Interviews for Oxford

Read a current student's interview experience.

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The thought of having to go through an interview as part of the application process for Oxford may seem a bit intimidating. They form an important part of the Oxford selection procedure and are certainly exhilarating and memorable. However, they need not be nerve-racking.

In fact, most students at Oxford think that the interview process is the fairest way for people to be selected. This is because, for most subjects, the main thing is not how much you know. Instead, what is really important is how you think: the ways in which you use the information that you have, the way you respond to new information and assimilate it into your argument, and the way you react to challenging questions, which perhaps lead you to examine your subject from a different angle or in a changed light.

As you find the right words to express yourself, you are engaged in a creative process.

It's Your Interview.
This means that there are lots of ways of getting your interview right. In fact there are as many ways as there are different personalities. As you find the right words to express yourself, you are engaged in a creative process. In this way the tutors can find out much more about you and can make a much more considered and fair judgement than if they relied solely on your UCAS form. The interview is perhaps an equalizer in this respect, giving everybody the chance to express themselves in their best light in a way which gets beyond the surface - be you confident or nervous - to what you are really like. If you are confident about your ability to think (and you should be!) then you should be confident about doing the interview. This does not mean you will not be stretched and challenged - that is the whole point. But you will be up to it.

All in all it is quite a pleasant experience.

The Interview Process
If this seems too much like waffle, you will probably be more interested in some more specific details about the procedure. If you apply and are invited for interview then when you come up you will probably stay in a lovely room at Merton for a few nights, and get fed delicious (the best in Oxford!) free food. During the interview week there are always lots of friendly Merton students around who will take you to your room, show you to where you need to go, organize trips and games, and who will generally be nice and helpful at every opportunity (as well as plying you with biscuits!). It is also a great chance to meet some new people - at this point any fears you have that everybody else will be super intelligent all melt away. You will probably mostly talk about the most recent episode of Neighbours or the cricket results or the state of the railways as well as the obligatory WheredoyoucomefromwhatA-levelsdoyoudowhatschooldoyougoto? kind of conversations. All in all it is quite a pleasant experience.

And, especially if you are prepared, there is no reason why the interviews shouldn't be a positive experience. You will almost certainly have several interviews, which means that you have more than one opportunity to prove yourself. In order to further improve your chances some candidates will also have interviews at other colleges - again these represent more chances for you to shine.

How To Prepare
The best advice is for you to read around your subject, or (in maths, for example) for you to extend the scope of your knowledge in your subject. Some people may wish to develop very personal interests within their subject areas; others may wish to explore a wider range of ideas. Practice interviews are also useful - try asking teachers, friends or relatives to interview you. Ideally, these will be subject-specific, so that you get used to answering questions about philosophy or maths or medicine, or whatever, rather than just talking about the last novel you read. You may wish to come to a practice interview session at Merton College.

My advice when in the interview is to be confident, but humble: not afraid to put forward ideas and interpretations and ready to defend them, but also alert to other possibilities and aware that there may be better approaches and that you probably do not have as much knowledge on the subject as the person interviewing you. Furthermore, be nice! I always think that politeness and smiling go a long way.

This has all been very broad. If you would like more specific information, for instance about your subject area, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the tutor for admissions or one of the student contacts. At the very least, I hope it is clear that although you should be ready to be stretched and challenged, you should not regard the process as some kind of unnatural horror. For almost everyone the interviews are a very positive experience. If you are confident in your ability to think then you should definitely apply.