Ahead of the game

Chelmsford mum · Post by **Chelmsford mum** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:44 pm

[CM if you ever tire of your present job, please do join the Foreign Office and train as a diplomat, or at the very least consider training yourslef as negotiator for the police dealing with hostage situations. You were born for it and anything else is a waste of your rare talent.

[/quote]

Would I pass at interview with my lip piercings and forehead tatoos though?

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:13 pm

Chelmsford mum wrote:[CM if you ever tire of your present job, please do join the Foreign Office and train as a diplomat, or at the very least consider training yourslef as negotiator for the police dealing with hostage situations. You were born for it and anything else is a waste of your rare talent.
Would I pass at interview with my lip piercings and forehead tatoos though?

[/quote]

Yes, albeit it would restrict the number/type of countries you could be send as an ambassador to!

Or perhaps stick to the hostages release negotiator role where ususally there is no face to face interaction. In any case I am sure you would find a fantastic explanation as to how you came to have these piercing/tattoos in the first place which would make everyone happy, whereas I could never think of one. This is why your talent is rare.

serialtester · Post by **serialtester** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:28 am

Loopyloulou wrote:
fm wrote: I would not, however, assume the person wearing such is a) a bad person or b) a worthless person or c) an unintelligent person.
I would.

Tattoos are often the sign of a mixed-up child
That's the sort of person the "polytechnics" are there for.

Truthfully, I would sooner have an inspirational, highly intelligent teacher with a tattoo
Oh dear, I'm sure Che Guevara was one such...

My husband studied theoretical physics at a russell group university. He had waist length hair, a beard and piercings.

He's now an 'excellent' teacher and the proud father of 2 grammar school girls.

How fortunate that his admissions tutors etc weren't so incredibly judgmental.

ps. I've got a tattoo - I acquired it in my thirties and it looks jolly nice

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:55 am

My husband studied theoretical physics at a russell group university. He had waist length hair, a beard and piercings.

Just teasing you (and him): he will never know whether he passed DESPITE of his appearance. This is a lot better of course than being accepted BECAUSE of your appearance, and can be taken as a compliment of his mental ability! In any case if we are talking about the 70/80s then yes at the time this appearance was frequent (to the extent of being conventionally boring) especially for the discipline!! I am sure he no longer has the long hair.

How fortunate that his admissions tutors etc weren't so incredibly judgmental.

I can assure you that all admissions tutors are very judgmental otherwise we would not be any any good as admission tutors since we would take ages to decide!! We have formed a judgment even before we meet the applicant of course as we have read his CV and qualifications. We just wait to see whether this judgment is affected favourably or unfavourably.

ps. I've got a tattoo - I acquired it in my thirties and it looks jolly nice

[/quote]

This is a double sword, especially if you are stuck with something that you no longer like (I love so and so, when you no longer are with so and so is one of many examples!). Still there is always laser erasing now days!

serialtester · Post by **serialtester** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:28 pm

sj355 wrote:
My husband studied theoretical physics at a russell group university. He had waist length hair, a beard and piercings.
Just teasing you (and him): he will never know whether he passed DESPITE of his appearance. This is a lot better of course than being accepted BECAUSE of your appearance, and can be taken as a compliment of his mental ability! In any case if we are talking about the 70/80s then yes at the time this appearance was frequent (to the extent of being conventionally boring) especially for the discipline!! I am sure he no longer has the long hair.

He's had long hair on and off throughout his teaching career. He's acrually a senior teacher now, so looking like a sexy rock god hasn't done him any harm!!

However, on this thread the inference has been that a particular 'look' denotes intellectual laziness or something. If you can't look a bit outrageous when you are 18 when can you?

In fact looking at current university students it concerns me how middle aged and sensible many of them appear to be!

How fortunate that his admissions tutors etc weren't so incredibly judgmental.
I can assure you that all admissions tutors are very judgmental otherwise we would not be any any good as admission tutors since we would take ages to decide!! We have formed a judgment even before we meet the applicant of course as we have read his CV and qualifications. We just wait to see whether this judgment is affected favourably or unfavourably.

I don't understand how long hair, a beard or a piercing would impact on someones academic abilities?

ps. I've got a tattoo - I acquired it in my thirties and it looks jolly nice
This is a double sword, especially if you are stuck with something that you no longer like (I love so and so, when you no longer are with so and so is one of many examples!). Still there is always laser erasing now days!

Seeing as I was 34 when I acquired it, not 14, the 'I love so and so' argument isn't really relevant

Anyway, I don't really fancy having a laser near my buttock - sorry if that's too much information

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:12 pm

He's had long hair on and off throughout his teaching career. He's acrually a senior teacher now, so looking like a sexy rock god hasn't done him any harm!!

Oh, then perhaps he was accepted BECAUSE of his appearance after all

However, on this thread the inference has been that a particular 'look' denotes intellectual laziness or something. If you can't look a bit outrageous when you are 18 when can you?

Plenty of time for that. Just take a look at the staff pictures in many academic departments all over the country

In fact looking at current university students it concerns me how middle aged and sensible many of them appear to be!

Trust me; appearances can be deceiving!

I don't understand how long hair, a beard or a piercing would impact on someones academic abilities?

Actually the argument is that the cause and effect is the other way around. By the way I have nothing against beards and long hair and coventional ear piercings. But multiple piercings and tattoos (especially the latter at the age of 18/19 MAY be indicative of lack of flexibility and aversion to change) would pre-dispose me negatively and it would place addtional burden on the student to convince me of outstanding academic ability

Seeing as I was 34 when I acquired it, not 14, the 'I love so and so' argument isn't really relevant

Yes, but it is relevant for a tattooed student. In any case if you love someone write him on your heart not on your skin. This also goes for someone beliefs. i want to look at people not literally read them!

Anyway, I don't really fancy having a laser near my buttock - sorry if that's too much information

[/quote]

Well, it is not somewhere that it can be seen by everyone and perhaps this is the reason; you do not want to make a statement with it. I can not imagine how this would be seen by an interview panel

yoyo123 · Post by **yoyo123** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:43 pm

so the moral is get piercings which aren't on show

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:54 pm

yoyo123 wrote:so the moral is get piercings which aren't on show

Really? Where?

serialtester · Post by **serialtester** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:34 pm

sj355 wrote:
yoyo123 wrote:so the moral is get piercings which aren't on show

Really? Where?

Your ears of course - the long hair covers them up

sj355 · Post by **sj355** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:45 pm

serialtester wrote:
sj355 wrote: Really? Where?
Your ears of course - the long hair covers them up

A sigh of relief all around.