Happy new year…

Posted on 8 January, 2013 by Graham

Sorry its been a while since my last update. December is a busy month for admissions, but also for teaching – up to Christmas I was running five times my usual office hours for MA students with essays pending, and my dissertation and project supervisees.

Another batch of forms went for processing yesterday, but they just keep coming – two envelopes full drop into my inbox every week! If you applied early, but haven’t yet received a response, don’t worry: I am currently revisiting a pile I put aside and they should be processed on Monday. Ok – back to it…

Forms Schmorms…

Posted on 19 November, 2012 by Graham

Phew – just surfaced from under a pile of 150 forms – the first batch (I know it’s taken a while but, in my defence, I have to look after our current students too…).

I read your form – at least once – scribble some instructions on it – e.g. offer level – and then hand it back to Central Admissions. As soon as my long-suffering admissions assistant (hi Joanne) processes it, the offer is available to view by UCAS track, so watch for movement this week. If I’ve made you an offer, watch for an email coming from us, with some info and an invite to an open day.

I know it’s not fashionable these days to read the form – even in my day, not everyone did it – but I do. For two reasons. Most importantly, if I’m trying to decide if you’re right for us, and we’re right for you, then it’s crazy not to. But also, to be honest, I think it’s a little sad if no-one can find the time to read what you and your referees have invested time and effort in writing *sniff*.

By way of reassurance, there are some excellent personal statements this year, and I have yet to see a duff one.

The games begin…

Posted on 29 October, 2012 by Graham

So, the blog is back after a summer recess. It’s a new cycle, but I’ve left up responses to some frequently asked questions – e.g. when you can expect to receive an offer, and whether we accept General Studies. You can find them in the “FAQ” category of posts.

The first batch of applications have landed on my desk for reading, and I’m busy preparing the email and hard-copy communications we’ll be sending to applicants.

In the blog, I’ll be updating you on my progress through the applications, and answering any general questions you might have about the application process, either for politics in particular or across the sector. For this, or for questions about your particular application, get in touch at graham.long@ncl.ac.uk

Crunch time!

Posted on 7 February, 2012 by Graham

So, the final pile of 30 pre-15 Jan UCAS forms will be in my hands tomorrow, and then it will take me a few days to make my final offers. More offers are being processed all the time, as well: I gave a pile of 70 to central admissions on Monday and these should be appearing on UCAS soon.

This is a busy and stressful time, as I try to keep the standard of the forms I am accepting constant between old and new applications. It’s great to have high demand for our courses, but it also brings headaches: it means I have to regretfully reject some folks that I’d very much like to accept, especially in P+E where demand is up 30%. Plus, in the tightened funding environment we operate in since 9k fees and the government quota changes, everyone is wanting to keep an eye on how many offers I make and at what level. I’m spending a fair amount of time checking with the Head of department and the Dean of faculty about these things.

Updates to the blog have been less frequent than I’d like – this is partly due to the recent arrival of my baby boy, James, a couple of weeks back. I’m only just back from Paternity, and straight into a maelstrom of difficult choices…

I’ll try to post something after the first open day later this week. Don’t panic if you haven’t received an offer yet, we have more open days on 29 Feb and 8 March, and Gillian’s keyboard in central admissions is running hot.(Gillian: if you’re reading this, get back to work :-P)

T’was the week before Christmas…

Posted on 22 December, 2011 by Graham

… and I returned a small batch of forms for processing on monday, but things are quietening down now: I have spent the last couple of days working on a very seasonal article entitled “Killing Civilians in War”, and I “break up” for Christmas tomorrow. I have one pile of the most recent applicants to take a preliminary look through, and a big pile to review and make some decisions on before 3rd of January, when the University as a whole re-opens for business.

In other news, I just received for comment a large .pdf of the consultation document on how UCAS should operate from 2014: I won’t go into the detail, but it’s all change!

Speaking of offers…

Posted on 12 December, 2011 by Graham

… I just handed a bumper bundle to our Central Admissions team for processing – merry Christmas, Gillian 😛

A good number of you will be getting an offer over the next few days, with some formal confirmation from us, and an open day invite, to follow. If you don’t, of course, don’t despair! I have three bundles I haven’t started on yet, and a pile of good applications which I just need to re-read to be sure about…

“When will I receive an offer?”

Posted on 12 December, 2011 by Graham

I know this is a very important question for applicants. Unfortunately the short, unhelpful answer is “it depends”. I say something about this in the email you get from us when we receive your application. But let me try a longer answer…

My selection process operates under two important constraints. The first is that I have a limited number of places, and I can’t give out a set of offers that would lead to over-recruitment. So, things are competitive: it matters how many people are applying, and how strong their applications are. This year, by the way, our applications are up (and for P+E and GEUS, massively so).

The second constraint is that everyone who applies before the UCAS deadline must receive equal consideration: I have to treat all these applicants fairly. Now, please don’t get the sense that this feels like a constraint for me at all – I’m not itching to treat you unfairly, until some dastardly rule stops me. Fairness is my day job, and it should be the first rule of all social institutions. But it does mean I give out offers later than I might otherwise. Suppose I offer a place to a reasonably strong candidate – good predicted grades, decent personal statement – in late November. I am bound by fairness to be sure I can make the same offer to a candidate of equal merit who applies right on the UCAS deadline.

Combine these two constraints, and you can see why I can’t give everyone an offer straight away. I have to be cautious and be sure I only give out offers that I could give, fairly, to all applicants of equal merit. The closer you are to my likely cut-off point, and the stronger the competition, the longer you might have to wait (of course, it also matters when you apply, how long it takes me to get to your form, and how quickly we process the offer onto UCAS).

So, the final decisions for some will have to wait until after the UCAS deadline: it’s only then that I get an accurate picture of the whole field. The latest you’ll hear from us will be the start of February. Every decision I can fairly and safely make before then, I will.

Sickness strikes!

Posted on 5 December, 2011 by Graham

So, the last few weeks have been… challenging. We’ve lost, for now, the member of the Politics admin team responsible for sending out our offer communications (get well soon, Suzanne!) and then flu struck down her replacement – who we were frantically training in our new super-personalised communication systems. In fact, in a rolling programme, flu and colds have been working their way through all the admin staff. Even I, dear reader, was not unaffected, coming down with ‘man flu’ for a few days last week. Hopefully, everything is now back on track, and communications will start flowing again – apologies if we’ve not been in touch with open day information as quickly as we’d have liked.

Gotta read ’em all

Posted on 18 November, 2011 by Graham

So, I’m spending some time this afternoon going through my second pile of forms. Basically, our central admissions team receive your application and send a copy of the form over to me, usually in a bundle of somewhere between 40 and 60. When they drop into my pigeon hole in the politics building, I pick them up and then look to carve out a few hours to take a preliminary look at them. I aim to sort them into strong accepts, accepts, maybes, special cases and rejections: then I revisit categories 2-5 over time to make a final decision, and choose the best offer to make. I’m a little behind and I have two piles here – these are forms processed over the last couple of weeks. Ah well, back to it…

General Studies – what is it good for?

Posted on 18 November, 2011 by Graham

In Politics here, we do accept General Studies: you can use it to fulfil whatever offer we give you (apart from a few very rare instances). Now, I know that not everywhere does this, so here’s a quick explanation of why we do:

First, my predecessor in this role (who ran a far better blog than I’m going to 🙂 ) ran the numbers: applicants who come here with general studies tend to do well, or especially well, on our degree programmes – interestingly, there’s a stronger correlation than for students who have done Politics at A-level.

Second, there are some plausible reasons for this. General studies tests relevant skills – your ability to write well, think critically, and analyse a question or problem. Plus, at least if general studies is similar to when I did it back in 1992(!), it also tests relevant knowledge: notably, background knowledge of world geography, history and current affairs will come in handy on our politics programmes.

Third, these are skills and knowledge that not every applicant gets a chance to demonstrate elsewhere. We know that not every school or college offers Politics, and that not everyone who chooses politics at University chooses it – or other humanities and social sciences – at A level (and so we don’t require it).

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