Oxford Applicants 2016 Entry & Interview chat

I feel like my interviews went terrible the more I think about it. I kept doing really stupid things and the interviewers looked so unimpressed when I made mistakes (or maybe that's just me overthinking). The interviewer said in my first interview during a long question 'sorry for pushing you' ????? i'm worried that means 'sorry for pushing you, you're obviously not clever enough to be pushed'. I also apologised at the end for being nervous and taking forever to get to the right answer in one of the questions. The questions were quite difficult and I kept hearing 'but why?' and 'what does that mean then?' and a lot of my questions were rephrased because they could see I was struggling a bit. Meh. I know there's nothing I can do now and despite the trauma I really enjoyed working through the problems, they were so challenging I was really excited for them. But then at other times I think of the mistakes I made and the confused expressions they had when my answers were SO unclear. I was just a nervous wreck of babble and never really explained things properly. I can't even talk to anyone at my school because there's only one other Oxford applicant who hasn't been for their interview yet! It seems that a lot of you guys feel this way though so maybe it's just a general feel.

Im at St Annes from the 13th through to the 16th for Computer Science, anyone else there? And any tips to prepare?

My second history interview was much better than my first - actually felt like I had time to talk


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Congratulations! Thank you! I did what I could haha. Now time to wait. Did you get called in for another interview by a different college?

Yes I did haha, even though they initially told me specifically that I wouldn't get that opportunity, a couple of days later I got called in for an interview from St Hugh's. I'm not sure if that is commonplace or whether that's normal but don't be surprised if you get another one!

Im at St Annes from the 13th through to the 16th for Computer Science, anyone else there? And any tips to prepare?

Hi! I'm in year 12 and, so, won't be applying until next year but I wanted to ask: does anybody know how the application process will change when they no longer have AS to go by? I intend to apply for Physics and three out of my five subjects still have an AS (Maths, Further Maths, and RE) so...will they look at those 3 instead? Someone said to me that Oxbridge wants people to take the AS examinations in subjects anyway, even if it doesn't add to a whole A-level. Is this right? Do I not have a chance if I don't?

Hi! I'm in year 12 and, so, won't be applying until next year but I wanted to ask: does anybody know how the application process will change when they no longer have AS to go by? I intend to apply for Physics and three out of my five subjects still have an AS (Maths, Further Maths, and RE) so...will they look at those 3 instead? Someone said to me that Oxbridge wants people to take the AS examinations in subjects anyway, even if it doesn't add to a whole A-level. Is this right? Do I not have a chance if I don't?

It won't affect Oxford very much because they use GCSE's, aptitude tests and interviews to make their decisions.

It will be more of an issue for Cambridge who use UMS scores from AS to whittle down the field. Have a look on the Cambridge threads - they must be planning for this already.

What!! That sounds rather... mean of her
Did she expand on why they were flaws though? Or was it: this this and that is wrong, tell me why?

Curiously enough, the interviewers completely skipped my written work! And I spent the whole morning writing lists supporting my points and cramming info in my head as well

Yeah, my first history interview was split into a personal statement section then a written work section. I have my source based interview in an hour though 😂

I feel like my interviews went terrible the more I think about it. I kept doing really stupid things and the interviewers looked so unimpressed when I made mistakes (or maybe that's just me overthinking). The interviewer said in my first interview during a long question 'sorry for pushing you' ????? i'm worried that means 'sorry for pushing you, you're obviously not clever enough to be pushed'. I also apologised at the end for being nervous and taking forever to get to the right answer in one of the questions. The questions were quite difficult and I kept hearing 'but why?' and 'what does that mean then?' and a lot of my questions were rephrased because they could see I was struggling a bit. Meh. I know there's nothing I can do now and despite the trauma I really enjoyed working through the problems, they were so challenging I was really excited for them. But then at other times I think of the mistakes I made and the confused expressions they had when my answers were SO unclear. I was just a nervous wreck of babble and never really explained things properly. I can't even talk to anyone at my school because there's only one other Oxford applicant who hasn't been for their interview yet! It seems that a lot of you guys feel this way though so maybe it's just a general feel.