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lol I dont mind "helping" the competition 
.
Aside from the obvous why comsci?, why [insert university here]?, I got asked where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Where do you see compsci going in the future? Do you think computers will ever be able to think as we do? (put I was interested in AI on ps). What single discovery/invention would have the biggest impact on AI?
Will try and remember some more.
.Aside from the obvous why comsci?, why [insert university here]?, I got asked where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Where do you see compsci going in the future? Do you think computers will ever be able to think as we do? (put I was interested in AI on ps). What single discovery/invention would have the biggest impact on AI?
Will try and remember some more.
What do like about our course? What are your specific interests in the subject/what modules do like the look of?
I just had my Cambridge interview for Computer Science so I'll give a detailed account of it (sorry if this post is too long).
Basically, the first interview went pretty well for me. I was first asked about my the extra programming I've done outside of school (that I wrote on my PS) with the programming language Python and what programs I've actually created. They then asked me what interface I used for this program and they even asked me how I would extend the program to be more sophisticated. They then questioned me about the fact that I had learned about computer hardware from building a PC (also on my PS). They were interested to know what I had learned and the experience I gained from it. Finally, to end this part of the interview, I was asked about my Advanced Higher Computing project with questions such as: how is it going? what challenges have you faced during development?
The second part of the first interview mainly focused on logic associated with discrete mathematics. This was the harder part of the interview but I think I didn't do to badly in it.
It all got worse however, with the second interview. In this interview there was some repetition in that they again asked me about my computing project. I felt really nervous however, that when I told them that I was using python to implement it, they both looked at each other and one of them said "right, a scripting language ... ". In addition to this I was told that "You do know that in the past it's been a disadvantage of not having A-levels" which again made me feel nervous.
That wasn't the worst part though, they asked me about my subjects and then asked what topics I'd done in maths thus far. I really wished I hadn't said "Binomial Theorem" since they started questioning me on that. They first gave a really difficult problem on it that I had absolutely no clue about which had extended it out.
They then simplified it to something that I was more familiar with. However, at this point my mind went completely blank, and I ended up very slowly and with a degree of uncertainty writing out the expansion (that I had so much practice doing in my course
). Then one of them said are you sure you haven't forgotten something? I looked again with a degree of uncertainty then eventually realised oh **** I've forgotten the coefficients. At this point I felt really stupid but he persisted with the original question that I had no clue about and after about 15 mins of prompting I finally got an "answer" . Since that took ages to do, the interview finished after that question. I felt pretty distraught at that point I knew that I would probably get rejected.
It was a good experience however as I realised that they weren't really interested in what I already knew but more about how I think, and approach unfamiliar problems. I only got asked those questions about programming since I had specifically stated on my PS that I had quite a lot of programming experience. I was suprised however, that I didn't get asked questions like "Why Cambridge?", "Why Computer Science?" and so on.
I have my interview at Imperial College next week and I'm hoping it's not as hard as that one.
Basically, the first interview went pretty well for me. I was first asked about my the extra programming I've done outside of school (that I wrote on my PS) with the programming language Python and what programs I've actually created. They then asked me what interface I used for this program and they even asked me how I would extend the program to be more sophisticated. They then questioned me about the fact that I had learned about computer hardware from building a PC (also on my PS). They were interested to know what I had learned and the experience I gained from it. Finally, to end this part of the interview, I was asked about my Advanced Higher Computing project with questions such as: how is it going? what challenges have you faced during development?
The second part of the first interview mainly focused on logic associated with discrete mathematics. This was the harder part of the interview but I think I didn't do to badly in it.
It all got worse however, with the second interview. In this interview there was some repetition in that they again asked me about my computing project. I felt really nervous however, that when I told them that I was using python to implement it, they both looked at each other and one of them said "right, a scripting language ... ". In addition to this I was told that "You do know that in the past it's been a disadvantage of not having A-levels" which again made me feel nervous.
That wasn't the worst part though, they asked me about my subjects and then asked what topics I'd done in maths thus far. I really wished I hadn't said "Binomial Theorem" since they started questioning me on that. They first gave a really difficult problem on it that I had absolutely no clue about which had extended it out.
They then simplified it to something that I was more familiar with. However, at this point my mind went completely blank, and I ended up very slowly and with a degree of uncertainty writing out the expansion (that I had so much practice doing in my course
). Then one of them said are you sure you haven't forgotten something? I looked again with a degree of uncertainty then eventually realised oh **** I've forgotten the coefficients. At this point I felt really stupid but he persisted with the original question that I had no clue about and after about 15 mins of prompting I finally got an "answer" . Since that took ages to do, the interview finished after that question. I felt pretty distraught at that point I knew that I would probably get rejected.It was a good experience however as I realised that they weren't really interested in what I already knew but more about how I think, and approach unfamiliar problems. I only got asked those questions about programming since I had specifically stated on my PS that I had quite a lot of programming experience. I was suprised however, that I didn't get asked questions like "Why Cambridge?", "Why Computer Science?" and so on.
I have my interview at Imperial College next week and I'm hoping it's not as hard as that one.
Thanks for a really interesting post! Let us know if they give you the offer 
Ive just got back from Oxford, had 3 interviews at different colleges. One good, one bad, one alright. Will post the details later.
OK as promised heres a complete breakdown of my Oxford interview. This is a very long post so don't read on if you don't like very long posts. Maybe just maybe someone will find this useful 
.
My first interview was at Teddy Hall (where I was staying), and he asked me about the function f(x) where if x is even f(x) = x/2 , and if x is odd f(x) = x + 1. I got to the point that it always ends up as 2,1,2,1,2... but then he asked me to prove it and I really screwed it up. Next I got asked about another function which takes 2 numbers and outputs the highest one (he drew it up like an electronics diagram with logic gates), This was fine when he asked me how many milliseconds you needed to get the highest from 4,8 and 16 numbers if each function takes 1ms, which I did, and then a general rule for n numbers, which I could also do (round up to the nearest power of 2, and then log this number to base 2). Then he asked me how to find the middle number for 3 inputs using only this function and another (which outputs the lowest input), this had me completly stumped and he seemed to enjoy telling me every idea I suggested was terribly wrong, thus ended the first interview.
Second one went a bit better (was at Oriel), first I got asked about the shortest path from opposite vertices of a cube length 1, which after much prompting I worked out to be root 5 (draw the net and use pythag). Then he showed me this "Christmas cracker" thing, as he called it, which was 5 groups of numbers and you said what groups a number was in and he told you what that number was. I worked out it was a sort of binary system, which sort of impressed him, the he asked me to write down a sum formula, which eventually after many a prompt, I got to. The tutors seemed nicer here as well and I had a long chat about evolutionary programming after the technical stuff, which seemed to impress again.
Third interview was at: wait for it, Balliol! Wow I thought this was one of THE most competitive colleges in Oxford but I was in only a handful of people asked for a third interview (which is good right?). This one went fairly well. First I got a question on probabilty (how many sets of partners are there in a 4 player doubles tennis game?, what about if there were 5 possible players? ie one doesn't play). I got both these right with no prompting, the guy seemed impressed. Then I had to work out a problem involving a machine which takes a list of numbers, and an integer. And if there is any combination of the numbers in the list that add to give the integer it outputs a yes, otherwise a no. He asked me to form an algorithm to use in the machine, which I did (try each number in turn, then each pair, then each trio etc...). He then helped me to work through my method for a few examples and find the maximum amount of comparisons which it could possibly do: (2^n) -1. He then said there was a solution in which the maximum number of comparisons was n, and if I could think what that might be. I thought it would be better to start with all the numbers and then work backwards. Amazingly this was the solution he had in mind and the professor seemed very impressed by this. We then worked through the complete method (which involved trying n numbers, and if there was a yes, trying n-1 and eliminating the number not used if n-1 was yes and so on. I still don't fully understand it, but it made sense at the time. So far so good, enter the second interviewer (a mathematician) to ask some "maths questions".
Differentiate y = 5^x 9 (in terms of x). Crap. I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure the complete method. Out of desperation I muttered "take logs of both sides". He did it on the board, wow I was right. Then he asked me if I could simplify ln(5^x). Crap again. I looked at it for about 10 seconds (seemed like 10 minutes) before finally remembering the laws of logs back from C2, thank you for the laws of logs, they may have saved my life. If I get an offer I will thank Napier and all he has done for the world (and his black cock, but thats another story). ln(5^x) = xln5. Yes I though now I could differentiate both sides!!! (1/y)dy/dx = ln5 therefore
dy/dx = y ln5. dy/dx = 5^x(ln5). He asked me if I learnt implicit differentiation at school and seemed disappointed when I said yes (as if I had just magically differentiated ln(y) with respect to x, without being taught how to do it lol!). Next I had to prove that the square of any odd number is a factor of 8 + 1. I could do this as I let 2k+1 equal an odd number, and then explained (2k+1)^2. I got 4k^2 + 4k +1, so take the one away, you get 4k(k+1), which after some help I figured out 4k always makes a multiple of 8 in the event of k being an even number, and k+1 always gives a multiple of 8 if k is an odd number (sort of like this anyway). The guy seemed happy and so ended my final interview.
Wow anyone still reading this. Yes I am bored
.My first interview was at Teddy Hall (where I was staying), and he asked me about the function f(x) where if x is even f(x) = x/2 , and if x is odd f(x) = x + 1. I got to the point that it always ends up as 2,1,2,1,2... but then he asked me to prove it and I really screwed it up. Next I got asked about another function which takes 2 numbers and outputs the highest one (he drew it up like an electronics diagram with logic gates), This was fine when he asked me how many milliseconds you needed to get the highest from 4,8 and 16 numbers if each function takes 1ms, which I did, and then a general rule for n numbers, which I could also do (round up to the nearest power of 2, and then log this number to base 2). Then he asked me how to find the middle number for 3 inputs using only this function and another (which outputs the lowest input), this had me completly stumped and he seemed to enjoy telling me every idea I suggested was terribly wrong, thus ended the first interview.
Second one went a bit better (was at Oriel), first I got asked about the shortest path from opposite vertices of a cube length 1, which after much prompting I worked out to be root 5 (draw the net and use pythag). Then he showed me this "Christmas cracker" thing, as he called it, which was 5 groups of numbers and you said what groups a number was in and he told you what that number was. I worked out it was a sort of binary system, which sort of impressed him, the he asked me to write down a sum formula, which eventually after many a prompt, I got to. The tutors seemed nicer here as well and I had a long chat about evolutionary programming after the technical stuff, which seemed to impress again.
Third interview was at: wait for it, Balliol! Wow I thought this was one of THE most competitive colleges in Oxford but I was in only a handful of people asked for a third interview (which is good right?). This one went fairly well. First I got a question on probabilty (how many sets of partners are there in a 4 player doubles tennis game?, what about if there were 5 possible players? ie one doesn't play). I got both these right with no prompting, the guy seemed impressed. Then I had to work out a problem involving a machine which takes a list of numbers, and an integer. And if there is any combination of the numbers in the list that add to give the integer it outputs a yes, otherwise a no. He asked me to form an algorithm to use in the machine, which I did (try each number in turn, then each pair, then each trio etc...). He then helped me to work through my method for a few examples and find the maximum amount of comparisons which it could possibly do: (2^n) -1. He then said there was a solution in which the maximum number of comparisons was n, and if I could think what that might be. I thought it would be better to start with all the numbers and then work backwards. Amazingly this was the solution he had in mind and the professor seemed very impressed by this. We then worked through the complete method (which involved trying n numbers, and if there was a yes, trying n-1 and eliminating the number not used if n-1 was yes and so on. I still don't fully understand it, but it made sense at the time. So far so good, enter the second interviewer (a mathematician) to ask some "maths questions".
Differentiate y = 5^x 9 (in terms of x). Crap. I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure the complete method. Out of desperation I muttered "take logs of both sides". He did it on the board, wow I was right. Then he asked me if I could simplify ln(5^x). Crap again. I looked at it for about 10 seconds (seemed like 10 minutes) before finally remembering the laws of logs back from C2, thank you for the laws of logs, they may have saved my life. If I get an offer I will thank Napier and all he has done for the world (and his black cock, but thats another story). ln(5^x) = xln5. Yes I though now I could differentiate both sides!!! (1/y)dy/dx = ln5 therefore
dy/dx = y ln5. dy/dx = 5^x(ln5). He asked me if I learnt implicit differentiation at school and seemed disappointed when I said yes (as if I had just magically differentiated ln(y) with respect to x, without being taught how to do it lol!). Next I had to prove that the square of any odd number is a factor of 8 + 1. I could do this as I let 2k+1 equal an odd number, and then explained (2k+1)^2. I got 4k^2 + 4k +1, so take the one away, you get 4k(k+1), which after some help I figured out 4k always makes a multiple of 8 in the event of k being an even number, and k+1 always gives a multiple of 8 if k is an odd number (sort of like this anyway). The guy seemed happy and so ended my final interview.
Wow anyone still reading this. Yes I am bored
joe_the_smoe
OK as promised heres a complete breakdown of my Oxford interview. This is a very long post so don't read on if you don't like very long posts. Maybe just maybe someone will find this useful .
My first interview was at Teddy Hall (where I was staying), and he asked me about the function f(x) where if x is even f(x) = x/2 , and if x is odd f(x) = x + 1. I got to the point that it always ends up as 2,1,2,1,2... but then he asked me to prove it and I really screwed it up. Next I got asked about another function which takes 2 numbers and outputs the highest one (he drew it up like an electronics diagram with logic gates), This was fine when he asked me how many milliseconds you needed to get the highest from 4,8 and 16 numbers if each function takes 1ms, which I did, and then a general rule for n numbers, which I could also do (round up to the nearest power of 2, and then log this number to base 2). Then he asked me how to find the middle number for 3 inputs using only this function and another (which outputs the lowest input), this had me completly stumped and he seemed to enjoy telling me every idea I suggested was terribly wrong, thus ended the first interview.
Second one went a bit better (was at Oriel), first I got asked about the shortest path from opposite vertices of a cube length 1, which after much prompting I worked out to be root 5 (draw the net and use pythag). Then he showed me this "Christmas cracker" thing, as he called it, which was 5 groups of numbers and you said what groups a number was in and he told you what that number was. I worked out it was a sort of binary system, which sort of impressed him, the he asked me to write down a sum formula, which eventually after many a prompt, I got to. The tutors seemed nicer here as well and I had a long chat about evolutionary programming after the technical stuff, which seemed to impress again.
Third interview was at: wait for it, Balliol! Wow I thought this was one of THE most competitive colleges in Oxford but I was in only a handful of people asked for a third interview (which is good right?). This one went fairly well. First I got a question on probabilty (how many sets of partners are there in a 4 player doubles tennis game?, what about if there were 5 possible players? ie one doesn't play). I got both these right with no prompting, the guy seemed impressed. Then I had to work out a problem involving a machine which takes a list of numbers, and an integer. And if there is any combination of the numbers in the list that add to give the integer it outputs a yes, otherwise a no. He asked me to form an algorithm to use in the machine, which I did (try each number in turn, then each pair, then each trio etc...). He then helped me to work through my method for a few examples and find the maximum amount of comparisons which it could possibly do: (2^n) -1. He then said there was a solution in which the maximum number of comparisons was n, and if I could think what that might be. I thought it would be better to start with all the numbers and then work backwards. Amazingly this was the solution he had in mind and the professor seemed very impressed by this. We then worked through the complete method (which involved trying n numbers, and if there was a yes, trying n-1 and eliminating the number not used if n-1 was yes and so on. I still don't fully understand it, but it made sense at the time. So far so good, enter the second interviewer (a mathematician) to ask some "maths questions".
Differentiate y = 5^x 9 (in terms of x). Crap. I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure the complete method. Out of desperation I muttered "take logs of both sides". He did it on the board, wow I was right. Then he asked me if I could simplify ln(5^x). Crap again. I looked at it for about 10 seconds (seemed like 10 minutes) before finally remembering the laws of logs back from C2, thank you for the laws of logs, they may have saved my life. If I get an offer I will thank Napier and all he has done for the world (and his black cock, but thats another story). ln(5^x) = xln5. Yes I though now I could differentiate both sides!!! (1/y)dy/dx = ln5 therefore
dy/dx = y ln5. dy/dx = 5^x(ln5). He asked me if I learnt implicit differentiation at school and seemed disappointed when I said yes (as if I had just magically differentiated ln(y) with respect to x, without being taught how to do it lol!). Next I had to prove that the square of any odd number is a factor of 8 + 1. I could do this as I let 2k+1 equal an odd number, and then explained (2k+1)^2. I got 4k^2 + 4k +1, so take the one away, you get 4k(k+1), which after some help I figured out 4k always makes a multiple of 8 in the event of k being an even number, and k+1 always gives a multiple of 8 if k is an odd number (sort of like this anyway). The guy seemed happy and so ended my final interview.
Wow anyone still reading this. Yes I am bored
.My first interview was at Teddy Hall (where I was staying), and he asked me about the function f(x) where if x is even f(x) = x/2 , and if x is odd f(x) = x + 1. I got to the point that it always ends up as 2,1,2,1,2... but then he asked me to prove it and I really screwed it up. Next I got asked about another function which takes 2 numbers and outputs the highest one (he drew it up like an electronics diagram with logic gates), This was fine when he asked me how many milliseconds you needed to get the highest from 4,8 and 16 numbers if each function takes 1ms, which I did, and then a general rule for n numbers, which I could also do (round up to the nearest power of 2, and then log this number to base 2). Then he asked me how to find the middle number for 3 inputs using only this function and another (which outputs the lowest input), this had me completly stumped and he seemed to enjoy telling me every idea I suggested was terribly wrong, thus ended the first interview.
Second one went a bit better (was at Oriel), first I got asked about the shortest path from opposite vertices of a cube length 1, which after much prompting I worked out to be root 5 (draw the net and use pythag). Then he showed me this "Christmas cracker" thing, as he called it, which was 5 groups of numbers and you said what groups a number was in and he told you what that number was. I worked out it was a sort of binary system, which sort of impressed him, the he asked me to write down a sum formula, which eventually after many a prompt, I got to. The tutors seemed nicer here as well and I had a long chat about evolutionary programming after the technical stuff, which seemed to impress again.
Third interview was at: wait for it, Balliol! Wow I thought this was one of THE most competitive colleges in Oxford but I was in only a handful of people asked for a third interview (which is good right?). This one went fairly well. First I got a question on probabilty (how many sets of partners are there in a 4 player doubles tennis game?, what about if there were 5 possible players? ie one doesn't play). I got both these right with no prompting, the guy seemed impressed. Then I had to work out a problem involving a machine which takes a list of numbers, and an integer. And if there is any combination of the numbers in the list that add to give the integer it outputs a yes, otherwise a no. He asked me to form an algorithm to use in the machine, which I did (try each number in turn, then each pair, then each trio etc...). He then helped me to work through my method for a few examples and find the maximum amount of comparisons which it could possibly do: (2^n) -1. He then said there was a solution in which the maximum number of comparisons was n, and if I could think what that might be. I thought it would be better to start with all the numbers and then work backwards. Amazingly this was the solution he had in mind and the professor seemed very impressed by this. We then worked through the complete method (which involved trying n numbers, and if there was a yes, trying n-1 and eliminating the number not used if n-1 was yes and so on. I still don't fully understand it, but it made sense at the time. So far so good, enter the second interviewer (a mathematician) to ask some "maths questions".
Differentiate y = 5^x 9 (in terms of x). Crap. I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure the complete method. Out of desperation I muttered "take logs of both sides". He did it on the board, wow I was right. Then he asked me if I could simplify ln(5^x). Crap again. I looked at it for about 10 seconds (seemed like 10 minutes) before finally remembering the laws of logs back from C2, thank you for the laws of logs, they may have saved my life. If I get an offer I will thank Napier and all he has done for the world (and his black cock, but thats another story). ln(5^x) = xln5. Yes I though now I could differentiate both sides!!! (1/y)dy/dx = ln5 therefore
dy/dx = y ln5. dy/dx = 5^x(ln5). He asked me if I learnt implicit differentiation at school and seemed disappointed when I said yes (as if I had just magically differentiated ln(y) with respect to x, without being taught how to do it lol!). Next I had to prove that the square of any odd number is a factor of 8 + 1. I could do this as I let 2k+1 equal an odd number, and then explained (2k+1)^2. I got 4k^2 + 4k +1, so take the one away, you get 4k(k+1), which after some help I figured out 4k always makes a multiple of 8 in the event of k being an even number, and k+1 always gives a multiple of 8 if k is an odd number (sort of like this anyway). The guy seemed happy and so ended my final interview.
Wow anyone still reading this. Yes I am bored
Wow, your interviews seemed much more difficult then mine. Well done btw, you seem to have done very well in them, I hope you get an offer.
rrai
Wow, your interviews seemed much more difficult then mine. Well done btw, you seem to have done very well in them, I hope you get an offer.
Seems like you did well in yours as well, lets hope we both get in to Oxbridge. Lol I'm getting really worried about it and I shouldn't be really as Imperial is just as good (if not better), I guess its just human nature
. Good luck in your Imperial interview, it won't be as hard as the Cambridge one, mine was just mainly why this, why that etc... Only one techinal question which was a very simple sorting algorithm and we just went through a few different methods and dicussed how efficient each one was. They gave us the impression everyone invited for interview was virtually guaranteed a place and they only interview to decide between the third grade being an A or a B.joe_the_smoe
Seems like you did well in yours as well, lets hope we both get in to Oxbridge. Lol I'm getting really worried about it and I shouldn't be really as Imperial is just as good (if not better), I guess its just human nature . Good luck in your Imperial interview, it won't be as hard as the Cambridge one, mine was just mainly why this, why that etc... Only one techinal question which was a very simple sorting algorithm and we just went through a few different methods and dicussed how efficient each one was. They gave us the impression everyone invited for interview was virtually guaranteed a place and they only interview to decide between the third grade being an A or a B.
. Good luck in your Imperial interview, it won't be as hard as the Cambridge one, mine was just mainly why this, why that etc... Only one techinal question which was a very simple sorting algorithm and we just went through a few different methods and dicussed how efficient each one was. They gave us the impression everyone invited for interview was virtually guaranteed a place and they only interview to decide between the third grade being an A or a B.Yeah, I just had my interview at Imperial and it went pretty well. Again like you implied it was really to try and sell Imperial to you more than you selling yourself to Imperial.
However, when I was there I really liked Imperial and thought that the course is much better than Cambridge (for me) and has great employment opportunities. Also I think I would love going to university in London.
Hey,
The people who got interviews at Imperial - what sorts of questions did they ask you? In the sense did you have to know lots and lots about computer science and stuff? And all this stuff about algorithms - well i haven't been taught it in my school, would that be a good enough excuse not to answer the question?
Btw does anyone have UCL interview on the 1st of Feb? Apparently there's some group session thing and i'd be really grateful if anyone could confirm what we have to do in that.
(Sorry for asking too many questions but am reallly scared about interviews and i need something to calm me down!)
The people who got interviews at Imperial - what sorts of questions did they ask you? In the sense did you have to know lots and lots about computer science and stuff? And all this stuff about algorithms - well i haven't been taught it in my school, would that be a good enough excuse not to answer the question?
Btw does anyone have UCL interview on the 1st of Feb? Apparently there's some group session thing and i'd be really grateful if anyone could confirm what we have to do in that.
(Sorry for asking too many questions but am reallly scared about interviews and i need something to calm me down!)
varsha
Hey,
The people who got interviews at Imperial - what sorts of questions did they ask you? In the sense did you have to know lots and lots about computer science and stuff? And all this stuff about algorithms - well i haven't been taught it in my school, would that be a good enough excuse not to answer the question?
Btw does anyone have UCL interview on the 1st of Feb? Apparently there's some group session thing and i'd be really grateful if anyone could confirm what we have to do in that.
(Sorry for asking too many questions but am reallly scared about interviews and i need something to calm me down!)
The people who got interviews at Imperial - what sorts of questions did they ask you? In the sense did you have to know lots and lots about computer science and stuff? And all this stuff about algorithms - well i haven't been taught it in my school, would that be a good enough excuse not to answer the question?
Btw does anyone have UCL interview on the 1st of Feb? Apparently there's some group session thing and i'd be really grateful if anyone could confirm what we have to do in that.
(Sorry for asking too many questions but am reallly scared about interviews and i need something to calm me down!)
At the Imperial interview they will probably just ask you some logic/maths based questions. The aim of the Imperial interview is for the interviewer to find out how you think therefore getting the correct answer isn't as important as your thought process to get that answer.
Also, if you get an Imperial interview you are very likely to get an offer, the interview is sometimes used to work out how difficult an offer you'll get.
eeek, i have an interview at york tomorrow and im scared 
anybody happen to be online with any useful advice...
even how smartly dressed everybody was would be useful...
anybody happen to be online with any useful advice...
even how smartly dressed everybody was would be useful...
I happen to be online cos I'm taking a break from pyschology which I've left far too late to revise for =P
I was at York in December. The first thing is to relax. The fact you have an interview means you already have a very good chance of getting an offer. The interviewers know you are bound to be nervous and will give you time to relax at the start of the interview. A bit of small talk at the start of the interview isn't a bad thing. (The lecturer I spoke to actually seemed more nervous than I felt. Apparently that is typical of his personality.)
You will probably get one technical question. This might sound like the 'scary bit' but it isn't all that bad. Personally, I had a few questions about calculus asked and we drew sketches of integrals on the whiteboard in the room. Its unlikely you will be asked the same questions though because it seemed in december each lecturer had totally different questions. Someone I spoke to talked about physics, another was asked about a maths proof. Don't be afraid to take your time over the question. Consider and discuss it.
Questions you have 90%+ chance of being asked are why you want to do CS and why you want to do it at York, so have answers for these prepared in your head so you can sound convincing (you might feel convinced you want to do CS but might not be able to put that across very well.)
I think casual smart sorta level was typical. Some wore suits, but that isn't needed. Just wear what you feel comfortable in and that doesn't look scruffy.
Good luck and have fun.
I was at York in December. The first thing is to relax. The fact you have an interview means you already have a very good chance of getting an offer. The interviewers know you are bound to be nervous and will give you time to relax at the start of the interview. A bit of small talk at the start of the interview isn't a bad thing. (The lecturer I spoke to actually seemed more nervous than I felt. Apparently that is typical of his personality.)
You will probably get one technical question. This might sound like the 'scary bit' but it isn't all that bad. Personally, I had a few questions about calculus asked and we drew sketches of integrals on the whiteboard in the room. Its unlikely you will be asked the same questions though because it seemed in december each lecturer had totally different questions. Someone I spoke to talked about physics, another was asked about a maths proof. Don't be afraid to take your time over the question. Consider and discuss it.
Questions you have 90%+ chance of being asked are why you want to do CS and why you want to do it at York, so have answers for these prepared in your head so you can sound convincing (you might feel convinced you want to do CS but might not be able to put that across very well.)
I think casual smart sorta level was typical. Some wore suits, but that isn't needed. Just wear what you feel comfortable in and that doesn't look scruffy.
Good luck and have fun.
Thankyou lots, i do feel a bit better now 
having problems putting together an answer for the 'why' questions... think im just very concious of sounding silly or not making any sense...
i've always found integrals difficult... so im hoping i do get something different...
Psychology revision takes the PTSS (heh... sorry!) i have Atypical and child development module on monday... eek.. at least the worrying abou the interview took my mind off it for a few hours
having problems putting together an answer for the 'why' questions... think im just very concious of sounding silly or not making any sense...
i've always found integrals difficult... so im hoping i do get something different...
Psychology revision takes the PTSS (heh... sorry!) i have Atypical and child development module on monday... eek.. at least the worrying abou the interview took my mind off it for a few hours
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