Question on offers/interviews for international students

I applied to Imperial for Msci Physics on the 13th of October. Since then I've received an email regarding interviews. It said that though it prefers that international students went to London to interview, they understand that not everyone can make it so they will make offers (higher) purely based on what's on UCAS.

My questions are: If I'm bad at interviews, is it worth it to ask for an interview or is it better just to wait for the offer without the interview? If I get offered an interview (as an international student) would they tell me my chances of getting in if I couldn't attend it? And while we're at it, how long does it take for them to give an offer??

Thanks

I applied to Imperial for Msci Physics on the 13th of October. Since then I've received an email regarding interviews. It said that though it prefers that international students went to London to interview, they understand that not everyone can make it so they will make offers (higher) purely based on what's on UCAS.

My questions are: If I'm bad at interviews, is it worth it to ask for an interview or is it better just to wait for the offer without the interview? If I get offered an interview (as an international student) would they tell me my chances of getting in if I couldn't attend it? And while we're at it, how long does it take for them to give an offer??

I live in California. My son applied to Imperial last year, and is now studying there. For him, the choice would have been between an in-person or Skype interview. From my experience of interviews, and wanting him to visit anywhere he may study at for 4 years, I made sure that he attended in-person. I'd arranged a trip to tour the universities to which he'd applied, and Imperial were able to schedule an interview to coincide with that, although they obviously cannot guarantee this, but they'd already decided that they wanted.to interview him.

Overseas fees are expensive, so I'd definitely want to do in-person interviews and tour any that you're serious about attending.

May I know when he applied and when he got the invitation for interview?

I live in California. My son applied to Imperial last year, and is now studying there. For him, the choice would have been between an in-person or Skype interview. From my experience of interviews, and wanting him to visit anywhere he may study at for 4 years, I made sure that he attended in-person. I'd arranged a trip to tour the universities to which he'd applied, and Imperial were able to schedule an interview to coincide with that, although they obviously cannot guarantee this, but they'd already decided that they wanted.to interview him.

Overseas fees are expensive, so I'd definitely want to do in-person interviews and tour any that you're serious about attending.

That sounds much more reasonable. However, is strange that Imperial emailed me saying if I don't travel to the UK, they will decide on whether to offer or not using the information from UCAS and nothing else. They also mentioned that the requirements would be higher but no mention of a skype interview.

My son's application was processed by the Computing department, so it looks like the Physics department does things differently. Given what they've said, I'd be planning a trip.