All students come to university with an idea of how their academic years will be spent. You might dream of becoming student president, making the sports team, or maybe you just want to smash out your degree while cramming in as much partying as possible. Everyone has different intentions for their student years.
For those with more academic pursuits in mind, you may have considered a spot on your uni’s University Challenge team.
To get you started on your University Challenge journey, we’ve looked into the full application process and debunked how smart you really need to be to apply. Let’s get quizzing.
University Challenge: Application process explained
Your first port of call if you want to apply for University Challenge is your Student Union. If you are enrolled at a UK university or university college, your Student Union will have received instructions on how to apply for University Challenge. This process involves forming a team and making an official application to the producers.
How your union decides to form the team is entirely independent. Some universities decide to hold tryouts, others just choose their mates, according to one former University Challenge winner. Universities who have excelled on the series, such as Manchester University, have an incredibly rigorous application process. This is overseen by Stephen Pearson, a member of the library staff nicknamed “the Alex Ferguson of University Challenge.”
Once the team is formed – four team members plus one reserve – you submit your team to the programme makers. They then assess if you are strong enough to participate. This is often assessed by the team achieving a baseline mark in a test paper. You will also have an interview session where your team will demonstrate a solid level of general knowledge.
If you are looking for more information on how to get involved, you can contact the programme directly by emailing [email protected]. ITV Studios produces the show for BBC Two.
But how smart do you really need to be to apply?
If you’re already feeling daunted by the rigorous application process, you might be questioning whether you have the chops to take on Paxman.
In short, you need to be very smart. If you go to a university where the application process is rigorous (Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge), you need to be even more of a whizz. Previous contestants have revealed that they often applied more than once to get on the show. Many of them have also been watching the show since they were children and were seasoned quizzers.
You will need a good grasp of general knowledge, literature, the arts, sciences, and maths as a baseline.
To test out whether you’d make a good applicant, St John’s College, Cambridge have created a quiz to see how you’d fare. You can take it here if you’re feeling up for the challenge.
How to prepare for University Challenge
If you have made it this far and are still thinking about applying for University Challenge, then the best advice we can offer you is to quiz, quiz, and quiz again.
Broadening your general knowledge through research and wider reading will be beneficial. If you’re lucky enough, your subject will come in handy, but it’s good to have a wide range of general knowledge if you make it on the show. Your team will probably divide itself into specialist areas such as Arts, Sciences, History, Sports and so on.
One previous contestant revealed that he spent his free time outside of class trawling Wikipedia on the Monarchs of England and Scotland, the Prime Ministers, and the US presidents; these were his specialist areas. It’s a lot to take on outside of a degree, so only apply if you feel ready. They don’t call it a challenge for nothing!