Hey guys and girls,

So, I got an e-mail today at 3pm telling me that the university would like me to come for an interview. Grand. Brilliant. Firstly, though, they called me 'Jake', which isn't my name, so I had to e-mail back to double-check that it was meant for me. By 4pm I found it was meant for me, and the e-mail had a hyperlink with the suggested meeting attached (you know, the ones in the outlook program). The link says 22/04/2015 at 8am. This is in Newcastle and I'm in Coventry. I also have a 5000 word essay due on Thursday. There's no way I can make that at such short notice (literally do not have the money) and even if I did I've had no time to prepare, so I'd bomb hard.

Surely this can't be right? I've never heard of a PhD interview being such short notice. Anyone else have any experience with this?

I'm freaking out here.

Never heard of it... so what did you do?

I think it's a cock-up, and that even when you queried your 'identity' they still didn't cop on. It sounds as if it was intended for someone who a) had been warned to expect the possibility of a short-notice change of plan, and b) who lived far more locally in order to accomodate it.

If that's not, however, the case, you may wish to judge the quality of the post-grad institution by the efficiency of their post-grad office!

Ask them if they could either postpone it due to the very short notice or if you could have the interview through Skype (if you feel comfortable with that)

That doesn't sound right - there's no way Uni lecturers would be up for 8am interviews! Just drop them another email, it would be totally unfair to expect you to attend the next day, at 8am or otherwise.