Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

I for one still have a kid waiting to hear about interviews. Thought I'd carry it over...

DC's school information for MFL was wrong - she had two interviews and they told her (& general online info suggested the same) that she would have one for one language and one for another, but she didn't - she had both in one interview (really hard to switch between them) and the second interview was one language only & some random chat.
So no matter what the schools try to help with it looks like they are a law unto themselves 🤷‍♀️

@FloralGums It could vary by subject but DS had 2 interviews with his original College then one with an additional College. All 3 interviews were done by 2 people and he got into his original choice of college so we've always assumed the 3rd interview was for moderation.

To be fair, it sounds like the university unexpectedly mixed it up. We went to the open day, visited the MFL department and two colleges and all advised the interviews would be one language each so the school probably followed that information.

My child had two interviews, one in each language as did her classmate.

hard to know without knowing the subject but it may be because she’s been pooled i.e. the original college likes her but doesn’t have a space for her so they’ve passed her on to another college. It means she is still in the game so it’s tentative good news. Happened to my DC a couple of years ago, eventually she didn’t get an offer, but you can’t read anything from our experience.

Subjects vary, but IME a college will not waste their resources in a very busy period interviewing people they are not interested in taking.

In some subjects additional interviews are very common and and may well lead to an offer from that college. Your daughter should take it as a good sign that she is seriously in the running for a place.

Being called for a third interview at a second college is most likely to be be because the applicant has been pooled to that college or it could also be for moderation in the wider sense, across a subject. If the latter, it will be the very strong applicants who are used for moderation, not the weaker applicants (since that would be pointless). These applicants then tend to get an offer from their first college. Either way, a third interview is always positive not negative.

Cross posted with foxglovetree.

DS has now been told he has a third interview at a second college (St Johns) on Tuesday - (Oxford, Maths, open application), two interviews (at Pembroke) on Monday morning and afternoon (all online).. So reading this makes me more hopeful.

@MusicCrayon yes you're probably right. It would make far more sense to do it that way, and less difficult for the candidates! The second interview sounded a bit pointless, and meant the whole thing was weighted on one language (so two interviews in one, only one in the other) which is odd. It's left DC feeling a bit out of sorts as it wasn't what she was expecting at all, plus the second interview went badly by all accounts, partly as she just didn't know why she was doing only one language and a lot of the same questions as the day before & couldn't work the purpose of it.
Oh well.

Hello! Lurker here!

My DC had two online interviews (both same college at at O) earlier this week and was told at end of second interview that they will most likely get an interview at a second college next week and that it's perfectly normal/standard and is no reflection on ability or performance. Interviewer said they also do third interviews for other colleges.

This seems the opposite of what the initial interview invite email said (only a small number of applicants will have interviews in the second round...)

All a bit confusing so DC just keeping an eye on emails.
Good luck to everyone 🍀🍀

It is worth noting that for some subjects like Maths and also Physics all candidates get a third interview at a second college. I would always recommend you look at the official admissions process for your subject as well as the timetable (both of which are on the Oxford website).

DD would suggest that expecting Oxford procedures to make perfect sense might be setting up false expectations for any future undergrad.

It varies by subject how they do second college interviews but this is the guide for E&M and its the candidates on the margin who get them but around half at DDs college had these and got offered places and that can be at either the first choice college or the second interviewing college or even a different one again. I think the purpose is to try and ensure they take the best candidates on their criteria across the university as a whole. I thought in E&M it was 2 more interviews. There's often not that much between the candidates, all at DDs college in her subject have all 8s and 9s and all had all A stars predicted, all very high TSA scores and all of them had high first interview scores. I would think its a positive thing though extra work.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/em_admission_procedures/response/2771773/attach/2/Economics%20and%20Management%20Admissions%20Manual%2024%2025%20Redacted.pdf?cookie_passthrough=

The details vary from course to course but where courses arrange additional interviews at other Colleges after the first round (ie not planned in advance) I don't think it would ever be for pure moderation. There would always be a possibility of a place at that College. It doesn't mean she won't be offered a place at the first College, but it usually means the candidate is hovering around the borderline ie. they think she is probably good enough for a place but are not sure they have enough places at that College.

That's certainly how it works for all the courses I've been involved in or have had detailed discussions about.

Honestly. It really really doesn't matter. I've been interviewing for over 20 years. Nobody cares what you wear.

Yes subjects differ as foxglovetree said. My own comment was purely about those subjects such as History, Classics, Law where a third interview isn't the rule.

Although over the years at our school there have been quite a few occasions where absolutely stand out applicants have been touted around to not just a third interview at a second college but a fourth interview at a third. Every one of those has then had an offer made by their first choice college (not just open offers underwritten). They've also subsequently gone on to become scholars and get first class degrees so it just seems hard to assume they were borderline. This is a handful though across the years, so probably a tiny minority and probably something done in certain subjects and not others.

Obviously I can't rule this out, but it would seem to be a huge waste of very scarce time during the admissions period. And just because they went on to do very well it's not necessarily the case that they were perceived as "stand out" by admitting tutors at the time.

Interesting how much the process seems to vary by course. Child1 (computer scientist, Oxford) had 2 interviews at his first choice college, then 2 more interviews at 2 further colleges.

His offer was underwritten by a fourth college (so none of the places he was interviewed at) and he finally ended up with a place at a completely different college who had no contact with him at all throughout the admissions process! 🙄. Luckily he liked the place.

I still have a dark suspicion that he basically interviewed spectacularly badly (despite top 10% performance in MAT - boy loves a test) so they had to find a college for him that hadn't actually met him...😂

That's definitely circuitous HarrietteVane :)

irregularegular would moderation be a waste of time though? One of these young people were subsequently told that they were sent around to show other colleges what the top standard was at the first college in that particular year. Some tutors seem to speak fairly freely once a student is in, especially if they like and respect that student.

@FloralGums my DC also received an additional interview invitation this week bringing their total to 4 (none completed yet)

I'm a bit confused about the additional interviews and hadn't heard of them until this thread. DS had applied to one particular college at Cambridge, and he has 2 in person interviews there today. So is there a chance that other colleges may also invite him for interview? He had to fly over to go to these ones, so not looking forward to having to organise flights for another lot.

Yes I think it would be a waste of time. The "top standard" is irrelevant. What is relevant is the borderline standard where yes/no decisions have to be made. That is where all the effort is concentrated.

I'm not an expert on Cambridge, but I believe that there all interviews are scheduled in advance. Oxford is different (and all interviews are online)

Thanks @irregularegular