Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 3

[Lightsabre]

New thread as Part 2 about to fill.

Huge congratulations to everyone with interviews - enjoy the weekend. Hope that everyone waiting gets good news next week.

Well done to all the DCs, brilliant news.
DS rang me at lunchtime to tell me he has a Cambridge Chem Eng interview 5th Dec. Whoop!Whoop! Out for dinner to celebrate 😄

Saw a link to this site on studentroom and thought others may find it useful.

https://www.insideuni.org/interviews/all/

Bath offer for dd- she is super excited!

Now THAT is stressful!!! 😩 Well done on the C one with the interview and I hope O comes through soon. Did he/she resit MAT?

Thank you for that - will pass it on to DD

Congrats to everyone who has had good news, DD has had an interview invite today too 🥳

@O2HaveALittleHouse very! Yes he did do the additional test, hoping he's done well enough to be interviewed 🤞🏻

An interview invite for my DD too ! Congrats to everyone who have received the invites!

Interview here too, and also lots of dd's friends. Very pleased for everyone!

Mock interview went not so great - she waffled too much. Odd questions I thought. She was very nervous.
An offer from Durham this afternoon only slightly alleviated her dismay.

@mondaytosunday, I'm sure it is deflating when this happens. Another way to look at it is that the mock has served its purpose by highlighting areas she needs to work on before the real thing. Can she ask for another one mid week?

Yaay @stoneysongs, congrats to your DD!! 🎊🎉

Thanks @Lightsabre she has her written assessment on Monday and then her course but I think she's arranged one for the following Monday. Her actual interview will be later that week. She says other than being nervous she kinda enjoyed it - if it wasn't so crucial for getting in! She just wishes one of them (the Oxbridge guy at her old school, her old Head, the 'interviewers' - anyone other than me) would give her a word of encouragement!

@mondaytosunday awwww your poor DD. That makes me feel sad that she hasn’t had any words of encouragement. These people should be championing your DD and instilling hope and confidence!

Did she get some constructive feedback from the interviewer at least?

@Rollergirl11 she said it was only a minute (what was the point then) and they said she needed to not try and give both sides of the argument (she thought she was 'thinking out loud to the conclusion') but argue for one side with evidence. She does agree with that. But one of the things he asked was what the uk should cap immigration at - he kept on saying 'I want a number' and she had no idea but tried to reason why you would have to cap it. Also that her writing was good (her written samples) but she needs to put her 'best self forward' at the interview - which just made her think she must have not done!

@mondaytosunday, really positive that she enjoyed it and hopefully that came across well. It's often said that Oxbridge are looking for that passion to come through in an interview. It is a shame that they weren't more encouraging but glad she has the opportunity to try again.

Best self forward is really woolly advice. Will her next mock interview be with the same person?

My goodness it's barely been possible to keep up with all of the invites.

Well done to all of the DC who've had invites to interview this week. Seems like a lot of them have. All have done amazing to get this far in the process.

DD got an interview today at O for history and French - phew 😊
She has got offers from Exeter , Bristol and Brum - nothing from Durham yet of course .

@KazzaV DD got Durham today.
@Lightsabre her old history teacher (who went to Oxford) will do it -who was there today but not one of the interviewers.

@Cx5 I don't know how you are coping with 2 applications but how amazing to have both applying.

Just heard my friends son has also got an interview at C. It really have been a bumper Friday.

Congratulations to those DC with interview invites. I think DD got about a week’s notice when she applied (Oxford) so hopefully not too much longer to wait for those still yet to hear.

DS (Cambridge) had a little bit more notice, two interviews at the same college. One was a subject interview and the other a general one. The latter was with a tutor from a different subject and they asked questions based on DS’s PS and current affairs. DS’s subject interview was the last one of the day and he was initially worried that his interviewers would have run out of steam (and places) by then but he really enjoyed his “chat” and felt his interviewers were genuinely interested to hear his thoughts and ideas.

In case this is any use to anyone -

If they are given anything to read before interviews, they will almost certainly be asked to summarise what they have read.

Sometimes, reading is given a few days before. It's ok to have notes / a summary. This kind of interview is trying to replicate a supervision (in which case, they would come prepared, hopefully)!

If they are given reading material with some time prior to the interview, they shouldn't just read it but think about the context - eg, who it was written by, when, why, for what audience etc. They could try to read any other articles mentioned in the article. Be critical, basically. Even if they are given reading just before or during the interview, it's useful to think about context, not just content.