Oxbridge 2015 #2

[Molio]

Continuing Roisin's thread.

I've even succumbed to TSR, having sworn I wouldn't. Still no news here and haven't heard of news from any other source in the same subject at the same college but being very uncool tbh as the reality is that rejection after an interview would be much kinder for DS than a no ab initio. Massively cheered by a late afternoon offer from Bristol though. I thought I was chilled, I'm clearly not .

Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting and hoping. It's very hard to see them disappointed, is the problem :(

GraceFox, the medicine interviews are not till the 14/15 Dec so around 10 days notice I suppose. I guess anyone hoping for an interview will have avoided making other plans for those days

Figment, I can't remember now what my son wore - it wasn't a hoodie, but I think he just wore something fairly casual - clean, but frankly that's about it! He got an offer, so it can't have been a dealbreaker.

DS came home from school with an email inviting him for interview. All v. exciting!

Good news Molio and Yoga and everyone else who has interviews!

Sorry Gracefox I wasn't trying to out you, just trying to say that the odds even up a bit once you've got to the interview stage.

Well done to today's interviewees, this time next week DS will have finished all of his and I'll be testing my ability to forget about the whole thing!

The clothes worn for interviewers vary immensely and are unlikely to be deal-breakers. However, I personally wouldn't expect a student to come in jeans, not even smart ones.

Hello all: just wishing all the DC good luck and courage for their interviews!
Comfortable shoes are essential as they sometimes have to stand up to make a point.
Also make sure DC checks they have 2 interviews. There should be a college interview and a faculty interview for Oxford. Though mostly well organised, sometimes the second interview doesn't get scheduled and if this happens ask school to ring the faculty pronto and before DC leaves. This is important. All DC invited for interview have the right to the same chance.

You'd love the smart, ultra black, super spray on skinnies that my DS is planning on taking uilen

If rejected by the college but accepted by the faculty DC may be interviewed by another college. So look out on the notice boards and not to leave until sure there are no more interviews.

What's on earth is wrong with jeans? (I'm talking not ripped, not smelly, not showing inches of underwear.)

Is it just that the sheer classlessness of blue denim doesn't demonstrate a sufficient degree of social aspiration?

The advice on what to wear at interview on DS's college website says jeans and t shirt are fine. DS is wearing smart black jeans and a shirt, he's a bit on the skinny side so they aren't ultra spray on like PD6966's DS

The relevant page for the college interviewing my daughter contains the lines:-

"There is no need to dress formally, and it is not necessary to wear a suit; wear whatever you feel comfortable in. You are not being assessed on your clothes."

I wonder what outrageous outfits some have gone in, in the past?!

virelai I agree with you about the colleges helping all the interviewees.

However, on one evening my DD2 (as an interviewee) decided that the Turf was worth a visit. She knew how to get there, nobody else did. She wasn't even 18.... They all went to the Turn and loved it, brazier and all!

Might have helped them relax

Just wanted to highlight that different subjects do different things, so in my subject in Oxford we do two college interviews for all. Other colleges may do different things, and Cambridge may do different things, so don't expect all subjects to work the same way. In most Oxford colleges, as far as I know, there will be noticeboards or information sheets for each subject which will give a timetable making clear what interviews are happening when, and what the process will be (i.e. for interviews at other colleges etc). funny person's advice would not be right for my subject unfortunately, but may be right for a different subject/college/university. The most important thing for candidates is to pay attention to their specific timetable/information sheet at their college, and to ask the JCR helpers to check anything that is not clear to them. I am always sad when someone gets lost or misses their slot (we of course then rearrange!) because they didn't ask for help or confirmation.

Jeans and a t-shirt or jumper would be fine, as would anything within reason - we pay very little attention to what anyone is wearing given that we are concentrating on making the right academic decisions. We certainly would not make any decision based on what a candidate was wearing. We interviewers are fairly normal types and we all know the various sorts of clothes sixth-formers wear, and so we are just expecting them to look like all the various sorts of 'normal' (or indeed eccentric!) that you see in 'real-life'!

I wouldn't have expected that their clothes would be taken into consideration at all. All the advice we have heard has been wear what you feel comfortable in as it really doesn't matter. Dd is wearing black jeans and a jumper.

I did say that students aren't going to be judged on their clothes and that their choices vary immensely.

I wouldn't wear jeans for such an interview and I wouldn't send my DC wearing jeans. But this is my personal viewpoint. (One which has absolutely nothing to do with social aspiration.) Conversely I also wouldn't send my DC wearing formal suits, as they could feel uncomfortable and over-dressed. Both jeans and suits are within the norm, though, and as an interviewer you are so busy that you actually barely notice what people are wearing unless it is utterly outlandish (which occasionally happens).

Just been informed that a suit will also be worn in rotation with the skinnies as DS is there for potentially four days - anyone else's DC there for English?

Dd is being interviewed at Cambridge for English but one of her friends has an Oxford interview for English.

Hope the written test and interviews go well Mrs Bartlett. I really thought DS might go for Cambridge (I loved Clare) but set on Oxford

DD will also be there for four days, but not for English.

How is she feeling Random?

I think she is quite exited about it. Travel to the UK, a week off school, suitcase to pack, etc. I think she is a bit worried about her lack of knowledge in some areas that are supposed to be quite standard, as she hasn't done A-level and so isn't as well prepared as some students will be.

How about your DS, PD6966? Is he looking forward to being in Oxford?

Extra exciting Random, travelling to the UK for interview! DS appears to be looking forward to the whole experience; talking about what he loves, staying in a beautiful college, being in lovely Oxford, meeting new people and maybe hooking up with a couple of friends interviewing at a college close by, if there's time. An exciting opportunity, whatever the outcome.

Well DS is pretty much going to have to wear jeans for the leg part of his outfit because otherwise he's going to have to spend Saturday spending too much time and money travelling 20 miles to our nearest town to buy non jeans. He'd have to get two buses taking 1h 40m and then battle the Christmas hordes but luckily uilen is a) Cambridge and b) maths I think and so we're hoping Oxford history is more forgiving. And then there's the small fact that we're thrilled with an interview invite and not in any way expecting an offer. So it's all good :) Thanks so much for all the good cheer, you're a nice bunch :)