Monday 16 December 2013

The University Chronicles: My interview!

On Wednesday, I had an interview at Reading University. As I've been going to their Archaeological field school for the last three years, I was feeling quite confident but also really nervous as I didn't quite meet their grade requirements.
The interview was at the end of the day after a couple of lectures explaining various aspects of the Archaeology and Ancient history course and a visit to the on-site museum (one of the largest Greek vase collections in the country apparently! It was amazing!). It ended up being with one of the lecturers that I had met this summer whilst at the dig so I was extremely happy to be able to talk to someone who already had a vague idea about what I was like! I ended up just chatting to her about my A levels, the books I've been reading for my english coursework, lectures I've been to and, of course, Silchester. 
At the end of it, I got the chance to ask questions which was a really good opportunity for me to get to understand the course more! 
She eventually told me that they would be making me a 'non-standard' offer so I was so excited because they lowered the grades for me! The next day I had an email telling me that I've received a BBB offer from Reading which I'm super excited and happy about! 
The day made me realise how much I also didn't want to give up the Classics side of the ancient world so it's now made it very difficult to choose which University I like the most as Cardiff don't have a Classics department, so if I went there, I would be losing out on that aspect which I don't think I could do without regretting my decision. I think now that Reading is my first choice and Birmingham and Cardiff are joint second. The visit day really helped me understand the University more so I'm quite excited to see what the other two are like! 
The people at Reading were so friendly and welcoming and made me feel at home which was really lovely - I can happily see myself going to University which is always a good sign!
For my interview, I didn't want to go too dressy but also didn't want to look slobby so I opted for my black dove dress from Shikha London, my new brown suede boots from Next and my peacock design coat from Desigual. I also wore Essie's Bahama Mama on my nails as it's dark and a pretty colour that I thought went with the outfit pretty well! I also found that painting my nails was a good de-stressing activity to do the night before!
My one piece of advice for anyone who has an interview coming up is to make sure you're confident, you smile and you make eye contact - you will stand out more if you aren't shy and trying to fade into the background - your interviewer wants to know that you want to be there!
Jess xx

2 comments:

  1. Oooh good luck with your interview! I hope you get the place you want! Classics would be interesting to study!

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    1. Thank you, it went really well and I know that Reading is my favourite now! It's such a great subject, if you ever get the chance, you should try it! :) x

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