Chemistry Applicants 2017

Ive received offers from both Warwick and York for Medicinal chemistry but I'm finding it tough deciding which to firm (provided my Cambridge interview goes as awfully as I'm expecting), any advice?

Reply 82

guys who have interviews for oxbridge, how are you all preparing for them? (i'm not prepared in any way shape or form but mine is in about a week's time :s-smilie:

)

Reply 83

Original post by haes

guys who have interviews for oxbridge, how are you all preparing for them? (i'm not prepared in any way shape or form but mine is in about a week's time :s-smilie:

)

I have mine for bio natural sciences on the 9th, I'm completely unprepared as well :frown:

Is yours Oxford or Cambridge?

Reply 84

Original post by haes

guys who have interviews for oxbridge, how are you all preparing for them? (i'm not prepared in any way shape or form but mine is in about a week's time :s-smilie:

)

Going over the book I mentioned, making notes on topics I've made in my PS, done a few mock interviews, doing some mechanism practice, watching breaking bad, looked up the people who are interviewing me. Biological NatSci interview on the 6th I'm scared but excited

Reply 85

Original post by smiths32

I have mine for bio natural sciences on the 9th, I'm completely unprepared as well :frown:

Is yours Oxford or Cambridge?

Oxford, 12-14th (though I have a feeling I'll be sent home early because I'll probably not do well in the interview(s) lol). I honestly had no hope to get an invitation so didn't really care about preparing, and even after receiving the invitation I had a 'lol i'll get rejected afterwards anyway' mindset because I did not do well in a previous interview I prepared for and got depressed..

Original post by neutraltones

Going over the book I mentioned, making notes on topics I've made in my PS, done a few mock interviews, doing some mechanism practice, watching breaking bad, looked up the people who are interviewing me. Biological NatSci interview on the 6th I'm scared but excited

THAT'S SO CLOSE OMG, good luck! I wish I knew who was interviewing me..

Reply 86

Original post by haes

Oxford, 12-14th (though I have a feeling I'll be sent home early because I'll probably not do well in the interview(s) lol). I honestly had no hope to get an invitation so didn't really care about preparing, and even after receiving the invitation I had a 'lol i'll get rejected afterwards anyway' mindset because I did not do well in a previous interview I prepared for and got depressed..

THAT'S SO CLOSE OMG, good luck! I wish I knew who was interviewing me..

Think about it this way, the point of the interview is to see how you think. To an extent what you know is irrelevant. You're obviously passionate for your subject - show your enthusiasm, bring up stuff you're interested in and most importantly think out loud and show your thought process. Getting the right answer is not important it's about how you arrived at a reasoned reply.

You're going to ace it! You'll probably find out shortly :smile:

Reply 87

Original post by haes

Oxford, 12-14th (though I have a feeling I'll be sent home early because I'll probably not do well in the interview(s) lol). I honestly had no hope to get an invitation so didn't really care about preparing, and even after receiving the invitation I had a 'lol i'll get rejected afterwards anyway' mindset because I did not do well in a previous interview I prepared for and got depressed..

THAT'S SO CLOSE OMG, good luck! I wish I knew who was interviewing me..

Yep im in the exact same situation, after the admissions test i'd given up all hope of getting an offer. Now i feel like the only chance i get is if a score 10/10's in the interviews, which just isn't going to happen. I'd recommend finding an article that you find interesting and can explain, thats pretty much all I've done so far; where else have you applied?

Reply 88

Original post by neutraltones

Think about it this way, the point of the interview is to see how you think. To an extent what you know is irrelevant. You're obviously passionate for your subject - show your enthusiasm, bring up stuff you're interested in and most importantly think out loud and show your thought process. Getting the right answer is not important it's about how you arrived at a reasoned reply.

You're going to ace it! You'll probably find out shortly :smile:

After mock interviews and real interviews, I found that I'm pretty weak at explaining my answers. I have trouble expanding on the things I say because I find that my answers are too simple? My thought process is too simple? Do you know how I can improve on that in a week's time, or if it's possible?

Original post by smiths32

Yep im in the exact same situation, after the admissions test i'd given up all hope of getting an offer. Now i feel like the only chance i get is if a score 10/10's in the interviews, which just isn't going to happen. I'd recommend finding an article that you find interesting and can explain, thats pretty much all I've done so far; where else have you applied?

Where do you read your articles, may I ask? And Birmingham, Nottingham, UCL & Imperial!

Reply 89

Original post by haes

After mock interviews and real interviews, I found that I'm pretty weak at explaining my answers. I have trouble expanding on the things I say because I find that my answers are too simple? My thought process is too simple? Do you know how I can improve on that in a week's time, or if it's possible?

Where do you read your articles, may I ask? And Birmingham, Nottingham, UCL & Imperial!

I found mine on the New Scientist, they have articles on pretty much any area you could be interested in, for example mine is about treating genetic disorders (which is extra scary as one of my interviewers specialises in genetic diseases). They're all amazing for chemistry so don't worry if you don't quite get into oxford, Im set on either Warwick or York

Reply 90

Original post by smiths32

I found mine on the New Scientist, they have articles on pretty much any area you could be interested in, for example mine is about treating genetic disorders (which is extra scary as one of my interviewers specialises in genetic diseases). They're all amazing for chemistry so don't worry if you don't quite get into oxford, I'm set on either Warwick or York

Yeah, it's fine! I applied to Oxford so I wouldn't regret it, not necessarily because I'm passionate for it

Reply 91

Original post by haes

After mock interviews and real interviews, I found that I'm pretty weak at explaining my answers. I have trouble expanding on the things I say because I find that my answers are too simple? My thought process is too simple? Do you know how I can improve on that in a week's time, or if it's possible?

Where do you read your articles, may I ask? And Birmingham, Nottingham, UCL & Imperial!

Your thought process probably isn't too simple it's just you haven't gone into enough detail and expanded enough. So let's go with the question 'why does D2O have a higher melting point than D2O' so rather than immediately going and saying hydrogen bonds take a step back and try to develop a series of logical statements that follow on from each other for instance;

Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron which makes it twice as heavy.
In water, the main intermolecular force is hydrogen bonds, due to the large difference in electronegative ties between the oxygen and hydrogen atom, making the water molecule polar.
Electrostatic attraction between a lone pair on the oxygen and the partial positive charge on the hydrogen makes the hydrogen bond and for ice to melt, the attraction which makes water molecules form this lattice needs to have enough energy to be broken.
The greater the strength of the hydrogen bond the more energy is needed to break it
As deuterium has a higher melting point it therefore must have stronger hydrogen bonds
The increase in mass of the deuterium atom must therefore effect the hydrogen bonds, even though I'm not sure how such a mechanism would work.

Obviously this is not the right answer but that's not the point. As long as you show your thought process rather than straight away saying because of hydrogen bonds, you'll do well. Hope this helps :smile:

I thought it would be easier to explain with an example

Reply 92

Original post by haes

Yeah, it's fine! I applied to Oxford so I wouldn't regret it, not necessarily because I'm passionate for it

Ah okay fair enough, I applied because its just expected at my school that if you're clever enough you apply to Oxbridge. When I got my interview my teachers were more excited about it than me :s-smilie:

Reply 93

Original post by neutraltones

Going over the book I mentioned, making notes on topics I've made in my PS, done a few mock interviews, doing some mechanism practice, watching breaking bad, looked up the people who are interviewing me. Biological NatSci interview on the 6th I'm scared but excited

Hi, I've got a Bio SatSci interview next week as well, do you have two subject interviews? I always thought id have one chemistry and one biology, however all my interviewers seem to be biochemists so I'm unsure

Reply 94

Original post by neutraltones

Your thought process probably isn't too simple it's just you haven't gone into enough detail and expanded enough. So let's go with the question 'why does D2O have a higher melting point than D2O' so rather than immediately going and saying hydrogen bonds take a step back and try to develop a series of logical statements that follow on from each other for instance;

Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron which makes it twice as heavy.
In water, the main intermolecular force is hydrogen bonds, due to the large difference in electronegative ties between the oxygen and hydrogen atom, making the water molecule polar.
Electrostatic attraction between a lone pair on the oxygen and the partial positive charge on the hydrogen makes the hydrogen bond and for ice to melt, the attraction which makes water molecules form this lattice needs to have enough energy to be broken.
The greater the strength of the hydrogen bond the more energy is needed to break it
As deuterium has a higher melting point it therefore must have stronger hydrogen bonds
The increase in mass of the deuterium atom must therefore effect the hydrogen bonds, even though I'm not sure how such a mechanism would work.

Obviously this is not the right answer but that's not the point. As long as you show your thought process rather than straight away saying because of hydrogen bonds, you'll do well. Hope this helps :smile:

I thought it would be easier to explain with an example

Ah thanks for this! Do you know of a place with sample questions that I could practice with?

Reply 95

Original post by smiths32

Hi, I've got a Bio SatSci interview next week as well, do you have two subject interviews? I always thought id have one chemistry and one biology, however all my interviewers seem to be biochemists so I'm unsure

One is with a biochemist and a biologist, the other is two chemists so I assume a more purer chemistry one and then a biochemistry/biological one

Reply 96