Do you always have interviews when applying to uni?

I know that in most cases you get invited to an interview after submitting your application, but are there any circumstances where they wouldn't invite you and still make you an offer?
Also, if you apply for, lets say, 2 courses at the same uni, would you get invited twice at different dates or would they do all interviews for you at once?

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

Bucks New University

12

Original post by debrahxxx

I know that in most cases you get invited to an interview after submitting your application, but are there any circumstances where they wouldn't invite you and still make you an offer?

Hi @debrahxxx

What course are you applying for, and at which university? This will affect the interview and offer making process.

Laura
Bucks New University

Reply 2

yeahthatonethere

16

Depending on the course and university many places don't actually interview. 4/5 of my choices didn't interview me before giving me an offer (biomed/microbiology) my friend had no interviews for all 5 (history) but two of my friends got interviews for everyone (animation and medicine). So yeah it greatly depends!

Reply 3

debrahxxx

OP

3

Original post by Bucks New University

Hi @debrahxxx

What course are you applying for, and at which university? This will affect the interview and offer making process.

Laura
Bucks New University

I am planning to apply for either a nursing course or a biomedical sciences one. The university that I really want to go to is the Queen's University in Belfast, which is quite far away from me (England).

Reply 4

noey123

16

it really depends on the courses you do. For the majority of courses I would assume there would be no interviews. For example, courses like history, psychology, law there aren't interviews. But for courses like nursing and medicine there are interviews as well as a maths and English test. so it really depends on the course you're doing :smile:

Reply 5

debrahxxx

OP

3

Original post by yeahthatonethere

Depending on the course and university many places don't actually interview. 4/5 of my choices didn't interview me before giving me an offer (biomed/microbiology) my friend had no interviews for all 5 (history) but two of my friends got interviews for everyone (animation and medicine). So yeah it greatly depends!

Thank you. I'm planning to apply for a biomedical sciences degree too, but the uni is quite far away from where I live, so I'd be much happier if I wouldn't have to miss school for about a week

Reply 6

NonIndigenous

20

It varies a lot. I'd imagine the following are the largest factors affecting it (not necessarily in this order):

1. How many spaces on the degree?
If the degree has 300 spaces, that means at least 300 interviews. I don't think most universities could be bothered with that, in contrast to perhaps only 50 interviews.

2. Number of applicants.
This, in a vague sense. If there are lots of applicants, there will most likely be several stages. The interview would only come later.

3. Caliber of applicants
The higher the caliber, the more I imagine interviews would be necessary to pick the best.

4. Subject area and how difficult the course is

5. BSc, MSc, BA, MA, PhD, etc.

6. International or domestic student
International students appear to have to attend more interviews I think. Even if they're from the EU (which I thought was illegal... )

Reply 7

GUMI

19

The first uni I got an offer from didn't interview me

Reply 8

nulli tertius

21

Original post by NonIndigenous

It varies a lot. I'd imagine the following are the largest factors affecting it (not necessarily in this order):

1. How many spaces on the degree?
If the degree has 300 spaces, that means at least 300 interviews. I don't think most universities could be bothered with that, in contrast to perhaps only 50 interviews.

2. Number of applicants.
This, in a vague sense. If there are lots of applicants, there will most likely be several stages. The interview would only come later.

3. Caliber of applicants
The higher the caliber, the more I imagine interviews would be necessary to pick the best.

4. Subject area and how difficult the course is

5. BSc, MSc, BA, MA, PhD, etc.

6. International or domestic student
International students appear to have to attend more interviews I think. Even if they're from the EU (which I thought was illegal... )

Vocational courses for careers requiring a high level of public interaction invariably interview. No-one wants a sociopathic nursery nurse.

Reply 9

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by debrahxxx

I know that in most cases you get invited to an interview after submitting your application

This actually isn't true for the vast majority of courses. In general, interviews are typical for the following (for undergraduate applications):

Oxbridge - all courses; they do not make offers to students that have not been interviewed, to my knowledge

Mature students - many universities interview mature students regardless of course being applied to, due to the more varied and unique backgrounds they have

Health professions courses - fairly self-explanatory; I also include in here some similar roles such as Social Work...these don't always interview applicants but are much more likely to in general

Degree apprenticeships/similar - this is more of "applying for a job" process than "applying to university" so normally you'll have at least one if not several stages of interview and assessment to my knowledge

The vast majority of general academic degrees offered by the vast majority of universities (for example, History, Law, Engineering, Physics, English Literature, etc, etc) do not normally interview candidates.

For your purposes, applying to a health professions role will mean that you are likely to be interviewed. Some courses do not, but usually this is across the board with specified exceptions (for example, to my knowledge Edinburgh does not interview medicine applicants except for mature students and second degree students). If there isn't any publicised exception that applies to you, then you should probably expect to be called to interview, and not attending will usually mean your application will not be considered further.

Do contact them to confirm but, don't get your hopes up much in that respect...

Reply 10

jelly1000

21

Original post by debrahxxx

Thank you. I'm planning to apply for a biomedical sciences degree too, but the uni is quite far away from where I live, so I'd be much happier if I wouldn't have to miss school for about a week

Nursing definitley. Biomedical sciences unless its Oxbridge or UCL unlikelyou'll have an interview.

Do you always have interviews when applying to uni?

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