What to wear for a university interview?

[Amber]

Just wanted to resurrect this conversation for some advice. DD1 has a languages interview at Manchester Uni. DH thinks she should tell them that Cardiff have made her a lower offer if she puts them as her firm choice. It is Manchester she really wants. She does have standard offers from her other 3 choices.

Should she mention it in the hope that Manchester will match it or would that be seen as cheeky and go against her?

Personally I wouldn't touch that idea. I think it looks rather crass. And would it really help? Presumably she has been predicted high enough grades to go there anyway and is likely to get them. Many universities, Manchester being among them, will honour an offer on offer day if a grade is slipped - when DD looked there they stressed that point and followed it up in a letter (though see below).

DD was interviewed at Manchester a few years ago. She already had her grades and the interviewer's first question was 'do you think you will get your predicted grades?'. DD explained that she already had them. After the interview she received a letter offering her a scholarship 'if you attain your predicted grades'. Manchester was never going to be her first choice anyway but it didn't help sell the place to her. Not for languages though.

PS - So happy to hear of a a DC wanting to do a languages degree!

[Daogroupie]

What an odd question to ask a candidate!

Is anyone going to say "No actually I really don't think I will make my predicted grades." in a interview designed to identify the strongest candidates. DG

[Guest55]

Is anyone going to say "No actually I really don't think I will make my predicted grades." in a interview designed to identify the strongest candidates. DG

Interviews are NOT always about identifying the strongest candidates [whatever you mean by that] - they want students who are interested in the course and want to attend that uni. I can remember one of my intereviews very well and we really did not talk about Maths at all - they could see my academic record and wanted to know more about me. That's where I chose to go!

[Amber]

What an odd question to ask a candidate!

Is anyone going to say "No actually I really don't think I will make my predicted grades." in a interview designed to identify the strongest candidates. DG

Yes well given that she already had her A levels it was even more strange as presumably he had her details in front of him. In fact some of the other questions were even odder - DD has an unusual hobby which she reached top level in (not saying what in case it identifies her) and the interviewer said "I see on your personal statement that you claim to do this. Is that really true or did you just write it to look good?" . Manchester was the only place which interviewed her so can't compare with much, but DS just had an interview elsewhere and didn't get any weird questions at all. Just hard ones!

[Tinkers]

Reminds me of some years ago.
My sister didn’t do as well as she should have done in her A levels (she had been ill during her second year of A level). She could have got in somewhere through clearing but decided she wanted to prove to herself she was capable of better grades.

She applied to various places the following year.

Only one university noticed she was retaking and asked her to get grades better than she already had.

[silverysea]

Vet med schools interview too, though Bristol has recently dropped it. What’s more, it is a super-stressful daunting multiple mini interview, with stations including things like ethical dilemmas and manual dexterity tests, as well as maths, scientific problem solving, work experience discussion and why do you want to be etc. No joke for a high school student! Dd was very dismayed when she saw every single girl at one place was wearing a suit, she had chosen smart trousers, nice blouse and neat new cardigan. However she has got an offer from one of the two places that interviewed her, so far, so I guess her sartorial choices did not do too much damage!

[mike1880]

Daughter's choice when it came out of her suitcase was an absolutely eye watering colour combo but it was too late to do anything about at that point. Mrs 1880 and I looked at each other and made unspoken decision to say nothing...I doubt they'll be offering on clothing choices and at least they'll probably remember her...

[Catseye]

Congrats to your daughter for getting her offer and people think medicine is competitive, veterinary science is mad

[bondgirl]

Just wanted to resurrect this conversation for some advice. DD1 has a languages interview at Manchester Uni. DH thinks she should tell them that Cardiff have made her a lower offer if she puts them as her firm choice. It is Manchester she really wants. She does have standard offers from her other 3 choices.

Should she mention it in the hope that Manchester will match it or would that be seen as cheeky and go against her?

Hi pixiequeen. DD1 has also got an interview for languages at Manchester Uni but hasn’t had an offer yet. Did your DD get the offer before the interview invite? Just curious as she’s my first DC going through this process and it’s changed quite a lot since The Olden Days when I applied to uni. Any tips gratefully received.

[kenyancowgirl]

It would be unusual for a university to make an offer before inviting to interview - interviews are usually given to test out a particular area (it might be competence, it might be personality, or it might be that they are borderline for an automatic offer and they want to probe a bit deeper) - or, a combination of all! Don't panic at this stage...!