I think SJ's in an argumentative mood!

Join me in the inde section for a battle SJ!

DH interviewed for engineering at oxford and then at a Russell group university. Far from thinking up bizarre questions to catch people out, he spent some considerable time thinking up simpler and simpler questions in the desperate hope that a candidate might know SOMETHING about the subject they were intending to study!
Most were deeply unimpressive and thats before we get on to their lack of social skills and good manners(we're not onto rocket science here, just being able to shake hands and say "Good morning, Dr ****"!!
Also those interviewing you will have their own opinions/prejudices about the way a candidate looks/dresses/ behaves. I think they are quite entitled to these - as DH says, it was he who had to teach the bug**** for the next 4 years!
DH has a particular aversion to idiots with funny piercings and do not get him on to tatoos! He also appreciates people who have familiarised themselves with soap and -if male- had a shave in the recent past!

If it’s any consolation, I spent most of my teen years reading comics and being shouted at by my father to read proper books.

An English degree, a spell as a teacher and 20+ years as a journalist later, I think I’ve won the argument (though probably not in my father’s eyes ).

Reading is important; what you read, IMHO, less so.

Are you saying that if he interviewed an intelligent adult who happened to have a few piercings, the odd tattoo and a raggety beard, that he'd be unlikely to offer him a place?

deleted

_________________
Loopy

Why?

Why would having tattoos, piercings and a beard preclude a young man from being brilliant at his subject?

In fact, piercings can be a sign that someone has rejected the 'norm' because they don't fit it which is often the case with very bright people.

Russell Group universities have a very important part to play in shaping the future of our society through their education of the future leaders of that society (yes, I believe in society as well as Society )

Do you really want our children's future to be shaped by tattoos and other wierd self-mutilations?

_________________
Loopy

A colleague's daughter was interviwed this year in Cambridge and was asked by one of the panel her opinion about a problem he was facing on his research regarding a single cell (I think!) organism that lives in the bottom of lakes. He seemed to be quite interested in her answer and she must have answered something reasonable as she was then offered AAAB in her 4 A levels. If she fails to satisfy the conditional offer her insurance option is York.

I do not think it is unreasonable or too old fashioned to expect applicants to wear reasonable clothes. I would most certainly be put off by tattoos or someone so excessively pierced that the air is practically howling through him/her. However I do not mind the odd pierced ear with an elegant earring on, irrespective of gender.

Moreover I can not think of any of my current students having a tattoo on (at least in a place where it can be seen!). In fact I can not recall ever having seen a student with a tattoo in my university.

_________________
sj355

First of all, I dislike the appearance of tattoos and do not find any aesthetically pleasing. I would not, however, assume the person wearing such is a) a bad person or b) a worthless person or c) an unintelligent person.

Tattoos are often the sign of a mixed-up child trying to find a sense of their identity. It may, in fact, be just a phase of their lives out of which they will grow.

Truthfully, I would sooner have an inspirational, highly intelligent teacher with a tattoo than some of the truly pedestrian teachers my children have encountered in the secondary school system.

Interviews are all about impressions. The first impression is coming from someone's appearance as he/she enters the room. If this is negative then it means that you will have to work extra hard to win your panel with your brilliance than otherwise. I do not see why a brilliant applicant would want to burden himself with a negative first impression which he will then have to counteract? In any case as I mentioned I hardly have ever seen such applicants, in economics. It must have something to do with engineering as a discipline!

_________________
sj355