University Challenge..anyone had any experience of trying to get on? (DD is getting no help from uni)

[shadypines]

Hi, DD has had a big ambition for a year now to want to try and get on UC but since starting her uni course (she is on campus)she has hit one brick wall after another.

Paxman announces what to do on the show so she goes down the avenues of Student's Union and JCR but gets nowhere. Each person she gets in touch with tells her to try another contact, she tries the suggested contact and they send her to another contact until eventually she's gone back to square one.

I feel so sorry for her, one of the things that kept her going during Lockdown last year was reading up on topics to boost her knowledge.

I realise Covid has played some part as it has done with everything but I fail to see how it has hampered things to the extent that no one can help!

Any thoughts please?

Sadly I think she's too late this year. I believe the preliminary auditions have already been arranged for the next season as they are due to start filming this Spring.

Has her university or college entered a team in recent years? If they haven't, there probably isn't a "contact" who organises it. The universities organise the teams and selection process themselves.

She could try contacting the production company to ask who they liaise with at her university.

I was knocked out before we got to the telly. We went to a TV office, sat around a table and the TV person played a tape of Paxman asking questions, and we wrote down the answers. My university sent two teams, we should have sent one team with the strongest contestants in it! She should just get a team together and enter!

Thanks everyone, yes she realises she's too late for this year but she is glad as it gives her more reading time. Yes her uni has entered a team in recent years but not this year (as in the current programme on air).

I've told her to write to Paxman in desperation. Love51 looks like that is what she will end up doing and she is goin to try orange's idea too.

I'm starting to think the Challenge is trying to get on the bloody thing, never mind answering questions!

The university usually have auditions, for non collegiate universities the students unions often run this, there may be be a society which runs this. Not collegiate the process is presumably done in house.

Many more teams are involved than get in the TV and some universities take it more seriously than others Manchester for example take it very seriously. There was a documentary about the process a few years ago , maybe try YouTube.

It is not an individual thing but a team application so there would be no point in writing to the programme.

It is not an individual thing but a team application so there would be no point in writing to the programme.

The production company liaises with the university contact though. They were (although maybe not now, I am ancient) proactive in recruiting teams ie they contacted the JCR president/quiz team president/SU Entz officer, whoever's role it was to recruit a team.

Maybe she could organise a team! Would she ask her SU president if she could set up a soc?

Can she try and track down a previous contestant from her college on social media and ask them how it worked?!

I was on the team. College sent out an announcement to everyone by mail and held a written exam.

thanks again for all replies...EduCated yes this was her strategy last week and the reply she got was to try SU or whoever she's already tried, as I said, round in circles!

It sounds like she'll just need to take the bull by the horns as it's getting beyond ridiculous. Her uni is supposed to be one of the top ones but it's falling short in my book at the moment .

He’s a member of the London library. Maybe when things re open she could accidentally bump in to him there

One of my friends was on a celebrity version of it a few years ago. I was sooo jealous.

I hope she gets on to it.

A letter (probably an email) normally goes to the Student President or equivalent.

At my DS's uni, this is run by the quiz club. They hold auditions in September. It's not just about the TV show - there are also competitions with other universities.