Cambridge interview: is this a bad sign?

Hmm.. how are your A levels? and do u think u did well in the admission assessments?

Maybe they already want you, or according to some posts I saw on this forum, they interview ppl who even if they won't be admitting.

Highly highly doubt it's the former. Latter probably.

My AS were AAA and predicted 3A* but I feel like i've definitely underperformed in the admissions assessment

The written work I sent them was pretty weak too, as are my GCSEs.
I wanted the interview to let me shine so it can compensate for weaker areas but from responses I am getting so far it doesn't sound good

Hey, i've just had my interviews for History at Cambridge and i'm feeling massively underwhelmed.

I am particularly worried about my 2nd interview as I felt the interviewers did not 'challenge' me, as they usually do to camb applicants. They directly quoted my written work and asked me general basic questions about that period to which i responded to (a bit badly tbh) and then the other interviewer asked me a couple of questions on things from my PS (why did you say '...' ) but there was no element of debate/argumentation? the whole interview was me talking (describing) at length and them just listening and nodding


is this bad? I am so anxious rn i feel like i didn't get any of those 'killer' questions that push you - just general discussion on pretty simple topics. Some people have told me it's because i failed to get through the easy, more general stuff.

any input?

Paging Dr @Doonesbury - The Graph (TM) is needed once again

OP, don't worry about it. Candidates are notoriously terrible at evaluating their own interview performance. I remember thinking I'd bombed out because I'd been primed to be ready for hard abstract questions (I study English, so questions like 'what is ambiguity?' etc) and I didn't really get anything like that when other candidates did. You might simply have been subject to the whims of the interviewer, or perhaps you were talking interestingly enough on your PS stuff that it wasn't necessary to bring up other areas to help you shine through. In any case, it's over now and finding reasons to convince yourself that you've failed is a waste of your time and energy. Que sera sera, and good luck!

thanks for responses, I do feel a tinge better than I did before. @Doonesbury Also, is it a bad sign if the interviewer, upon leaving, says "before you leave, would just like to remind you that every year we have lots of great applicants and have to let go of many of them. And there are many brill applicants like you who do not end up getting in but we will definitely hear about you wherever you end up.."

It was nice but it seemed like he'd made up his mind already? I felt like he wanted to reassure me that my impending rejection shouldn't get to me. (or do you think he said this to everyone???) it also got me a bit anxious.

They were lovely, though.

That was probably not a helpful thing to say as it can be misconstrued... and yes he probably says it to many candidates. It's meaningless really, and even if you take it to mean anything it's only the opinion of one person. There are usually 4 or 5 involved in assessing your application (and the most important are the DoS and the Admissions Tutor).

he was the DoS ahhh i'm just hoping he didn't mean it like i interpreted it :/

thanks for responses, I do feel a tinge better than I did before. @Doonesbury Also, is it a bad sign if the interviewer, upon leaving, says "before you leave, would just like to remind you that every year we have lots of great applicants and have to let go of many of them. And there are many brill applicants like you who do not end up getting in but we will definitely hear about you wherever you end up.."

It was nice but it seemed like he'd made up his mind already? I felt like he wanted to reassure me that my impending rejection shouldn't get to me. (or do you think he said this to everyone???) it also got me a bit anxious.

They were lovely, though.

They're listening and nodding, I would go party in a bar tonight if I were you.

Are you saying because it's good, or because it's bad?

I mean, they could go party in the bar because they gave up on trying, or because they thought it went well.

I've just finished both of my interviews and it feels like it was too easy as well. I feel like they thought I wasn't good enough to go into the harder questions.

I highly doubt that it was easy because I'm just so good. Feeling that it is because I am not good enough seems more feasible.