What happens now? When's my interview letter coming?

It's the end of October. We now have final numbers and have received all of our Open applications as well as our "preference" applicants.

I hope to upload the Open applicants into my computer tomorrow, send them their initial response letters and then get on with interview letters starting on Friday, or maybe Monday.

Yes, we almost have a functioning interview schedule now we have final numbers! There's a little to-ing and fro-ing with interviewers to finalise things (imagine a very big and complex jigsaw puzzle involving 48 different people's diaries) and then we can assign individual slots.

This is what I do:

1. I send e-mails to everyone who will be catching a plane to interview and give them just the date they'll need to be here. We have folks coming in from Australia this year (sorry Aussies - you still can't beat the Tasmanian who flew in for the 2005 interviews!).

2. I start with the first subject to be interviewed, schedule individual slots and write their letters. Then I take the second subject, and so on. It's taken me about 2 weeks in the past but hopefully the new software will speed things up a bit. The last letters should be out by the end of the 3rd week of November and those late letters will refer to letters right at the end of the interview period so that should be fine.

If you may have a problem with the dates, do let me know. I will work around funerals, public exams and religious observances, try my best with school plays, concerts and driving tests and ignore anything involving Christmas shopping! (Oh yes, I've been asked!) Every year, however hard we try, someone will have to miss out on being in a play or attending a family dinner. I know these things are really important too but it is almost impossible to rearrange some interviews and it can't always be done. Tell me EARLY guys, and I'll do my level best but you do basically need to be free between the 5th December and 19th December (including Saturday 13th)!

I'll try and let you know every few days from next week onwards which subjects' letters have gone out so that you know when to watch the post-box!

For now, enjoy the rest of half-term if you're still on holiday and keep up the background reading!