Invited for interview at University of Manchester but I live in Northern Ireland

On what basis are you certain that they would only consider Open Day attenders?

Hi I emailed the university and they said so in their reply

I don’t know what to do.. first of all I wasn’t expecting to have to attend an interview (it’s less of an interview and more of an ‘open day’ but you will have a 20 min casual chat about the subject from what I’ve read). I knew I’d have to do one for Oxford but not for Manchester. Plus I know that if I don’t get accepted to Oxford or my other main choice in GB which is St Andrews then I will likely not be moving away from home provided I get accepted to Queen’s (which I can’t be sure of but studying at home HAS to be an option for me). Manchester doesn’t consider applicants who don’t attend the university open day so I feel lost tbh. I don’t know how I feel about going the whole way to Manchester and back to just do an interview when it’s basically certain I won’t attend (unless by the slim chance I was ONLY accepted to Manchester, but I feel confident that I would get offers from at least one other uni since I do exceed the requirements for those courses). What would you do in my situation? Thanks for reading.

I'm also surprised.Which subject?

It’s for physics with astrophysics

I've never heard of unis like Manchester insisting on interviews for Physics - it sounds like a marketing ploy to get you there and bombard you with reasons to Firm Manchester.

Definitely challenge them on it and say you can't afford to come. If the first person is not helpful, ask to speak to a supervisor about it. It is a bit of a disgrace tbh for them to be putting so much pressure on people for no reason

I've never heard of unis like Manchester insisting on interviews for Physics - it sounds like a marketing ploy to get you there and bombard you with reasons to Firm Manchester.

Definitely challenge them on it and say you can't afford to come. If the first person is not helpful, ask to speak to a supervisor about it. It is a bit of a disgrace tbh for them to be putting so much pressure on people for no reason.

If they absolutely insist you need to have an interview, ask for one later in the year/next year. That way, by the time the interview date comes round you might have got offers from other unis so could tell them to stuff it.

On the website it says

"All promising applicants are invited to a visit day which includes an academic interview. The interview is used to provide additional information in borderline cases and to give applicants the opportunity to talk to one of our academic staff on an individual basis."
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2020/00639/bsc-physics-with-astrophysics/application-and-selection/#course-profile

Yes but they shouldn't be insisting an applicant attends the interview where they are coming from Northern Ireland if they say it is too expensive to attend.

Other unis may invite applicants for a brief interview as part of an applicant day (Lancaster do for certain subjects, for example) but they do not make it compulsory to attend where people say it is too far/expensive for them

Usually a Uni would offer a Skype chat or similar where it not practical for someone to attend in person.

This seems like a very ill conceived policy on their part.

This happened to my daughter. She emailed to say she couldn't get there as would involve overnight stay etc. They then sent a questionnaire asking motivations to do her chosen course, books she'd read etc and they then made her an offer, without the need to get to Manchester.

hi im applying to manc too from ni for physics, were you able to miss the interview?

I haven’t asked them yet, I’ll let you know when I find out