The Official &quot;I&#x27;ve had an interview!&quot; thread

Subject: Oriental Studies (Japanese)
College: Gonville & Caius

I had 3 interviews, the first of which was only about 15 minutes long (for the college). Don't think I was particularly memorable, but I can't really say it went badly.
The second one went well I think, apart from a couple of embarrassing mispronounciations, but then at the end he said offhand that I was a "long-shot" which wasn't particularly encouraging...
The third one was...difficult.

But who can say, eh?

Reply 62

Subject: Oriental Studies (Japanese)
College: Gonville & Caius

I had 3 interviews, the first of which was only about 15 minutes long (for the college). Don't think I was particularly memorable, but I can't really say it went badly.
The second one went well I think, apart from a couple of embarrassing mispronounciations, but then at the end he said offhand that I was a "long-shot" which wasn't particularly encouraging...
The third one was...difficult.

But who can say, eh?

Reply 63

N9ne

College: Trinity
Course: L100 Economics
How Was It?: First interview gave very little scope for the interviewer to really know about me. Second interview was much better, but overall I'm very sure many other applicants will probably do better than me, and so I except a rejection. An offer is therefore a great bonus! :biggrin:

I think i was in the same boat. The first interview showed little if any insight into my personal interest for economics or my economic ability. I was a little hesitant and doubtful. The concepts weren't helpful but the tutor was i think TOO HELPFUL

Reply 64

N9ne

College: Trinity
Course: L100 Economics
How Was It?: First interview gave very little scope for the interviewer to really know about me. Second interview was much better, but overall I'm very sure many other applicants will probably do better than me, and so I except a rejection. An offer is therefore a great bonus! :biggrin:

I think i was in the same boat. The first interview showed little if any insight into my personal interest for economics or my economic ability. I was a little hesitant and doubtful. The concepts weren't helpful but the tutor was i think TOO HELPFUL

Reply 65

V1000

College: Gonville and Caius
Course: Economics
How was it? First interview was alrite. However the interview went extremely quickly (it was only 20 mins long) and I felt my answers were average. The second interview was much better, I think I gave good, detailed anwers and the interviewer seemed pleased with what I said. However absolutely no questions were asked about anything unrelated to economics (not even anything on current affairs) in both interviews which meant all the preparation I did was pretty pointless.

Yea there was just economic threory and concepts (some of which we haven't done at all). But atleast its all over now
:biggrin:

My first interview was really i felt a waste of time. Second one was much better though.

Reply 66

V1000

College: Gonville and Caius
Course: Economics
How was it? First interview was alrite. However the interview went extremely quickly (it was only 20 mins long) and I felt my answers were average. The second interview was much better, I think I gave good, detailed anwers and the interviewer seemed pleased with what I said. However absolutely no questions were asked about anything unrelated to economics (not even anything on current affairs) in both interviews which meant all the preparation I did was pretty pointless.

Yea there was just economic threory and concepts (some of which we haven't done at all). But atleast its all over now
:biggrin:

My first interview was really i felt a waste of time. Second one was much better though.

Reply 67

izsushant

Yea there was just economic threory and concepts (some of which we haven't done at all). But atleast its all over now
:biggrin:

My first interview was really i felt a waste of time. Second one was much better though.

Yeah, I agree - especially seeing as they asked me the exact same question from the first interview in the third interview as well.

Needn't have bothered really. Nice guy though.

Reply 68

izsushant

Yea there was just economic threory and concepts (some of which we haven't done at all). But atleast its all over now
:biggrin:

My first interview was really i felt a waste of time. Second one was much better though.

Yeah, I agree - especially seeing as they asked me the exact same question from the first interview in the third interview as well.

Needn't have bothered really. Nice guy though.

Reply 69

angietash

4

College: Gonville and Caius
Course: Medicine
Thought it went terribly! Really did. They asked the most random questions, and my answers were even more so. I was just so nervous (and tired, the rooms were cold and they only gave us two really thin blankets :frown:

)
btw Where is the nice girl who's room was next to mine? (I know you use this forum!) I forgot to say bye after my last interview (last time I take sleeping tablets to calm nerves!)

Reply 70

angietash

4

College: Gonville and Caius
Course: Medicine
Thought it went terribly! Really did. They asked the most random questions, and my answers were even more so. I was just so nervous (and tired, the rooms were cold and they only gave us two really thin blankets :frown:

)
btw Where is the nice girl who's room was next to mine? (I know you use this forum!) I forgot to say bye after my last interview (last time I take sleeping tablets to calm nerves!)

Reply 71

Mazaa

sassygirl

I just had a medicine interview, and it went pretty well. I knew almost all the stuff they asked me science-wise, and I worked out some of the rest. Just one thing I was stuck on, really, but got there in the end!

General interview was fantastic. I had Dr Dalton and we just talked about speed-reading, and writing novels!

This was at St Catharine's college

Hey!

I have an interview at cam (magdelene). Im just worried about the kind of things they'll ask me to 'work through' .. what is this? Would u mind telling me what they asked you to work through seeing as we arent in any kind of competition? Thank you!

Reply 72

Mazaa

sassygirl

I just had a medicine interview, and it went pretty well. I knew almost all the stuff they asked me science-wise, and I worked out some of the rest. Just one thing I was stuck on, really, but got there in the end!

General interview was fantastic. I had Dr Dalton and we just talked about speed-reading, and writing novels!

This was at St Catharine's college

Hey!

I have an interview at cam (magdelene). Im just worried about the kind of things they'll ask me to 'work through' .. what is this? Would u mind telling me what they asked you to work through seeing as we arent in any kind of competition? Thank you!

Reply 73

oldmansteptoe

2

College: Clare
Course: Natsci (Phys)
How was it?: I am not really sure, i thought them chemistry-y one went quite well, i put something good in about entropy which we havent covered in class, and i got a reasonable answer at the end of the calculation i was asked to do. the physics one wasnt as good, i did alright on the first thing i was asked, but then made a massive pair of tits of the maths bit, which put me off for the next part which i did ok but still said some daft stuff in. the end was good, we talked about the big bang and special relatvity and stuff. NO WAY am i getting an offer, but i got one off imperial the day after for AAB which cheered my miserable face up a bit.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Reply 74

oldmansteptoe

2

College: Clare
Course: Natsci (Phys)
How was it?: I am not really sure, i thought them chemistry-y one went quite well, i put something good in about entropy which we havent covered in class, and i got a reasonable answer at the end of the calculation i was asked to do. the physics one wasnt as good, i did alright on the first thing i was asked, but then made a massive pair of tits of the maths bit, which put me off for the next part which i did ok but still said some daft stuff in. the end was good, we talked about the big bang and special relatvity and stuff. NO WAY am i getting an offer, but i got one off imperial the day after for AAB which cheered my miserable face up a bit.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Reply 75

meathead

Robert602

College: Clare
Course: Mathematics
How was it? This is my second time around, I applied and was unsuccessful for Trinity maths last year, so I've got something of a point of reference. I think they went reasonably well overall, though I stumbled in a few places and made a mistake I was kicking myself for as soon as I got out of the door. Neither interviewer had read my application and there was no small talk to speak of. They just gave me maths questions and watched me struggle through them on paper with the occasional prod when I needed it. Incidentally, it was the same at Trinity and I suspect a trend in maths interviews.

A tip for prospective mathmos: Don't worry about learning your personal statement, re-reading your wider reading or thinking up answers to 'why cambridge' type questions. They're unlikely to ask about any of it, just practice your maths.

Same here... I was at Emmanuel, and the interview went something like: 'Hello, where have you come from today' *answers* 'OK, now draw the graph of y = e^x'.

I actually thought the interview went really well, they asked me to draw f(x) = (e^x - 1)/(2x) in one interview, then f(x) = (sin x)/x in the other (I ended up having to find the function f(x) of the limit of ((sin x)/x)^a as a -> infinity, which is actually lot easier than it sounds). Both of those give f(0) = 0/0, luckily I knew what to do about it (use taylor expansion, then divide through by x, let x approach zero and then f(x) = the one remaining constant term). The interviewer asked me what that came from, and I said I think it's called L'Hopitals rule (I'd read about it and put 2 and 2 together), he took me through deriving it from general maclaurin series. There was a differential equation, F''(x) + F'(x) - 6F(x) = 0, but he suggested the substitution F(X) = e^mx straight away and it was OK from then on.

They also asked some number theory questions which were all easy (eg: you have a clock 1 minute late, and a button that puts it 10 minutes forward and then another that puts it 6 minutes back - can you set it right? What about if you have +10 and -7 buttons?). The only thing to do with what I had on my paperwork was that they asked me what books I'd read, I talked about a book on methods of proof that mentioned things like proving the contrapositive, they called me out and I used an example of proving the contrapositive to solve a BMO question :eek:

The only thing that worries me is that the questions seemed a bit too easy. Some of the questions I was just like wham, bam, solution (x²+bx+c = 0 has integer roots, show b and c are integers; can they be even, odd, what if c is 6, etc)... I made one or two schoolboy errors (like plotting 2/pi above 1 on my graph's y axis, lol), but there weren't any questions that made me think 'WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?'. I'm pretty chuffed about the interview cos all the questions really suited me, but apparently the people who think the interview went OK are the ones who get rejected, so I guess I better do something about that :confused:

Reply 76

meathead

Robert602

College: Clare
Course: Mathematics
How was it? This is my second time around, I applied and was unsuccessful for Trinity maths last year, so I've got something of a point of reference. I think they went reasonably well overall, though I stumbled in a few places and made a mistake I was kicking myself for as soon as I got out of the door. Neither interviewer had read my application and there was no small talk to speak of. They just gave me maths questions and watched me struggle through them on paper with the occasional prod when I needed it. Incidentally, it was the same at Trinity and I suspect a trend in maths interviews.

A tip for prospective mathmos: Don't worry about learning your personal statement, re-reading your wider reading or thinking up answers to 'why cambridge' type questions. They're unlikely to ask about any of it, just practice your maths.

Same here... I was at Emmanuel, and the interview went something like: 'Hello, where have you come from today' *answers* 'OK, now draw the graph of y = e^x'.

I actually thought the interview went really well, they asked me to draw f(x) = (e^x - 1)/(2x) in one interview, then f(x) = (sin x)/x in the other (I ended up having to find the function f(x) of the limit of ((sin x)/x)^a as a -> infinity, which is actually lot easier than it sounds). Both of those give f(0) = 0/0, luckily I knew what to do about it (use taylor expansion, then divide through by x, let x approach zero and then f(x) = the one remaining constant term). The interviewer asked me what that came from, and I said I think it's called L'Hopitals rule (I'd read about it and put 2 and 2 together), he took me through deriving it from general maclaurin series. There was a differential equation, F''(x) + F'(x) - 6F(x) = 0, but he suggested the substitution F(X) = e^mx straight away and it was OK from then on.

They also asked some number theory questions which were all easy (eg: you have a clock 1 minute late, and a button that puts it 10 minutes forward and then another that puts it 6 minutes back - can you set it right? What about if you have +10 and -7 buttons?). The only thing to do with what I had on my paperwork was that they asked me what books I'd read, I talked about a book on methods of proof that mentioned things like proving the contrapositive, they called me out and I used an example of proving the contrapositive to solve a BMO question :eek:

The only thing that worries me is that the questions seemed a bit too easy. Some of the questions I was just like wham, bam, solution (x²+bx+c = 0 has integer roots, show b and c are integers; can they be even, odd, what if c is 6, etc)... I made one or two schoolboy errors (like plotting 2/pi above 1 on my graph's y axis, lol), but there weren't any questions that made me think 'WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?'. I'm pretty chuffed about the interview cos all the questions really suited me, but apparently the people who think the interview went OK are the ones who get rejected, so I guess I better do something about that :confused:

Reply 77

slk999

15

leannemann

I loved it, students were really helpful and especially nice when they had to tell me I couldn't sit the test! I think it's a really beautiful college but ifyou're not too good on a bike then I can see why you might not choose it!

nah, i like bikes :biggrin:

.

Reply 78

slk999

15

leannemann

I loved it, students were really helpful and especially nice when they had to tell me I couldn't sit the test! I think it's a really beautiful college but ifyou're not too good on a bike then I can see why you might not choose it!

nah, i like bikes :biggrin:

.

Reply 79

Jangliss