Reply 6

Original post by aroy45

Long time no speak! Get on msn or text me!

My msn isn't working in the house D: the proxy from uni has totally messed up my laptop :frown:

so everything which uses the internet except the internet itself won't work -.- and ebuddy isn't a great site to use :L

How did applying go? You said you'd let me see your personal statement before you sent it!!!

Reply 7

evie1234

Original post by HeatherHatter

Hey

I don't know about Stirling, but I'm at Aberdeen just now and when I went for my interview last year I had to do a 5 minute presentation on a video (they gave us a choice of 3 or 4 in a letter we were sent when we were given the date of our interview) and then I was asked questions afterwards. It was just me and someone from the university (one of the lecturers/course co-ordinators etc.) and a head teacher from a school in the area which the university sends students to when they are on placement.

I'm not sure if it'll be the same this year, but when they send you the letter with the date for your interview they will give you details.

Thank you, that's really helpful! I wasn't sure about it at all and kinda forgot to ask at the open days :/

When did you find out if you had an interview? And are you enjoying the course?

Reply 8

Original post by evie1234

Thank you, that's really helpful! I wasn't sure about it at all and kinda forgot to ask at the open days :/

When did you find out if you had an interview? And are you enjoying the course?

I found out quite late - my interview was a week before the deadline for offers (so stressful D: - it was my first choice and I would have rather have known earlier on if I had a place or not), but my application was sent just before Christmas, so that could be why. I think I found out in very late January or February :smile:

The course is good so far - in the first semester you have 2 education courses and an elective. The education classes are Learning How to Learn, which is all about learning theories and we had to do a group presentation on a theory in front of our tutorial group and make a poster presentation on lifelong learning in the community, which we displayed at the end of term. For this course, you had 2 lectures a week which were usually an hour long (we had one which was meant to be 2 hours long, but they cut it short because we were so tired :L), and 2 tutorials a week which are 2 hours long (at the start of the semester they were only 1 hour long though). The assessment was 100% from one essay :frown:

which was due at the end of the semester, and was about the supporting and challenging factors to our learning in the course.

The other course is What Makes us Human. I preferred this one as it is taken from all the different departments of the university, we had lectures on genetics, psychology, education, theology, divinity, anthropology, art, music, loads of subjects :smile:

I learned loads from this course, and I really enjoyed it, even although a lot of it was science-based and I usually hate science, the lecturers were all really good and made it so easy to understand! We had 2 lectures a week for an hour, and 1 tutorial for an hour and a half where we discussed the lectures from the week before and what we had read in the course reader (a collection of chapters from books/articles which have been selected by the lecturers to do with what they have spoken about), and then we made up questions which were posted on MyAberdeen (an online learning environment with a forum) for us to answer. The assessment for this is also 100% based on an essay (which I should be doing right now :tongue:

)

For an elective course, you can choose pretty much anything from any department in the university to study so long as it doesn't clash with education courses. I'm doing Counselling Skills 1 and 2 this year, but most people I know are doing courses run by the education department.

The timetable isn't that full in semester 1 (or mine wasn't - I was only in Monday afternoons, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings and Thursday mornings, so it meant I could go home for the weekend on the Thursday afternoon and come back on the Monday morning :smile:

In semester 2, we go on placement one day a week for 7 weeks (excited!!!) and have another 2 education courses (Learning How Others Learn and What Makes Us Human)

Reply 9

evie1234

Original post by HeatherHatter

I found out quite late - my interview was a week before the deadline for offers (so stressful D: - it was my first choice and I would have rather have known earlier on if I had a place or not), but my application was sent just before Christmas, so that could be why. I think I found out in very late January or February :smile:

The course is good so far - in the first semester you have 2 education courses and an elective. The education classes are Learning How to Learn, which is all about learning theories and we had to do a group presentation on a theory in front of our tutorial group and make a poster presentation on lifelong learning in the community, which we displayed at the end of term. For this course, you had 2 lectures a week which were usually an hour long (we had one which was meant to be 2 hours long, but they cut it short because we were so tired :L), and 2 tutorials a week which are 2 hours long (at the start of the semester they were only 1 hour long though). The assessment was 100% from one essay :frown:

which was due at the end of the semester, and was about the supporting and challenging factors to our learning in the course.

The other course is What Makes us Human. I preferred this one as it is taken from all the different departments of the university, we had lectures on genetics, psychology, education, theology, divinity, anthropology, art, music, loads of subjects :smile:

I learned loads from this course, and I really enjoyed it, even although a lot of it was science-based and I usually hate science, the lecturers were all really good and made it so easy to understand! We had 2 lectures a week for an hour, and 1 tutorial for an hour and a half where we discussed the lectures from the week before and what we had read in the course reader (a collection of chapters from books/articles which have been selected by the lecturers to do with what they have spoken about), and then we made up questions which were posted on MyAberdeen (an online learning environment with a forum) for us to answer. The assessment for this is also 100% based on an essay (which I should be doing right now :tongue:

)

For an elective course, you can choose pretty much anything from any department in the university to study so long as it doesn't clash with education courses. I'm doing Counselling Skills 1 and 2 this year, but most people I know are doing courses run by the education department.

The timetable isn't that full in semester 1 (or mine wasn't - I was only in Monday afternoons, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings and Thursday mornings, so it meant I could go home for the weekend on the Thursday afternoon and come back on the Monday morning :smile:

In semester 2, we go on placement one day a week for 7 weeks (excited!!!) and have another 2 education courses (Learning How Others Learn and What Makes Us Human)

Thank you for telling me about all that, it really does sound brilliant! I'm probably going to be waiting ages to find out then, my application didn't get sent away until December 14th :/ really impatient!

Sorry to be nosey, but can I ask how you're finding living in Aberdeen? When I went to the open day, the only thing I really didn't like was the accomodation haha, so I'm not sure what choices I would put on my application?!

Thanks :smile:

Reply 10

Original post by evie1234

Thank you for telling me about all that, it really does sound brilliant! I'm probably going to be waiting ages to find out then, my application didn't get sent away until December 14th :/ really impatient!

Sorry to be nosey, but can I ask how you're finding living in Aberdeen? When I went to the open day, the only thing I really didn't like was the accomodation haha, so I'm not sure what choices I would put on my application?!

Thanks :smile:

Mine wasn't sent away until after that, so it wasn't processed until UCAS opened again after new year, hence the delay in receiving any correspondence from any university I applied to :smile:

. The other problem I had was my prelims - I received an invite for an interview at Edinburgh during my prelims, even although all the universities are sent the dates of prelims so that you won't be given an interview during those weeks and so my interview there was pushed back until a couple of weeks before my Aberdeen one. This meant that all 3 of my interviews (Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Aberdeen) were all around the same time. Everyone else I spoke to had the same sort of pattern - either all their interviews were in the same week (and they were really stressed) or they were spread over a couple of weeks like me - I think I had 3 in 4 weeks, but most people had one a week, or 5 in 3 weeks or something like that, nobody I've spoken to had long gaps between interviews.

So using that pattern, once you hear from one, you shouldn't have to wait long to hear from the rest :smile:

Although Aberdeen and Stirling apparently always take the longest to reply...

As for living in Aberdeen, I'm finding it ok :smile:

I love my accommodation! I'm in New Carnegie Court - it has en-suites and the kitchen is shared between 5 with 2 fridge/freezers and loads of cupboard space :smile:

there is also a living area with sofas for the 5 of us to share too :smile:

The only disadvantage is no TV room in the block :frown:

I've heard that in other accommodation there is less storage in the kitchen, but people find solutions between them so that they all have enough space for their food :smile:

in some of the blocks, you all get a cupboard with a lock on it for your food, but I couldn't comment on all the buildings as I've not been in many.

The halls are quite a walk from town, I must admit. There is a bus directly from Hillhead to the city centre but it's expensive so I always walk, but it does put me off going out in the evenings, especially during the week as the last bus back isn't that late. The shopping in town is good though :tongue:

and you're not too far from the beach, which has the amusement arcade and Codona's (which has mini golf, roller coasters, bowling etc.). I'm really enjoying my time in Aberdeen :smile:

the only downside is having to do these essays!!! :tongue:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 11

OP

Original post by HeatherHatter

Mine wasn't sent away until after that, so it wasn't processed until UCAS opened again after new year, hence the delay in receiving any correspondence from any university I applied to :smile:

. The other problem I had was my prelims - I received an invite for an interview at Edinburgh during my prelims, even although all the universities are sent the dates of prelims so that you won't be given an interview during those weeks and so my interview there was pushed back until a couple of weeks before my Aberdeen one. This meant that all 3 of my interviews (Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Aberdeen) were all around the same time. Everyone else I spoke to had the same sort of pattern - either all their interviews were in the same week (and they were really stressed) or they were spread over a couple of weeks like me - I think I had 3 in 4 weeks, but most people had one a week, or 5 in 3 weeks or something like that, nobody I've spoken to had long gaps between interviews.

So using that pattern, once you hear from one, you shouldn't have to wait long to hear from the rest :smile:

Although Aberdeen and Stirling apparently always take the longest to reply...

As for living in Aberdeen, I'm finding it ok :smile:

I love my accommodation! I'm in New Carnegie Court - it has en-suites and the kitchen is shared between 5 with 2 fridge/freezers and loads of cupboard space :smile:

there is also a living area with sofas for the 5 of us to share too :smile:

The only disadvantage is no TV room in the block :frown:

I've heard that in other accommodation there is less storage in the kitchen, but people find solutions between them so that they all have enough space for their food :smile:

in some of the blocks, you all get a cupboard with a lock on it for your food, but I couldn't comment on all the buildings as I've not been in many.

The halls are quite a walk from town, I must admit. There is a bus directly from Hillhead to the city centre but it's expensive so I always walk, but it does put me off going out in the evenings, especially during the week as the last bus back isn't that late. The shopping in town is good though :tongue:

and you're not too far from the beach, which has the amusement arcade and Codona's (which has mini golf, roller coasters, bowling etc.). I'm really enjoying my time in Aberdeen :smile:

the only downside is having to do these essays!!! :tongue:

Hi heather! Why don't you give me a brief overview of what work you do lectures you go to etc in a week? :biggrin:

include social activities :wink:

Also, what is the difference between lectures and tutorials?
How is the standard of teaching at Aberdeen?
Why did you choose Aberdeen over Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stratchclyde? :biggrin:

Reply 12

Original post by aroy45

Hi heather! Why don't you give me a brief overview of what work you do lectures you go to etc in a week? :biggrin:

include social activities :wink:

Also, what is the difference between lectures and tutorials?
How is the standard of teaching at Aberdeen?
Why did you choose Aberdeen over Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stratchclyde? :biggrin:

Okay...

My timetable was this:

Monday: Learning How to Learn Tutorial 12 - 2

Learning How to Learn Lecture 3 - 4

Tuesday: What Makes Us Human Lecture 9 - 10

Learning How to Learn Tutorial 1 - 3

Learning How to Learn Lecture 3 - 4 (Tuesday afternoons were tiring D :smile:

Wednesday: Counselling Skills 1 10 - 12:30

Thursday: What Makes Us Human Lecture 9 - 10

What Makes Us Human Tutorial 10 - 11:30

Social activities in my block usually seem to happen on a Tuesday night - we get so many fire alarms at 2:30am on the Wednesday morning that they've started arresting people -.- And there are quite often parties on Thursday nights and Friday nights too :smile:

The difference between a lecture and a tutorial is that in a lecture, the whole course attends (or should attend), so there are 140 people in the hall, but the tutorials are small groups of about 30 people, and you're then split into subgroups and you discuss what you have learned. In Learning How to Learn, for some of the weeks, half of this was a student led tutorial, and half was other work. The tutorials were based on the subject covered in the lecture that day (which is after the tutorial). The What Makes Us Human tutorials are a week behind the lectures, so you have the lecture one week, and then the following week have a tutorial on it. In these tutorials, my group would split into smaller groups and do mindmaps of what we had learned and then discuss it as a whole class, and then make up questions for posting on MyAberdeen to answer through the week.

I've found the standard of teaching really high. I've had really lovely tutors for all my courses and the lecturers have been great.

Why did I choose Aberdeen? Well... Dundee didn't even give me an interview for starters :tongue:

so I couldn't go there. I was ill on the day of my Strathclyde interview and made a total pig's ear of it so I didn't get in there (I know, excuses, excuses, excuses...). So I only had to choose between Edinburgh and Glasgow really. I went to the Applicants' Day at Glasgow and I didn't like the sound of the course there - I didn't want to have to learn about Catholicism and have weekly lectures on it since I'm not Catholic myself. And I guess it was quite a bit of wanting to move away, and also my grandmother telling me not to go to Edinburgh (she used to work at Moray House), along with me having family there that I wanted to see more often, and I love the city, and the university kept in touch more often (although it was sometimes quite irritating, it was nice to get a Christmas e-card). I don't know, I guess it's just me, I just got a better impression from Aberdeen.

Reply 13

sqasucks

I just got a reply from Strathclyde for an interview on the 25th January. I'm bricking it aha

Reply 14

OP

Interview for Glasgow (Dumfries Campus) On Feb 2nd :smile:

Is everyone hearing about interviews via email or letter?

Original post by sqasucks

I just got a reply from Strathclyde for an interview on the 25th January. I'm bricking it aha

What does you interview consist of?

Reply 15

x_sd

Original post by aroy45

Interview for Glasgow (Dumfries Campus) On Feb 2nd :smile:

Is everyone hearing about interviews via email or letter?

What does you interview consist of?

I received a letter today for an interview on the 2nd of Feb, had to change it to the 6th as I'm on holiday, would have been nice to know someone going! :frown:

Anyone else for the 6th??

Reply 16

et_29

Original post by x_sd

I received a letter today for an interview on the 2nd of Feb, had to change it to the 6th as I'm on holiday, would have been nice to know someone going! :frown:

Anyone else for the 6th??

Sorry this may be a really stupid question but am I correct in thinking Glasgow (Dumfries campus) is different from Glasgow Uni itself?

Reply 17

OP

Original post by et_29

Sorry this may be a really stupid question but am I correct in thinking Glasgow (Dumfries campus) is different from Glasgow Uni itself?

It's a teaching course run by Glasgow uni but in the borders. I chose it because it has no elements of Catholic teaching

Reply 18

OP