Who makes you your offer - admission tutor or recruitment officer?

Or does this depend on the course and university?

Recruitment officer? That sounds more like an outreach position to encourage people to apply.

Admissions are handled by admissions staff, working with the academic departments responsible for each course.

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So these admissions staff don't have to be a lecturers?

They work with the academics too. And some may also be academics.

Why?


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I'd previously thought that all admission staff were academics in the subject you're applying for, but when I visited Sussex and Bath, they had one or two recruitment people who specifically deal with applications. They seemed pretty knowledgeable in every subject. The recruitment person at Bath said his job is to make the job of the admission tutor easier, and he would liaise with an academic if he's in doubt whether to make an offer or not e.g. someone's predicted grades are out but their PS is excellent. It's not a big deal really, I was just surprised because I didn't know this before.

So these admissions staff don't have to be a lecturers?

The days of tutors sitting in their cozy study pondering individual applications are long gone.

As Doonesbury has told you, admissions staff are knowledgeable people - many have Masters and PhDs but have chosen a career in this area rather than actually teaching. They process applications with an understanding of the needs of the course and what that dept wishes to see in its students. Much of the processing is automated - checking qualifications against stated requirements for instance. Reading Personal Statements is a skilled job - it wont be done by clerical staff but people trained/skilled in this area and working against a specific check-list for that course or subject devised in conjunction with the dept/school concerned.

Balancing the numbers of offers agaisnt places is also a skilled job and all Uni have staff that deal with exactly this sort of number crunching. Again, its now not a job for a few stray academics with a spare afternoon. All of this 'centralisation' has been driven by the vast numbers of applications - and the need to be fair and transparent, and accountable.

Unis without 'centralised admissions' are now becoming a thing of the past. Only very small Unis or specialised places like Art or Music Schools will still be making departmental admissions decisions. This is why when you go to Open Days you speak to academics about the course content - but Admissions staff about the practical stuff like grade requirements and 'what we look for in a PS'.

Sorry if this destroys your vision of 'Admissions' - but the centralised system is far more efficient and more practical then letting 'academics' do it in their non-existent spare-time.