As many people will be starting to look at applying for the course in September, we thought we would share our interview experiences with you.
Harriet (Secretary):
I remember being so nervous for my interview as there really wasn’t a lot of advice out there on how to approach it and I had to panic to get the day off work. As a mature student, I was worried that because I hadn’t been in formal education for a couple of years that this would impact my interview. Let me tell you this was not the case! For me I felt like the purpose of the interview was for the tutors to get a feel for me and whether I had the base skills needed to make a good speech therapist. My biggest piece of advice to any prospective students is be honest and don’t rush the interview process they aren’t looking for perfection.
Fiona (Treasurer):
As a huge stress head, I was so nervous for my interview, especially as I knew that I really wanted to attend BCU. I watched lots of “interview tips” videos on YouTube and read as many blog/articles so on the day my head was spinning with information. However, once I met the lecturers, I felt a lot more at ease and it was evident that they really wanted you to flourish. They are all aware that the whole process can be stressful and a patient with you if you get stuck on a question. I think the key thing to do is be yourself and really take your time during the interview. If you need time to think then tell them as they’re more than happy to allow you to think and read your notes.
Emily (Fundraising Co-Ordinator):
My interview experience feels so long ago now that I’ve been at uni for 2 years, I remember at the time interviews were so daunting to me, but I did actually enjoy the professional feeling about them and the process of taking that first step toward SLT. BCU was my 3rd of 4 interviews and so having been to 2 already I felt like I had some idea of the process, but it was still scary going to each individual one, especially if it was your first choice, as BCU was for me. Being someone with low confidence and having absolutely no belief that I would pass any of the interviews I went to, it felt like there was so much that could go wrong because to me, everyone else appeared that bit more worthy of the place. However, at every interview I went to, I soon realised that everyone was in the same boat- we all just wanted to do well, and it was a new environment and process for all of us. Something I found really comforting within the BCU interview experience, but was relatively similar across all the interviews, was it being in small sections and split into different activities which made it feel less daunting and gave you time to process between each stage or just have a chat to the other people in the group. Having a mix of a group task, written task, individual interview e.t.c, made it feel like they wanted to highlight different areas of strength for each person which then put you at ease that the pressure wasn’t all on one particular part of the day. Part of the interview day involved having a tour which was such a nice way of calming our nerves and also gave you an experience of the uni environment outside of an open day and overall the day was a lot less nerve-wracking than I expected it to be.
Eloise (Fundraising Co-Ordinator):
My BCU interview was 2/3 of my interviews, my first hadn’t gone well at all so I was stressing before I got there. However, as soon as I had registered and sat down I began to relax. You soon realise all students there are feeling the same as you and all lecturers are there to help and not trip you up. During my interview there was a task to answer questions based off a video, this isn’t as difficult as it sounds, just use common sense and it’ll fly by! For the actual interview we were only asked 3 simple questions, mine was over within 10 minutes!
My advice would be to get stuck in no matter how daunting it is, talk with those around you and don’t be afraid to chat with the lecturers and ask questions. It never hurts to make sure you’re mentioning all relevant experience and inspirations! Good luck and remember you’ve been picked for an interview for a reason!
Francesca (President):
My interview experience was slightly different as I applied for the course through clearing. The university was extremely quiet, and there were only two other people being interviewed at the same time. The interview lasted around 3 hours in total, however some of this time was waiting for the other applicants to be interviewed. There were three parts to the interview, a face to face interview with lecturers on the course, and a couple of data analysis tasks. This part made me panic as I had no previous experience or knowledge of how to do this. I took my time and used my common sense. The staff were brilliant at explaining things and were happy to answer questions.
If you would like to know more about applying through clearing, read our previous post entitled 'Applying through Clearing - My experience'.
If you would like to share your interview experience, email it to us at saltsoc@teambcu.co.uk or leave it in the comments below!