Architecture admissions interviews at the University of Cambridge: Analysis and experience

This article explores the gatekeeping practices in undergraduate Architecture admissions interviews at the University of Cambridge. Using the techniques of Interactional Sociolinguistics, we show how the interview involves two consequential modes of talk – the experiential and subjective on the one hand, and the analytic, rational and objective on the other hand – that derive from the opposed academic traditions that comprise the discipline of Architectural studies. We demonstrate that the interview requires these two modes of talk to be synthesized in specific ways, despite wide variation in how this requirement is signalled within and across the constituent phases of the interview. As such, we show that the means for demonstrating academic competence are linguistic and discursive. Finally, we discuss how the interactional requirements of Admissions interviews compare to those of job interviews.