Oxbridge Students/Graduates-Books in PS & Interviews

If an applicant, specifically for medicine, has mentioned they have read certain books in their PS, what questions should they expect pertaining those books at the interview? Thank you in advance

I can't give any Medicine-specific answer but basically, you will have been expected to have read it and thought about it. If that sounds vague, that was the intention because there's absolutely no way of predicting what they're going to ask and they certainly do not want you to spend hours trying to second-guess what questions you'll get! It completely depends on the book, on the tutor (and what direction they want to take the interview in) and of course it's completely possible that you won't be asked questions on it at all. I was (indirectly) asked questions based on the reading I had mentioned and there really isn't any way I could have prepared an answer since there's an awful lot of questions you can ask on a 400 page book but since I had read it and had put some thought into it, I could come out with a reasonable answer.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

nexttime

Original post by Stef_11

If an applicant, specifically for medicine, has mentioned they have read certain books in their PS, what questions should they expect pertaining those books at the interview? Thank you in advance

I expect the most common line of questioning would be to use the book as a starting point to a scientific question.

In all honesty, people get all hung up about getting called out on not having read a book, but in reality the interviewers are not going to have the time to interrogate you on your knowledge of the book. Understand concepts central to the premise of the book - that might come up. The details... probably not.