Thursday 29 November 2012

One week of interviews nearly completed

By the end of tomorrow we will have interviewed (in Cambridge) over 100 applicants, next week another 250 candidates will be coming for interviews and the following week there will be another 100. At last everything is in place, everyone has replied and we're set for a busy week.  I hope those of you coming for interviews in the next two weeks have good journeys here and I hope you'll enjoy being here in Christ's. We've had some great emails from people who had their interviews last week, here's an example "I wanted to thank you, and the rest of the admissions team for your correspondence over the past month or so, I had my interviews today which I thoroughly enjoyed and the porters were very helpful in their guidance." So that person found it not so scary and managed to enjoy the experience - I hope you will too!
Just a hint, if you can aim to arrive at the Porters' Lodge 20-30 minutes before your first appointment this will give you time to get yourself checked in and time to find the interview room. This is especially important if your first appointment is a written test - there's likely to be several other people arriving at the same time so a queue can build up which might delay you if you haven't allowed quite enough time. We don't want you arriving all stressed and harrassed!
Have a good weekend and relax - most people find interviews fun rather than an ordeal!

Thursday 22 November 2012

I hope you have all heard from me . . .

I've finished all the interview scheduling now so I hope you have all received an email from me either inviting you to attend interview or, sadly, an email saying that we are not able to offer the opportunity to attend interviews. If you have not heard please email admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk and I will get back to you straight away.
The interviews have started already with just a few candidates coming to the College this week. Next week will be a bit busier and the following week will be absolutely packed, interviews wall to wall! So I'm looking forward to meeting some of you and, for those who are coming to interviews, may I wish you all the very best. But don't forget, there are only about 125 places and we're interviewing almost 500 of you so the competition for places is intense.

Thursday 8 November 2012

Still timetabling interviews!

I've been working very hard trying to schedule interviews, not an easy task!
What I really need from you (those of you who have applied for certain Arts subjects) are your essays! Please send them to me as soon as you can. The instructions are
are available at http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/your_application/ just click on the link entitled FOR YOUR SUBJECT
You'll find everything you need there, including the cover sheet and a reminder of the deadline which is a week today, Thursday 15th November.
If you decide to send them by recorded or delivery, it's unlikely that the Royal Mail track and trace facility will work so I recommend that you include a stamped addressed postcard or sealed down envelope which we will return to you as your receipt.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Written work

Don't forget that the deadline for receipt of written work is 15th November. Please check the applicants' website for your particular subject for details about the work you should send http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate-applications/applinfo/subject_interview_info/
In all cases work submitted must be your own original work, marked by your usual teacher and relevant to the subject for which you are applying. It should have been completed recently during your normal course of study. A separate cover sheet (word 97-03 or pdf) for each piece of work must be completed and returned with your work. It is acceptable to email your work as an attachment. The email address is admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk The quality of a fax is not generally good enough so we do not recommend this method.
If you send your work in an A4 envelope by first-class post, please ensure that you pay the correct postage (see Royal Mail Pricefinder for full information - it will be a LARGE letter). The postage address is The Admissions Office, Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU). To enable us to confirm that your work has arrived, please enclose a stamped self-addressed postcard or sealed-down envelope. If you do this it is not necessary to use recorded delivery, in fact, recorded delivery to a Cambridge College is not logged on the "Track and Trace" website so a stamped self-addressed receipt is much more reliable - and cheaper!

Monday 5 November 2012

Invitations to interviews . . .

Well, we've sent out a few invitations to interview today, in some of the subjects where the interviews take place early (before December). Although we won't be able to invite everyone to come to interviews in Cambridge, if you have not heard yet don't panic! It takes a long time to organise over 600 interviews (times two) and various written tests, pre-interview reading etc. We'll send out interview invitations as soon as they are scheduled so be patient and give us a week or two. If we decide not to invite you to come to interviews in Cambridge we will let you know before the end of November.
We've been having some lovely sunshine in Cambridge although it's very cold. Have a look at the front page of our College website http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/

Friday 2 November 2012

Missing photos

We're just going through all the paperwork (over 600 applications!) and we've noticed that a few of you have not yet submitted a passport style photograph to complete your application. Would you kindly send a recent photo of yourself as soon as you can? Full instructions are available on page 6 of http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/publications/docs/saq.pdf and the photograph submission form may be found at http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/forms/photo.pdf

You can send an electronic photo direct to the admissions email address admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk

We're beginning to schedule the interviews for the subjects holding interviews in November and some of you will be hearing early next week about your interview arrangements. Don't forget to keep checking your emails and be sure to reply to any messages which require a reply.

For those of you who were on half term holiday last week, I hope you had a great time. Let me wish everyone a good weekend!

Thursday 1 November 2012

Information on the applicants' website

I've realised that some people have not yet found the information about their subject, including the instructions for sending written work on the website. On the main page http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate-applications/applinfo/ look at the fifth paragraph down where you’ll see the text: "Please regularly check here for details about submitting written work, tests and other interview information FOR YOUR SUBJECT. Further information will be added as soon as it becomes available.
The deadline for receipt of written work (if required) is Tuesday 15th November but if you can send your work before that date, please do so."
Click on the words FOR YOUR SUBJECT and you will be taken to the subject pages where you can click on the subject for which you have applied. The coversheet is linked to the words word 97-03 or pdf in the paragraph “In all cases work submitted must be your own original work, marked by your usual teacher and relevant to the subject for which you are applying. It should have been completed recently during your normal course of study. A separate cover sheet (word 97-03 or pdf) for each piece of work must be completed and returned with your work. The deadline for the receipt of work is 15th November. It is acceptable to email your work as an attachment. The email address is admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk The quality of a fax is not generally good enough so we do not recommend this method.”