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Does this annoy you...??

Reply 80

wholikeswood

CookieDough8

Omg! ur goin to crist church - can u get me weasley's autograph when ther next filmin there pls!! :smile:

lol, i didnt know that HP is filmed there

i originally applied to Brasenose because Morse was filmed there once :P

Reply 81

yonanz

like i said dudes..if the questions were similar or standardized, interviews would have been held under exam conditions - no communication device, no exit and entry within time frames etc.

but the fact is that you can walk into the room, get an interview and make a call thereafter points out that the interview is not the same for each and everyone. so going first or knowing anything beforehand does not give any advantage/disadvantage at all.

lets say a close group of friends go for the interview together. one of them finishes first. she then phones the rest and tell them the question.simple. no need for eavesdropping.

oxbridge wouldnt be so dumb as to overlook such scenarios. once you can handle a communication device or leave the premise after the interview, it no longer means that interviews questions are highly confidential anymore. you can go ahead and inform your as many peopel as you want. for in the first place if they had wanted you to keep the questions confidential they wouldnt hav allowed you to handle comm device or leave the premise at all, in case of leakage.

Reply 82

HCD

16

yonanz

like i said dudes..if the questions were similar or standardized, interviews would have been held under exam conditions - no communication device, no exit and entry within time frames etc.

Your ideas, logical though they are, simply contradict the evidence! Somerville, Physics - the questions for all Physics applicants were exactly the same. I mean exactly. We weren't even told not to tell other people the questions/answers. I left my interview on the Monday to go to the JCR and socialise with other Physics applicants who were to have the exact same interview in about an hour or so's time. I suppose Oxford just assume that nobody wants to help the competition.

So, in that sense, Oxford are what you describe as "that dumb". A good ploy would be having a pilot applicant - someone good enough to get to interview, but someone who doesn't want to go to Oxford. You'd have to hope they're first, but if they were, you'd be set! You hope their interview is significantly (temporally) before yours, and ker-ching! A few hours with wikipedia, and the knowledge of what the exact questions are - you're laughing.

Reply 83

--

3

yonanz

like i said dudes..if the questions were similar or standardized, interviews would have been held under exam conditions - no communication device, no exit and entry within time frames etc.

You're wrong, one of the colleges I was interviewed at had an interview with standard questions - each interviewee was asked the same ten questions and presented with the same material. We were advised not to talk about generally (think there were a couple of posters up), and common sense would suggest it's a bad idea, so we didn't - or at least until everyone had already had that interview.

Reply 84

epitome

11

Princess_Ecstacy

Oh come on, for her to go on about a director and a film like she'd been to bed with them without having previously known about them 12 hours prior is just a teeny bit dodgy...

Actually, that's exactly what so many of us do in supervisions. I'm not saying it's good practice, but with a supervisor breathing down your neck trying to make sure you know everything, a fair amount of (a) cramming, (b) initiative, and (c) bull****ting is absolutely required. What the girl who remembered the films & directors did, essentially, was demonstrate exactly the skills that are invaluable to many (arts) supervisions. *shrugs*

Reply 85

Fillette

14

epitome

Actually, that's exactly what so many of us do in supervisions. I'm not saying it's good practice, but with a supervisor breathing down your neck trying to make sure you know everything, a fair amount of (a) cramming, (b) initiative, and (c) bull****ting is absolutely required. What the girl who remembered the films & directors did, essentially, was demonstrate exactly the skills that are invaluable to many (arts) supervisions. *shrugs*

Fair enough for you, but she annoyed me by boasting on about how she'd duped them and they readily swallowed her bull- sh**." Bit arrogant, but hopefully her semestres in Oxford with people on the same course cut her down to size. :smile:

Reply 86

Fillette

14

3232

You're wrong, one of the colleges I was interviewed at had an interview with standard questions - each interviewee was asked the same ten questions and presented with the same material. We were advised not to talk about generally (think there were a couple of posters up), and common sense would suggest it's a bad idea, so we didn't - or at least until everyone had already had that interview.

Yep, we were were all given the exact same question for our History interviews, a picture that we had to annotate and talk about for 10 minutes. Some silly people who had had their interviews did talk to the other applicants when they pressed them about it and so then they could go in and say "oh yeah, it's definitely about the Vietnam war." But then they were a little bit stumped after that, not actually knowing anything about the Vietnam war!

Reply 87

Audrey Hepburn

12

wholikeswood

lol, i didnt know that HP is filmed there

i originally applied to Brasenose because Morse was filmed there once :P

How could you not know! The great hall is crist church's dining hall! (can I cum eat ther pleeeeeeeese) :biggrin:

Reply 88

yonanz

wow. i cant imagine the interviews are ac standardized yet they make no effort to keep the information within 4 walls.

amazing haha

Reply 89

epitome

11

Not all of them are standardized, by any means.

It's not really their job to keep the info in, though -- applicants are certainly warned not to talk about their interviews; not so much because if they're caught they'll be told off, but because they put themselves at a disadvantage if other people hear.

As in the Vietnam War example above, though, interviewers will take your answer and push. So, if you say "Oh, yeah, it's about the Vietnam War", whether or not you are in fact correct, the next question will almost always be "What makes you think that?". So you'd just be shown up at the next level.

In the examples people have given of 'cheating', although I don't condone it or approve of it in the slightest, it has to be said (and plenty of people are indeed saying) that if someone can get through an interview bull****ting, and convince the interviewers (and there is almost always more than one interview, of course) that they're good...well, that's that!

Reply 90

ikilledyoda

ticos

I know that part of the reason I am annoyed is because I just got pooled for Cambridge, but I have to say that it drives me crazy when people try (and succeed, in this case) to cheat the system. Oxford (and Cambridge) seems to try very hard to ensure fairness, yet this defeats the point. How can they say no to a candidate who has amazing grades and SEEMS to know everything?

I can't say my experience is similar but I completely agree with this point. In my school there were 3 Cambridge applicants this year and one got the offer, I got pooled and a girl got rejected. The problem is that the guy who got the offer, in my eyes, has not got what it should take to get an offer from Cambridge. He did however apply to a different course, but not vastly different (I applied for NatSci and he applied for Engineering). I see him in my classes and he is not at all a person who is passionate about any of his subjects. He just regurgitates whatever he reads in the books, and I know because when I talk to him he doesn't know the reasons behind stuff, he just knows the stuff. He has no general knowledge at all. I mean it when I say this.

I feel so damn sad when I think of all of this, because I know he'll get the grades just as the OP feels, and also because I know when school starts tomorrow him and his friends will rub it in. My friends have told me that not getting into Cambridge doesn't mean I am dumb and I understand. But I know I had worked hard for getting into Cambridge, I had passion, I had the grades, and a moderate interview. Just because of this I was rejected? And as it can be seen from this thread, its not only my problem it is a problem of many people.

:frown:

sorry for the long post people.

Reply 91

epitome

11

ikilledyoda, I'm sure you know that lots of people will be feeing the same way as you, and you put it very well.

Just wanted to pick you up on one thing:

Just because of this I was rejected?

No: not "just because of this". It's a sad fact that many candidates who would do perfectly well at Oxbridge are necessarily rejected because there are not sufficient places for everyone. From Cambridge alone, something like 5,000 people every year who are rejected still get the 3 A grades that are the general requirement to meet the offer. Many of those are probably 'good enough'. Furthermore, there will be countless applicants who on paper aren't the best, but who might absolutely fly in an environment like Oxbridge. Whilst some people, therefore, are rejected because they just don't show the ability or potential (and there are plenty of these), many are rejected because there are simply not enough places. For those who aren't absolutely outstanding, but who are suitably bright, quite a lot of luck is involved because of the sheer numbers.

I do not subscribe to the view that everyone should get a place -- some people certainly wouldn't be suited to Oxbridge -- and neither do I think it is all just one game of luck that turns away entirely deserving people just for the hell of it. But there are factors outside simply your own performance that can't help but have an effect. :frown:

Reply 92

LatinMachine

1

Everyone's stories about their interviews and who got in just reinforces my opinion that we can never know what they are looking for. And just looking at the variety of people, I don't think you can say that there's 'one thing that everybody has' because there isn't. There are the people who work solidly in the library, all term and do holiday work to get their firsts, then there are the lucky people who put in little effort all term, fail collections, then cram for two weeks at the end and also come out with a first (seen both scenarios first hand). There are people who work solidly and people who don't do as much as they could, and can still come out with the same degree class.

It's a mystery, folks.

Reply 93

Jigglypuff

16

I'm surprised her dad is bragging about it, really. 'My daughter eavesdropped her way into Oxbridge...she's so brainy!' If he's going to go to the effort of helping her with the answers you'd think he'd go the whole hog and let her take the credit. I'd be pretty embarassed if I was her.

Reply 94

HCD

16

Jigglypuff

I'm surprised her dad is bragging about it, really. 'My daughter eavesdropped her way into Oxbridge...she's so brainy!' If he's going to go to the effort of helping her with the answers you'd think he'd go the whole hog and let her take the credit. I'd be pretty embarassed if I was her.

The Dad could be bragging for his own sake - "Oh, yes. I'm a genius. My expertise got my daughter a place at Oxford, aren't I just marvellous! You know, they should put a solar panel in my underwear, to capture all the sunlight radiating from my arsehole. Toodle-pip!"

Reply 95

ticos

OP

13

LatinMachine

Everyone's stories about their interviews and who got in just reinforces my opinion that we can never know what they are looking for.

It's a mystery, folks.

Well said.

Reply 96

ticos

OP

13

HCD

The Dad could be bragging for his own sake - "Oh, yes. I'm a genius. My expertise got my daughter a place at Oxford, aren't I just marvellous! You know, they should put a solar panel in my underwear, to capture all the sunlight radiating from my arsehole. Toodle-pip!"

Haha! Unfortunately he does not speak like that. Thouh I wish he did!

Reply 97

martin101

10

They really expect to be able to trust you when you come to university. for example we do internal assesments every term called collections and I got given the papers to mine yesterday so in theory I couldve looked through them all. This whilst boosting my mark would make the exams totally pointless so I didnt. Its just about having self discipline so fine go ahead and cheat but youll come undone in the most embarrasing of ways.

Reply 98

Zetetic

This whole thing's ridiculous! Who would do that? Cheat to get into Uni? If you're not clever enough, why would you want to go? If she did actually do it, I reckon the parents forced her to do it; I don't think many people would do that voluntarily. I'd just forget about it, if I were you. If she's not clever enough for Oxbridge, then she'll be eaten alive whilst she's there. Otherwise, maybe she'd have succeeded without cheating?

Reply 99

HCD

16

Zetetic

This whole thing's ridiculous! Who would do that? Cheat to get into Uni? If you're not clever enough, why would you want to go? If she did actually do it, I reckon the parents forced her to do it; I don't think many people would do that voluntarily. I'd just forget about it, if I were you. If she's not clever enough for Oxbridge, then she'll be eaten alive whilst she's there. Otherwise, maybe she'd have succeeded without cheating?

I do. Her parents might've encouraged her, but not forced. There are some competitive kids out there.

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