Description: Oxford graduate Jacob shares his experience of attending an interview at Oxford University, providing some useful tips for the interview process.
It has been a few years now since I went for my own interview at Oxford university. The whole process was rather daunting, as I was the first from my school to go to the university.
My family dropped me off at Magdalen College. I was quickly rushed off to have a meeting with the rest of the applicants and a few professors, after my mother had quickly handed me her phone (I had forgotten my own in all the excitement and stress of getting ready for the interview).
That phone went off, starting my time at Oxford with a few awkward glances from my fellow applicants and Oxford professors as I fumbled with my pockets to turn it off.
Oxford is a prestigious university; its name carries a certain level of weight and, for those who know little about the university (like my past fumbling self) an interview at Oxford creates a mix of excitement and fear. It is, of course, fun to talk about the topics you enjoy, I loved discussing history, both ancient and modern, with professors who had spent their whole lives dedicated to academia.
Nevertheless, fear comes from the pressure you can feel when presented with the interviews and do not know what to expect. However, hopefully here I will be able to provide a few tips for the interviews, or at least a little insight into them, to help prospective Oxbridge applicants.
What happens?
It can be hard to actually find any clear answers on what actually happens in these interviews. This is not because there are any secret techniques Oxford wishes to keep hidden, that only it uses to select applicants.
In reality, for some reason Oxford is just not very good at just writing bluntly about what happens in these interviews.
You will go to whichever college you applied to, in my case this was Magdalen college, and they will provide you with a room and meals while you are having your interview. When you first arrive, you will be shown around the college by students who are currently at Oxford, there will be a brief meeting with a few professors who explain what the interview process will be like.
After this, you are shown to a room where a board has people’s names, with the time and location of their interview on it. You can, if you are uncertain where your interview is, ask one of the current students at Oxford who are helping with this process, to show you there. I would recommend this as, when I went for my own interview, I was late to one due to getting lost in some of the colleges long hallways.
Once you have completed all your interviews at one college, you may be offered others at other Oxford colleges. I recommend going to these, as Oxford professors will often discuss amongst themselves where they think a student would be best placed, and if you are offered another interview it may just be that they think another college would suit you better.
Personally, I ended up at Balliol college, and have enjoyed it immensely, so I can attest to the professors ability to judge where a student should go.
How to prepare?
You do not need too much preparation really for the interviews, beyond just being able to discuss the subject you are applying for.
What the professors want to see is your passion, talking to friends and family about what interests you about the subject, learning to respond to counter arguments is all that is really needed.
It is, although this can sound stressful, impossible to fully prepare for the interview. Each professor will interview students differently, some are kinder, and some can come across harsher, but often times those professors that disagree with your ideas the most, are the ones who are the most interested in your ideas.
The interview – Be calm
When it comes to what you should do during the interviews, it is surprisingly easy to provide advice.
The first piece of advice I would give is to remain calm. Now, admittedly, telling someone to remain calm is just about the worst way to actually help them calm down, but in this case I hope this advice can be useful.
What Oxford actually wants to see during an interview is you, wear the clothes that make you comfortable during the interview, speak as you normally would to the professors. This advice may seem obvious to some, but I remember many Oxford applicants who attempted to change how they sounded and looked when they went for their interviews at the university.
Being calm does not mean just ignoring the stresses of the situation completely, that is impossible. All it means is reminding yourself not to overthink.
If you are being invited to an interview at Oxford, even if you do not get in, you clearly have a slew of opportunities awaiting you in the future. So, don’t put yourself under too much pressure.
The interview – Be confident
This does not mean putting on a strange overly confident persona, it just means that, when the professors are interviewing you, you should be confident enough during your interactions with them to create a back and forth.
Particularly in history, professors love it when a student is able to argue with them a little bit about their subject, they enjoy meandering off topic if the student is able to pull their attention away from the intended questions.
So, have fun with your interview and enjoy discussing your subject. If something does not make sense to you, ask the professor to clarify. They do not expect someone they are interviewing to know everything, they would not need to educate anyone if that was the case. All they want are confident students, who share their passion for academia.
Final Advice
The last little thing I can provide here is just a good luck for anyone considering, or currently going through the process, of trying to get into Oxford. While I will hope my advice here is more helpful for people trying to get through their interviews, a little bit of luck never hurts.