Got interview for MSc, never had academic interview before,,, Tips?

[psychoveggie]

I am hoping to back to study (graduated in 2007 then had DS, been working in a relevant area since 2009) and have just found out this morning that I've got an interview for a masters course! The letter said there will be a group interview/discussion followed by individual interviews in the afternoon and I'm not sure how to prepare.

I never had an interview for my undergrad and so I've only ever had job interviews. What am I likely to encounter? I don't want to be too specific (paranoid about being identified) but it's kind of social sciences/education.

Thanks in advance.

I just did an MA with the OU. I can't imagine it will be anything too scary so don't worry. I have a group interview for my BA and it was just to see how you contributed to the discussion and to learn about you. For the area you want to study, your ability to interact and work with people is vital so they need to ensure that you can do that - something they won't be able to tell from an application form.

Masters are a great deal friendlier than being an Undergrad! I can't imagine that the group interview will differ from my undergrad one - just a discussion on a topic relevant to your course. It should really be about personal application rather than knowledge so apart from reading up on your topic of study there is little prep you can do - it might also seem strange if you seem a little too well applied! It will also be about how you interact with others and how you work within a team or group or people.

Individual interviews are usually just to get to know you better, to ask you further about your application and to clarify things. They might also ask why you want to study X, why at X, what you feel you want to achieve by doing the course and hope to get out of it, and how you plan to manage the workload. A master can involved lots of good time management and personal study so they will want examples of how you plan to manage that i.e. how will it fit in with you having small children (my DD was a baby when I started mine!) or any other commitments you might have. In education, they sometimes ask why you want to go into that field to weed out people who are doing it 'in case it comes in useful'. They might also want to see that you are capable of the work ahead.

Good luck - getting my MA was one of the best moments in my life!

Thanks very much for that detailed reply, really appreciate it. Have never thought about why i chose university tbh as it's the only place that offers the course this year, however i will do a bit of homework on it now. Also, do you think the not having to swot up on the academic side is still true when it's an extremely competitive course? Roughly 8-10 applictions for every place- not sure what proportion get through to interview stage though. Thanks again!