CHB – Member

Sons first choice is MMath at Durham, but it needs A*AA and that’s IF you get an offer. Why would you not get an offer to study maths at Durham?

The applications person sets the grades at an equilibrium point between the number of applicants / capacity of the course / standard of degree. For maths at Durham you have a medium to small number of applicants / large capacity of course / high standard. Predicted grades and self pruning applicants means there are no real time-wasters, so there’s no incentive not to make offers to anyone who’s not a psychopath (and even then they’d prob make an exception as maths is special – need to accommodate some outlying personality types).

So all of this means that your son is interviewing them as much as they are interviewing him.

Admissions at Durham said that they get approx. 600+ applicants, make around 300 offers for approx. 120 places. They offer and reject end of feb/early march, but then hold a few second reserve offers back for a second wave of offers in may/june.

Yep, there’s some tough offers. I think my girl had a bit less pressure as they did all the A level maths in Y12 and all of Further Maths in Y13, so she was able to go to open days with an A* in the bag already, gave her a bit of confidence she would belong. Having the unit results from the first year is apparently a good predictor for the admissions tutors to base offers on.

I like to see people presentable at interviews. Shaven, decent hair, clean clothes, and a suit and tie do no harm. Like they cared enough to make the effort

unless there is a health and safety issue you have no legal basis for that comment. A persons hair, facial or head, is a choice of expression and protected under the ECHR

Except being well groomed for important events is pretty indicative of a number of key traits. Having spent a decade or more in universities I’d say you can tell a lot about students by their attire but it’s not the whole story, of course.

I did suit for interview, as did all but one of the people I saw being interviewed on that day. M
The staff did suits for interview, and generally did shirt and trousers on normal days, some with tie. Guess it depends on the uni and course though.

Being well dressed has a subliminal effect on people. It’s like clean windows, you don’t notice them, but they leave you with a good impression. Important thing is that he looks comfortable in the clothes he wears. Better to wear well fitting tidy casual clothes than a badly fitting cheap suit. If he’s not used to wearing a suit, have him wear it all day for a week so he gets used to how it feels. Make sure he can tie the tie properly by himself so that it doesn’t look like it was tied by a child.

I understand the people saying “you can’t be overdressed” by it depends on the kid. If he’s going to sit there being preoccupied thinking “dressed by mum I hate this suit dressed by mum I hate this suit no one else is wearing a suit I hate this place dressed by mum”, then he’s less likely to do well. Otoh if he’s not bothered either way, it’s no big deal.

I would do the opposite of whatever my advice is: no uni that interviewed me face me an offer!

600 apps for 120 places is pretty good, isn’t it? I mean, 150 of those apps might be total no-hopers, another 100 will get in somewhere else they prefer…so you’ve got a 50/50 chance (ish).

unless there is a health and safety issue you have no legal basis for that comment. A persons hair, facial or head, is a choice of expression and protected under the ECHR

S/he doesn’t need to have a legal basis to make that comment.

Not all forms of expression are protected by the ECHR. “My hair is long because I’m a Rasta” would be; “my hair has ketchup in it because I’m a lazy slob and I couldn’t gas about this interview” isn’t.

Otoh the state of the applicant’s hair would not be very relevant to the application, I would have thought

Phone them, and ask?

If not, (to my surprise) Uni interviews seem to be sartorially relaxed these days – even at Oxbridge.

Gone are the good old days 😉 of wearing country rugby tie and the only real question was “what position do you play?”. You have to be interested in the subject these days – with relevant reading and extended essay!!!!!!

Good lick for the interview.

So all of this means that your son is interviewing them as much as they are interviewing him.

This. Went to 6 open days last year, now doing the past offer visits. So different to my day, the universities are desperate to get you. (All about money now I guess).
Just look smart. Show you’ve thought about it.

My Son has just gone through 3 Russel Group interviews in smart casual, Chinos, smart fleece top and clean trainers.

Even did Oxford in the above.

The only time I wore a suit to uni was for my PhD interview which is more like a job interview. So long as your clothes are clean they have no bearing on the ability to get in. I wore jeans and a T shirt when I went up for a interview for my undergrad degree at Glasgow

Smart casual and comfortable. My stepson went to a medicine interview in a hoody and jeans (he only told us afterwards). And he got in.
I had a lunch with a prof at Merton College last year and felt overdressed in a summer jacket and chinos.
People who worry too much about their appearance may be inadvertently sending out the message that they are lacking in confidence in other departments.

As long as you look confident in yourself, it doesn’t matter what you wear.

No such thing as overdressed, only underdressed. I say wear a suit – possibly without a tie. Puts you in the right frame of mind

This. But…

Smart jeans, shirt (or plain dark t-shirt if you want that ‘media’ appearance *wink) and a blazer with good shoes (Chukkas, etc) if you have the wardrobe. Well cut, well thought out smart casual is way better than a badly fitting suit in my experience.

Anyone can put on a suit. Not anyone can put together a good smart casual look. Difference.

The only student who routinely wore suits (usually a full three piece get up with watch chain and all) was this lovely chap, who was chair of the campus young conservatives. He made William Hague look like Johnny Rotten.

Was it his dad’s suit? He’s still trying to grow into it!

And Johnnie is quite a dapper chappie these days…

Always smart, doesn’t mean a suit. You can never be overdressed.

Some kind of hint Singletrack?

As someone that went to York and had to interview for it (admittedly a while ago now) I didn’t wear a suit. Just be clean, ironed and presentable – look like he made an effort not rolled out of bed.

As others have said, clean and presentable but probably not a suit, unless he already owns a suit and feels comfortable in it. Shoes, shirt and trousers will be fine.

I’ll try to remember to ask some of my A2 students what they wore to interviews, and report back. For some reason, they’ve never asked me for fashion advice.

Was it his dad’s suit? He’s still trying to grow into it

As an aside, the Taxpayers’ Alliance is often featured in the media as if it were a bit like the Which? of taxes ie some sort of association representing taxpayers at large. It is not. It is a private company that is funded and controlled by a small number of wealthy Tory business interests. This explains their recent wading into the doctors strike etc http://www.taxpayersalliance.org/news/tpa-funding-were-closing-in and also the media reports linked to on that page.

I interviewed for physics at Bath, Bristol, Leeds and Exeter and wore a hoody and jeans. Still got offers at all of them.

Call and ask? But caution thst you’re taking advice from someone who looks like “the accused” when wearing a suit.

Also be cautious taking life effecting advice from a forum!!!

I wore a shirt, pair of jeans and smart shoes to my interview (which turned out to be more of an informal chat) at Leeds in 2014 and got in. Girlfriend, who is currently at York, said she can’t remember anyone wearing a suit to her round of interviews. That was the theater department though.

@mintimperial – I remember Mr Isaby – he was in Wentworth halls; the same as me … do I know you ? 😉

Email from York confirms “relaxed” dress code, so Dinosaur Onesie it is then!