Interview for Child Nursing BSc

About your interview

Interview format

Our online interviews take the form of a group interview and are designed to assess your thinking skills, your personal values, and your ability to communicate. Each of these are important in shaping the kind of nurse you will be, and at Dundee we look for these positive attributes in our applicants, and will develop them in our students. 

On the day of the interview, you will be briefed by a member of staff before being allocated to a group of 8 - 10 other applicants.

Group discussions 

You will be asked to participate in two different discussions.

1. You must prepare a one-minute verbal presentation to share with the group, answering the following question:

Why have you chosen to study nursing and in particular the field of nursing you have applied for, and what qualities and experiences do you have that will make you a successful nurse? 

Tip for the first question: Highlight the qualities that you possess that you think will enable you to be a good/successful nurse. You can use past experiences to demonstrate these qualities.

You may use brief points written on cue cards for reference, but don’t prepare a PowerPoint or read from notes.

2. You will then be given a scenario along with a question. Each applicant in the group will be asked a different question, and you will be asked to respond individually.

For example, we might show everyone a photo of a person experiencing homelessness on the street. We would then ask each applicant a specific question about the photo. For example:

• Applicant 1: What are your thoughts on homelessness?
• Applicant 2: Why is homelessness a concern today?
• Applicant 3: What attributes do you think are required to work with very vulnerable people?
• Applicant 4: Why do you think we have included a scenario like this in a nursing interview? 

Tip for the scenario question: For these scenarios, think about what it might be like if you were in the person’s place. How would you want other people to respond to you and support you? Also think about why so many social/public issues are important topics within nursing.

On the day 

We use the video conferencing tool Blackboard Collaborate for our online interviews. Before the day of the interview, you will receive a confirmation email that gives you the date and time of your interview, and a link to access your interview. There is no need to register for an account or log in; simply click the link in your email to join the interview online at the time stated in your confirmation email. Although most browsers work, we find that Google Chrome is the most reliable. And if possible, use a computer rather than your phone (although the phone usually works).

Dress Code 

For your interview you should dress smartly, the same way you would for an in-person interview. 

Running late 

If you are running late on the day of your interview, please email [email protected] as soon as possible.

Managing your nerves 

We know that interviews can be stressful, and we don't want this to stop you from giving your best performance. If it's obvious that you're becoming a bit flustered, our interviewers will be helpful and encouraging and will put you at ease. 

Interview tip: Take your time in answering the questions. If you become overwhelmed, you can ask the interviewer to come back to you once someone else has spoken. This is not a test. We want to get the best from you.

Timescales 

Invite to interview 

If you are invited to an interview, we will email your invitation to the email address you have used to apply. You will not be notified of an invitation via UCAS.

Rather than issuing all invitations at once, we release them in phases depending on when your application has been assessed by our Admissions Team. 

Interview timings 

Your interview will last 1.5 hours. This includes a short briefing and arranging you into your interview group. You will also have the opportunity to attend an optional Q&A with staff from the School of Health Sciences after your interview if you have any questions. 

Interview outcome 

After the interview, some early decisions will be communicated but most applicants will be notified after all our interviews are completed. Final decisions will be made by the UCAS deadline. This decision will be communicated via UCAS and will be sent to the email address you have used to apply.