Preparing for Oxbridge Interview - how much help is needed?

[rickyrickygrimes]

Can students prepare for Oxbridge interviews on their own? I am getting involved in university guidance at my workplace, and we have quite a few kids on our books who are looking at Oxford. Our previous UG counsellor went to Oxford herself and her DH was an admissions tutor there as well, so she was very well-equipped to provide practice interviews. I didn't go to Oxford (though I was RG and have a PhD) so I don't really know what it involves. We recently had a presentation from an admissions college offering, among other things, practice interviews though it's expensive.

What do you think? The college made a big deal out of how challenging the interviews can be and how much difference a bit of inside knowledge can make. Is it something that I can learn to do for them? Or does it require actual experience of the process / place?

They do not need to pay for 'inside knowledge'. Of course the admissions college is going to claim that it makes a difference - that's their sales pitch and their entire business model is trying to convince people that paying for their services will boost their chances. In reality, the vast majority of applicants prepare by themselves, or perhaps with a bit of informal help from a parent or head of sixth form.

The aim of the interviews is to push candidates beyond what they have prepared and pre-learned and to be unpredictable. Sometimes candidates who have been overprepared (whether by their school or by a private company) are unwilling to do this as they've been told 'inside knowledge' on what to say and so they don't actually listen to the question and come up with pat pre-prepared answers intstead. This does not do them any favours. What the interviewers are looking for is people who think on the spot, listen to questions and reflect on them, take guidance when offered, and take part in an intellectual conversation enthusiastically. It's not about getting it 'right' or showing off what you've learned.

There are sample interviews released by Oxford colleges on YouTube. If they go to open days they can watch more sample interviews there. The university releases lists of sample interview questions. They (and you) can watch/read those and think about what they would have said if they had been asked questions like that. That is all free and will be just as useful as anything the admissions college can do for them.

Practice interviews are more about boosting a candidate's confidence than anything else. If you feel it would be helpful, then you could certainly do a sample interview with them - just try asking them questions about the subject (or take some from a sample released by Oxford itself). They could also practise talking about their subject to a friend or family member.

I had practice interviews at school but they weren't very helpful. The teacher had been to private school and we were a state school, and nobody in my family had been to university before so there was a huge gap between her knowledge and mine that remained unaddressed.
I agree with PP that any way of boosting confidence and practitsing presenting yourself (also entering the room and greeting the interviewers) will help.

As PP said there's plenty of material out there. Can you club with another school and do mock interviews? My DS said the mock interview with a teacher from another school was the best as it kind of gave the best "setting", unfamiliar person etc and was the most like the actual interview

I do mock interviews for my old sixth form college (state), along with other Oxbridge students and recent alumni who went there. I think it works well, and definitely better than the year they paid for an external company to do mock interviews.
It's a win-win because the sixth-formers get mock interviews from people they don't know, and who remember their interviews and are in most cases still studying the subjects. And students get a bit of extra money and to feel like they're making a difference to the next generation.

Just to add: if the students are considering Oxford rather than Cambridge, all interviews are online now, so they don't need to present themselves, enter the room, shake hands etc.

This in itself can perhaps be a bit unsettling if young people aren't used to Zoom or Teams meetings, so maybe this could also be something to practise. There won't be small talk, it will basically go 'Good morning [name], thank you for joining us. I am X and this is Y' and then go straight into academic questions.

Please don't pay for these services. The interviews are not at all based on 'inside knowledge'. We do all that we can to ask questions that test how candidates respond to problems that they have not encountered before, we are not at all interested in how well they can trot out what they have been told. All our scoring systems are based on how well they reason, not how polished they appear to be. We spend enough time with students to know that polish and ability are not the same thing.

There are lots of free resources available through the universities that explain what an interview will be like and how they are scored. Do note that a lot are now online.

Can chatgpt be used for mock interviews?

Incidentally, I got in with the help of a couple of practice interviews from my teachers, one of which did the whole thing in the target language (more like a speaking exam) and then asked if the interview would be in English (they are).

I also go back to my sixth form to speak to interested year 12s about the whole process and there's always quite a few of us at those events. It's a big sixth-form college, but even in smaller schools it's probably worth seeing if you can get in touch with some former pupils.

My DDs sixth form supported her with mock interviews by them and an ex student who had been to Cambridge.She also went to open days .Really though what Cambridge wanted to see was someone who was as obsessed with the subject as much as they are.They also asked questions she wasn't meant to know the answer to -they wanted to see how her brain worked to problem solve and think around it and image or an object.Not sure how you can prepare for that other than be genuinely obsessed with the subject.This was a history subject though.

These folks were recommended on here a while ago and having talked to them, all of the interview tutors are either at Oxford / Cambridge or recently graduated from one of those places. The company is headed up by a young Oxford graduate as well. They are extremely knowledgable about each academic dept, what the professors are looking for in terms of candidate knowledge and ability, enthusiasm and thinking processes. Basically everything @growinguptobreakingdown mentioned, they help with.

https://oxfordtutors.com

I think practising helps, but my DD had sessions with two Oxford graduates and her interview (Cambridge) was not at all what she expected. She thought it would be a rigourous ‘let’s see how you think’ type, with the interviewer’s challenging her answers. Not at all. She felt that she didn’t have the opportunity to demonstrate her knowledge and all her prep was for nothing.
There are lots of YouTube videos, some mock interviews etc, but still, it may turn out totally different.

I went to Oxford from a state comp and my DD has been offered a place this year.
What I remember about my interview was the intense and narrow focus. We discussed a poem (it was a literature degree), for about 40 minutes. I don't remember doing any preparation, but the content would have been impossible to prepare for.
DD's experience (30 years later for a STEM subject) was remarkably similar - a very deep dive into a very focused area of science. She was ill in the week leading up the the interview and didn't do any of the prep she was planning to do, but she said it would all have been pointless anyway.
I think what is useful is practising thinking out loud and talking (over zoom if interview is online). But you could do that with anyone really.

You can ask chatgpt to roleplay a Cambridge interviewer and then feed it your personal statement

I wouldn't choose to feed generative AI any of my work. The companies don't need any encouragement to steal intellectual property.
Plus, chatgpt has never done a cambridge interview, or been in one, and isn't a person. The questions are likely to be random, at best.

I was recently wondering about this use of ChatGPT too. My understanding of Oxbridge interviews is that they are in the style of a tutorial, therefore ChatGPT would need to role-play a tutor with in-depth knowledge of the course and the wider subject matter, and knowledge of the interview format. If this isn't possible already then I'm sure it soon will be.

I have just tried this as an experiment (I have experience of being an Oxford interviewer) and the answer is no, Chat GPT doesn’t do a very good job (yet). It asks plausible sounding initial questions but couldn’t really do follow up questions and went randomly off topic, asking about things that wouldn’t be reasonable to expect a candidate to know.

Also, typing is not the same as articulating verbally, so I’m not sure how useful it is as practice.

Also it did weird stuff like have 2 interviewers who interrupt each other and ask additional questions before the candidate has had a chance to think about the first one.

The questions may well have been rigorous, let's see how you think, without overtly signaling that.

did you look on Youtube at the Oxford professors talking about interviews? The Maths one said quite clearly "we may ask questions that you're not able to answer and that's because we want to see how you think when that happens and how you approach the problem from different angles" the Psych people said pretty much the same thing. They're not going to say during the interview "ok this is a question where we observe how you solve things" that's a given.

I think the idea of bringing in alumni now or recently at Oxbridge is a great idea, OP. (All the better if you can afford an honorarium)

I also agree that there are many excellent online materials from individual Colleges. About a year ago someone at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, showed me a load of outreach material they have developed for social media. This includes video by the Senior Admissions Tutor and lots of advice on applying to a) Caius, b) Cambridge and c) university. Also lots from current students, etc. I thought it was great. I think the hashtag is #caiusschools or very similar.

I am sure other Colleges do similar. Also, if you are at a state school, your school may have an Oxbridge partner. (However the very existence of your lovely job leads me to suspect that your school may not satisfy the criteria for this. )

Helping your students to think on their feet, express their love of learning (sincerely, possibly implicitly - nothing OTT) and, I think above all, convey their comfort with intellectual challenge and a certain amount if criticism is the key.

It is an interesting question whether AI is yet able to help with this.

I see @foxglovetree weighed in on AI while I was typing. I am sure she is right.

Thank you so much - lots of positive ideas to try, and not have to direct parents to the (rather annoying) private tutors!

You can use the ChatGPT app verbally - my DH uses it all the time to practice conversation in Spanish. He asks it to role-play a scenario and to tell him if he makes a mistake. It's brilliant.

"It asks plausible sounding initial questions but couldn’t really do follow up questions"

Did you try asking it to do follow up questions? It may just need to be prompted. You can use your experience to train it for the benefit of future interviewees. 😁

It asks follow up questions but not particularly appropriate ones as it doesn’t go in depth so the line of questioning remains superficial, just moving around between topics.

My experience of Chat GPT in my field is that in depth analysis is what it can’t yet do, so this doesn’t surprise me. It’s good at high level summaries but if you ask it for detail or evidence it will just rehash a summary or make something up (which is usually not true).

And no thanks, I don’t fancy handing over my expertise to generative AI. I’m more than happy to provide actual interview practice and tips as a real human at open days.

My kids school pairs up with another school and does mock interviews with each other students. My daughter also asked another teacher from a third school she'd met through a joint project if she'd give her a mock interview.manage asked her subject tutor to give her a mic interview. My friend is a university professor in her subject and also gave her a mock interview. She said it gave her confidence and she really enjoyed the process.
i suggested chat gpt also. You have to give it very very clear directions: the other day I asked it to present as a highly intelligent critical and honest therapist

I would say looking at all the free advice on YouTube direct from various Oxford and Cambridge colleges, including recordings they have made of mock interviews that show potential applicants (and people giving them interview practice opportunities) how an interview in their subject might go, should be sufficient to help you to help students with interview practice.