Hello! I was wondering if anybody had any information regarding the CA application process that happens every year? I have my 'Assessment Centre' portion this week and I'm a little nervous so I wanted to get some background information from anyone who's gone through this process before. I'm just wondering about things like:

1. What usually happens at these interviews? To the best of my knowledge it's mainly group exercises to see how well you get along with the other candidates.
2. What is the next stage after this? Is this what decides who gets called back and who doesn't?
3. How long does it usually take to find out about the result of the assessment centres? (i.e if you made the cut or you didn't) - I am wondering because I am trying to figure out my housing situation next year and knowing if I'll be a CA or not will decide whether I need to go out and look for places to live

Thank you for all of your help!

Originally Posted by JumbotronDave

Hello! I was wondering if anybody had any information regarding the CA application process that happens every year? I have my 'Assessment Centre' portion this week and I'm a little nervous so I wanted to get some background information from anyone who's gone through this process before. I'm just wondering about things like:

1. What usually happens at these interviews? To the best of my knowledge it's mainly group exercises to see how well you get along with the other candidates.
2. What is the next stage after this? Is this what decides who gets called back and who doesn't?
3. How long does it usually take to find out about the result of the assessment centres? (i.e if you made the cut or you didn't) - I am wondering because I am trying to figure out my housing situation next year and knowing if I'll be a CA or not will decide whether I need to go out and look for places to live

Thank you for all of your help!

Hey! That's great that you're applying to be a CA! I was a CA and it was such a great experience, so I definitely highly recommend it! The assessment centre (at least when I did it, but I don't believe it's changed this year) consists of 3 stations - 2 involve group activities and the final one is a one-on-one interview. Just be yourself, have fun, show them who you really are and don't be nervous! After the assessment centre, they'll email you whether you made it, you're on the waiting list or their regrets. If I remember correctly, decisions were sent out the week following assessment centres, so you should find out by end of January-beginning of February at the absolute latest. Let me know if you have any other questions!

What kind of questions do they ask in the interview?

Hey Sara! Thank you for the reply If you don't mind I've got a couple more quick questions...

• When they email you the following week-ish, is that when all the final details are sent out? i.e what res you'll be in, when training starts and so on..or is it only that you've been selected as a CA?
• In terms of the assessment centre, how close should I be treating it to a real interview? i.e. do I dress up, bring copies of my resume and so on..I just don't know what to expect..
• This is probably more opinionated: how much do you think being a CA takes out of your time/affects your academics? Typically for my program I have around 30 hours of class/labs a week per term and I haven't heard from anyone in Eng about being a CA apart from one person who posted on MacInsiders before and they said that it was manageable..but it's probably different from person to person anyway, so I want to know what you think of the time commitment.

Thanks again for all of your help