Any positive stories of shy Oxbridge interviewees

[Roastchesnutlatte]

Dd has an interview next week. She is very shy and lacking in confidence. She had been fine about the interview but yesterday she had a mock interview at school and was basically told that although she deserved a place, someone else would be winning it because she wasn't selling herself. He even caught her at school today to reiterate this.
I now have an even less confident child that I am having to persuade to even go and has completely given up.
She fully appreciates the need to sell herself but can't make herself into someone she isn't . I just want to cheer her up really and try to get some confidence back. Any positive stories ?

What subject is she doing? I think there is a small number of subjects where she might need to 'sell herself', but in most she just needs to be happy talking about her subject.

As others have said, there area lot of shy people at Oxbridge. That seems like terrible advice from her teacher.

Nonsense. I know three very shy people who got offers.

The interviewing tutors are hardly going to sit passively waiting for the 'hard sell' so that they can identify the most confident people to make offers to, are they?

A very high number of academics are introverted. It's not a negative.

And avoid spouting views worthy of the Daily Mail

What is wrong with doing this? I'm not saying that views "worthy of the DM" are right, but what is wrong with any view so long as you can support it? Do tutors really want a homogenous group of students all "on message"? Perhaps wearing an I (heart) Trump badge might be a little OTT, but I find the groupthink hive mind view a little wearing, and I would hope that interviewers wouldn't reject a candidate solely based on the fact that they weren't of their own political persuasion.

I don't know if this is 'a positive story.'

But my daughter was a relatively reluctant applicant. She was apprehensive about the interview. She wept on the way to the coach station. Then on the way down her coach got delayed. When it eventually got in she got lost in the town itself. She arrived at her college late, after they'd stopped serving food. It was a cold night and she said the duvet supplied in her room wasn't warm, so she was shivering half the night. She felt too nervous to go into breakfast, and went over some notes instead. She described the second of her two interviews as 'a car crash' in which the interviewers clearly assumed she was lying, after she said she had studied a particular thinker, but couldn't answer their questions on him. (She'd not studied that particular aspect of the individual's work they were asking her about.) Rather than eating the lunch provided by the college she decided to leave as quickly as possible.

When the letter arrived a few weeks later she scanned through it quickly looking for the words like 'unfortunately' and 'sorry' that would confiirm she had been rejected.

The letter offered her a place.

12GCSEs (7A/2A/3 9s), predicated 4A*s and A at A level - no interview from Cambridge. Not BME but white working class.

Why would Cambridge not interview a student of this calibre?

i think Cambridge interview 80% of candidates so it seems odd. Maybe they didn’t do well on admission test. They are supposed to take all aspects of a student ‘s application into account, maybe their relative disadvantage didn’t flag up.
There are usually academics from Cambridge on the Student Room so it might be worth asking there.
I am not sure what your relationship is to this student, but I would encourage them to apply again next year with grades in hand. A lot of my DC’s friends got in second time round.
I am sure some more knowledgeable people will come along soon . Maybe it’s worth School contacting college.

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5597134&page=43
This one not very active at the moment!

My DD was given a mock interview at school and it was not remotely like the real thing! Selling yourself wasn’t part of it at Oxford. Unless the teacher really knows what an interview is really like, it might not have been realistic.

What Oxford did want was someone with a lively mind, who did well in the tests, who could discuss aspects of the subject with them and would be a pleasure to teach. My DD had an interview group which included boys from a well known school who knew the poem that they had to translate and then discuss. DD hasn’t seen it before. Their teacher “guessed” what the translation work might be. DD was just faced with it. She had a good conversation with the tutors about the poem and you could argue this showed her skills more than those who had been coached. I don’t know if the tutors knew who had prior knowledge of the poem or not.

I would say that giving confident answers helps but they also need to be considered answers. The tutors are not there to catch you out but to explore the subject with the potential student and see if they have the necessary attributes to make a success of Oxford and their style of teaching. Therefore I don’t think teacher at the school is really understanding the process. They don’t give places to those who sell themselves - it’s a much deeper analysis of a student’s attributes than that.

I would try and work on how she can feel comfortable at the interview and engage in conversation readily. Keeping nerves at bay is also a big plus if she can manage it! Also many are nervous but if she can find a way to show her enthusiasm and engage with the tutors, she’ll have a good day.

Possibly not a good result on entrance exam.

White working class but possibly not a deprived area or school that would mean special consideration.

Personal statement showed no evidence of super curricular?

Massively oversubscribed course?

There are many each year who don't get interviews with similar grades and many who do but still don't get a place.

Maybe a gap year and getting some relevant experience followed by reapplying when grades are in the bag.

Bubbles it was a zombie thread with a new question at the end about why someone wouldn't even be offered an interview, hence my answer to the new question

Roastchesnutlatte, how did it go? We can't be resurrecting zombies and not be asking the real questions!

You are correct: ShalomJackie! I didn’t look at the date. I too would like to know how it went!

Regarding the young person who didn’t get an interview: the GCSE results and predictions are only part of the picture. Personal statement about your aptitude and enthusiasm for the subject is important as opposed to extra curricular. Good results in the pre tests are vital so this could have gone wrong too. Hugely competitive course is also a problem but not all courses are in this category. So many things can be less good than other applicants.

she had a mock interview at school and was basically told that although she deserved a place, someone else would be winning it because she wasn't selling herself.

I'm sorry, I have only read the OP because I am so shocked at this. That is a totally inappropriate thing for him to say! No bloody wonder young women don't feel supported.

Having been on the other side of the table for Cambridge admissions for the last few years (I'm not doing it this year so I can be a bit more frank), I'd love to see what this man imagines 'selling yourself' looks like in interview. Lots of candidates are shy. Some are really, really nervous and find it very hard to speak; others are shy by nature. Whoever interviews her will be used to that. I don't think I would want someone who 'sells themself'. I want someone who will respond thoughtfully and interestingly.

It's fine to take a moment. Silence is not a bad thing - people will either give you time, or they'll ask something else. That's ok.

It's fine to ask if you're not sure of something, or if you want to go back and revisit an answer you made.

It's not a bad thing to be shy.

Oh, and the man who did my mock interview was bloody awful too. He was a teacher at the boys' school my school was paired with, and he sat me down and bulldozed me, then told me patronizingly I wasn't as bright as my boyfriend whom he was teaching (!) and I would be unlikely to get in.

Oh well, I guess he got that one wrong.

I worried my daughter would struggle at interview as she is painfully shy and introverted. She didn't really talk much about the interviews after but she did say that on her first interview the tutor said she needed to talk more!! She didn't have any mock interviews but when you talk to my daughter her eyes light up when she talks about her subject. She said she thought she did ok in her interviews but not enough for an offer. She is now studying at Oxford and doing well. She messaged me yesterday and said one of her essays got marked at 85%. Her tutor obviously saw the potential in her. Good luck!!