Oxford interviews and overnight stay

[bevelino]

DD has applied to Oxford university and if she is lucky enough to be offered an interview is worried she may have to stay at the college for up to 3 days by herself. Please could someone let me know how this works? DD has suggested that I travel with her and stay in a b&b so that she can meet me when she has finished her interview(s). Any advice would be gratefully received.

Can someone explain to me (simply, I'm being quite dense) the whole thing of other colleges possibly calling candidates over for interviews on Weds and why that is all so last minute?

STL almost always because the applicant has been judged to be 'Oxford standard' by the first college but they've not quite made it into the shortlist of offerees for that college. Those who've made the list go home and those who aren't thought to be the appropriate standard also go home. It's last minute because there are masses of calls between colleges to see who's short of good applicants and who's not.

Less often it's for standardisation and the applicant will get a place at the college of choice/ allocation.

The one certain thing you can take from being sent elsewhere is that you're not in the bottom cut for a college and are still in with a chance. If you're sent home you're either in the top cut or the bottom cut - you just don't know which!

Ah thank you

So, Molio, if your DC got a letter saying they must be sure to stay until such-and-such a time on a particular day, there is still the possibility that they will get sent home after the first day?

The earliest they'll be sent home is as soon as the college tutors have had their meeting and a notice is pinned up with the outcome but that might well mean being sent home before the 'stay until' time. That said, I'd think the earliest time a decision is communicated is first thing in the morning on the day they've been asked to stay until. The 'stay until' time includes the pooling time generally but that's usually completed in the late morning/ afternoon of the final day. Caveat: there's a lot of generalization in there including the fact that some subjects aren't pooled in the same sense, such as medicine.

Hi Molio,
My dc has been told they they will have several interviews at the first college which seems rather odd. This is for medicine, do you know what this means? For medicine, what sort of steps do they follow in the process ie, is it that they are keeping their options open, in case they want to interview more than once?
Many thanks.
TF

tropicalfish well done your DC on the interview. I was wondering how the medics had fared.

I can only tell you what the process was with DS1 but I do know that some school friends of his interviewing at different colleges had fewer interviews - that was just the way those colleges elected to work.

DS was interviewed at his second allocated college for Day One and had two interviews. One was the more 'ethical' one, the second was more purely scientific (graphs and kidneys as far as I recall). On Day Two he had two interviews at his chosen college. One started off with an ice breaking general question but it quite quickly swerved into biology/ chemistry. The second one was all about immune systems as far as I know. I have heard of interviewees being hoiked back in for an extra interview at their interviewing college but that's where the tutors think there's something extra they need to probe.

If both colleges want you then the college of choice gets first option. If only the second wants you then that's where your offer comes from. I think the scores from all interviews at both colleges are looked at together so if you've done well at the second college that can be of interest to your college of choice. As far as I know there's no other option, so no third college interviews. I'm not sure about Open Offers for medics but I guess they must exist as a safeguard.

I'm not sure I've answered your question!

hi Molio,
Thank you for your reply, thats very helpful.
TF

hi Molio,
Do you think, first choice colleges prioritise candidates so that if they get to the max number that they can interview, they then move those candidates to another college or do you think that they reallocate at random if they are over subscribed. Just wondering if you apply to a college with more applicants than you will have fiercer competition.
Thanks
TF

I don't know the answer tropical. I asked DS what happened if a college had masses of applicants in a particular year and he said colleges interview all applicants who have applied to them (and reached the BMAT+ GCSE threshold, obviously). Each of those applicants has the second college randomly allocated by computer so I guess the computer will even out numbers by having fewer or no places left at that popular college for second college interviews. The system for medics does seem smart, I must say, as you'd expect. I don't think there's any reason why getting an offer from the first choice college would be tougher, since the quality of applicants to the college will be relatively random and the computer evens out the overall numbers who interview there.

Best advice is: be prepared for the ethics questions, be prepared to say how you relax when things get stressful and be prepared for searching science questions and follow them through. Easy! :)

thank you very much Molio.

Hi, probably too late now for this intake, as admissions officers will be so busy, but if anyone is lurking for next year, I have found college admissions officers and tutors very willing to answer questions of this type very openly if you ask them! I asked about DS chosen course at the open day earlier this year and they were keen to make the process transparent for their subject.

Hi Molio,
Do you know how one should approach ethical scenario questions. Should you state all points of view do you think? They probably don't want you to give only the 'right' answer.
Many thanks
TF

tropical the ethical questions won't have a 'right' answer but I think you'd have to plump for the direction you'd take and defend your position unless the tutor persuades you that your direction is the less good one, on reflection. In that sense it would be like any Oxford interview type question. There'll be a huge range of potential types of ethical question - I don't think you can prepare, you just have to go with the flow. They're looking to see how you approach difficult issues, rather than judging you on the substance of what you say (although I suppose they might, in extreme circumstances!). The best thing about these interviews is that there's very little you can do to prepare. Best of luck to your DC.

thanks very much for your time and good advice for future applicants from MrsUltra.

Hi Molio,

My DD just finished her interviews at Oxford (not medicine). She had two interviews on the Tuesday was called to another college for interviews on the Wednesday morning. She is worried now she has not been good enough to get in to her chosen college and not sure that the 2nd college went any better. when she went to the 2nd college, there were two other girls there sent from another college. Can you shed any light on this? Does it mean she has definitely not got into the college she chose?

I lived in Northern Ireland and had a fantastic university interview trip, going to Cambridge, Warwick and York for interviews over the course of a week. It was really good fun - everyone was very friendly and I made friends with fellow candidates in each place and we wandered round being touristy together in between interviews and activities.

Good luck Tropical Fish' DD and to everyone else.

Sorry MerryBell only just seen this. Being sent to another college absolutely does not mean there's no chance at the college of choice. That said, a gaggle of other people waiting to be interviewed at the second college would generally indicate that that college has come up short on candidates of an acceptable standard and is actively looking for more. It seems that that interview at the second college can be simply to set eyes on a candidate rather than to 'test' them again - they may have got high scores at their first college and come highly recommended but simply missed out by one place at the college of choice. So it doesn't matter if the interview seemed a bit flat. On the other hand if the second college has only one more place to fill, or a couple, and there are several candidates from other colleges, then the interview will be more rigorous. But then again she might have been sent out for standardization and the other girls might have been pooled, but not her. You just can't tell. The one sure thing is that she's been judged the right standard for Oxford. Did she like the other college ok, if it comes to it?

And yes good luck again tropicalfish DD.

Dd is helping look after the interview candidates at her college. Even though it's a non-town-centre, usually less over-subscribed one they are sending a lot of people elsewhere for second interviews. Runners (the helpers) are escorting each candidate to their second college, and if it's completely on the other side of town, are taking them in taxis. She was most disapproving when a candidate from another college - not quite the furthest away from hers, but almost - turned up alone and on foot! She thinks their candidates are better looked after

Just a couple more days to go. Good luck to all prospective medics and anyone else who's still there

Ds had a half hour walk to another college! He had a thumping headache and was quite anxious by the time he arrived.

Anyone else wondering if Atia's daughter was feeling solicitous about Rhoda's son?

Well, my son is currently in Oxford for his 3 days of interviewing so I am sitting here reading this thread, winding myself up.

I am a little confused though as ds was told from the outset that he was going to be interviewed by 2 colleges. Neither the one he applied to. He was told he had been reallocated, which I understand, and was then told he would be interviewed at X and Y colleges. So, is this the 'standardisation' you were all talking about earlier? And what does that mean anyway? Is it like when an exam is moderated?

I am feeling a little as though reading this thread has just made me more anxious. I really hope I can hold off from reading something into every little thing ds reports back, eg whether he is called to a third college or not, whether there are a gaggle of students waiting for interview or only a couple..... Also worrying hugely about the organisational skills ds might need over these days. He is as intelligent a person as I could wish for, but missed out on his portion when common sense was being doled out. The thought that he might miss an interview because he hasn't checked the noticeboard every 10 minutes is very sobering.

No it's different for his subject Ddg. Same as for a few other sciences - they interview at their chosen college/ college of re-allocation, plus one other.

Standardization is when a college sends out a good applicant to show another college or colleges what the quality is in a particular year.