Thetownend.com

Basically I've got an interview tomorrow at UCL and just wanted to ask whether anyone had any advice/tips for me. Cheers in advance.

Get a job

Agree...the smart kids avoid university these days.

I am going for quite a specialist course though so I think its the best option for me.

Best of luck.  I hope you've got £27,000 handy.

Ask if they'll give you a discount

I'll have a rummage down the sofa later on.

Any genuine advice?

Then why ask for advice, if you're just going to ignore it?

Be enthusiastic about whatever you're saying, but don't interupt and listen carefully to the questions.

Wear a short skirt and a low cut top.

I didn't ask for advice on if uni was a good idea or not. Read my first post again.

Remember that all interviews are a two way process.  They're assessing you, but you're assessing them as well - so make sure you have prepared questions relating to the points that are important to you.  (This will demonstrate your commitment/interest as well.)

I've got questions about the facilities and the course itself. Any other things I should ask about? Career opportunities afterwards?

Is this a proper interview for a hard to get onto course or a nice tour around the uni like all the interviews I had back in the day? If the former relax, be positive and know clearly why that's the degree for you. If the latter just relax and work out which pub you're going to on the way home.

It was retarded enough the first time....

I'd think they would hope you've already researched that yourself.

Think about it from the UCL's point of view.  These days, the decision to award a place is more financially based than it used to be...so the first question they will be asking themselves is 'Is he going to drop out before completing the course?' (which would hit them financially).

To this end, they will want to assess whether you are going to stay the distance.  So:

*  Are you academically able enough?
*  Are you sufficiently interested in/committed to your course to stick with it?

are going to be high up on their list of things to check out.  As Sonic points out, asking naive questions about career opportunities after you leave will simply indicate to them that you have not really thought this one through.  They would hope and expect that you will have researched that already.  I think your questions will need to be a little more targeted than that.

Don't mean to put the wind up you...but better to be prepared and have thought things through before you get there.

Put your reading glasses on.

It is reasonable to ask about graduate destinations for any course. What % of grads go on to employment and onto Masters courses? (They have to track this). Do they have particular links with employers? To what extent is the faculty about grads or undergrads? (LSE, for example, treat undergrads pretty badly because they focus on their grad base). They're looking at you, but you're looking at them. It's an investment decision. You're about to spend north of fifty grand and three years on something, what are you going to get out of it? How else could you make that investment?

It's basically a load of cobblers, as long as you dont come across as a complete mong or they're gonna look at is if you get the grades they set you or not and they'll forget you as soon as you walk out the door and the next nervous student-to-be shuffles through the door.

Just make you sure you get the marks, I didn't and regret it!

This is what I have so far:

What % of graduates go on to employment?
What links to employers do you have?
How are seminars/lectures organised on a day to day basis?
What is the home to international students ratio?
How many students on this course will have a prior knowledge of the language?
Which universities do you work with in the Balkans?
What does the year abroad consist of?

Any good? Anything I should remove from that list?

If you look around hard enough i'm fairly certain yuo'll be able to find the answers to most, if not all of those questions.They sound decent enough to ask, depends how strict the interview is. Unless it's an oxbridge one or your grades are really borderline for the course then i wouldn't worry, it will probably bear little on their decision to accept you

Good luck, but seriously, the two years I spent at uni will only be grieviously remembered for giving me, a near tee-totaller upon arrival, a very bad drink habit which is with me to this day. Only go if you will take the academic side with the utmost of seriousness. The majority shouldn't go, only the top 10-15 per cent or so. 

Herein lies the problem. The figure is much higher than that, somewhere around 40-50%. That's the way it is now. You nearly "have" to go to compete in the job marketplace.

Balkans? Odd question, but I presume there's a reason.

Important thing to remember is that it's not something to be nervous about. It's not an exam, it's an assessment of what you're like, how you think, whether you'll stick at it. You'll give a better account of yourself if you're straightforward and switched on. The best questions are those that come out of the conversation you've just had. Have a few prepped in your back pocket, but don't feel you have to ask ten things because you feel you should.

What's the course?

I can't believe it's taken the best part of 2 pages for somebody to ask this. It's dprobably the most important question.

Questions 1 and 4 are things you really should be able to find out for yourself. Question 2 needs to be more targeted, e.g. "what links do you have to employers in Field X?" and "will the careers service here be able to help me explore opportunities in this field?"

Having said that, I only ever had one interview. Basically they wanted me to show I had an interest in the subject and that I was able to articulate ideas. I talked a bit about relevant stuff that had been in the papers over the previous week and they welcomed me with open arms... but I got a better offer so went somewhere else :D

Serbo-Croat and Eastern European Studies.

Anyway I'm off now. Hoping it goes well.  :)

Good luck. Don't say girl power.

All the best. If you do occupy the refectory, try to stay off the roof

I salute you sir...who cares if you're laden with debt and there's no job at the end. Just think of all the bird potential....

As a graduate from two and a half years ago, I can honestly say it was a complete waste of time.  I'm an English graduate, which I thought would be a nice broad degree and keep my options open, but in fact it restricted them as it isn't specialised enough for the jobs I wanted (journalism etc.) and doesn't easily relate to a lot of financial careers in the city, where I'm keen to get a job.

I've ended up in insurance despite three years of analysing text and pissing wads of cash up against the side of London buses.  Something like Commu-Speak and Lada studies is probably (I've no foundation for this) quite useful as it is, as you say, quite specialised.  The problem is, many employers want you to get a degree and then spend another couple of years specialising in their said area.  But after three years of not working, drinking and get yourself in debt, the idea of working is actually quite appealing!

Isn't journalism about doing placements, learning the basic techniques, and then putting your writing out there? I have a friend who wrote for free for a bit, blogs, online magazines, that sort of thing, and then got noticed and picked up.

And having an English degree (as long as its a good degree from a good university) for city jobs is by no means a hinderance. They don't seem to mind what degree you have, as long as you're intelligent, willing to give your life away, and have an unquenchable thirst for blood and money.

dvar pivo molim (is that correct?)
why don't you ask them "what are you going to give me for all the cash I have to pay you?"
Looks like you'll be stting yourself up for a nice little job in Cheltenham at the end and then a secondment to MI6 where you'll be wanking in a sports bag (take the Nike one - it's bigger) and don't do the zip up !!!

Almost. It would be dva piva molim.  :)

Yeah it went well today. Interview was mostly in Serbo-Croat and being fluent meant it was quite easy for me. The only other guy having an interview for it was English and had no prior knowledge of the language, so I'm pretty confident.  :)

Does this mean I could do a degree in Norwegian studies?

Go for it.

Newnham College, Cambridge has a respected department of Anglo-Saxon and Norse Studies, where you could study a saga or two.

The only saga I study now is for insurance and holidays.  :(

I did American Studies and don't regret it still active within the subject although I don't work within the field currently. Long term is to finish my masters and go into some kind of teaching.

I miss academia... a lot.

Enjoy it fola.

Coca Fola, I know all about the Chetniks, Ustasha and what's your business, fascninated by the Balkan's conflict, but a job out of it............think very carefully, and whatever you do don't go down the drinks route

I'm half Bosnian and would like to work out there in the future. Whether in business or journalism I'm not sure yet.

You know then that Ibrahamovic is a Bosnian then, lots of footballing talent that way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohognxRQLv8

Most Bosnians hate him for choosing Sweden over Bosnia. A few years back when Bosnia played Croatia in a friendly, 9 players in the Croatian squad were Bosnian! We lose so many good players to other nations.  :(

Dzeko's 1st goal for the national team.  :)

Wow, nine in the squad, well the Croats punch well above their weight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwOHlhXiaLY

How dare Ibrahimovic choose the nation of his birth and where he was raised over Bosnia! :)

I see what you mean, bit hypocritical coming from me I guess. If I was a footballer I would probably choose Bosnia over England though as it's easier to get in the team.   :D

Prosinecki was born in my homeland, Germany, i forgive him though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJHg5T-gmw0

Croatia's current squad still has loads of Bosnians in it.  :no:

Petric, Corluka, Jelavic, Lovren, Bartulovic....

Coca, are you a Moslem then? The names you mention above suggest to me they're not, but Bosno-Croats?

My mum's muslim but I'm not really religious personally. The thing about Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs is basically to cut a long story short, their families have lived in Bosnia for generations yet they still call themselves Croats/Serbs. Real Croats and Serbs regard them as Bosnians so they're kind of caught between the 2!

It always strikes me as odd that they could have such hatred between themselves that they could perpetrate the most heinous of acts, when visually they are practically indistinguishable, not that being different looking would be any kind of excuse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnq2NyJXcg

I know exactly what you mean.

As a West Wiltshireman born to parents hailing from North Wiltshire... You can imagine my struggle.

It's still pretty bad to this day. I wonder whether I will get a uni place because the 2 people doing the interviews were Serbian and I'm Bosnian.