Oxford interviews?

I am thinking about applying to study law at Oxford and in my recent mocks I got AAA in English Lit, History & Geography but am terrified about making a mistake in the interviews ( if I get that far) or embarrassing myself and looking like an idiot.

Does anyone have any advice about the interview stage at Oxford?

I have a place this October to study Law at Oxford so hopefully I can help!

For our interviews we had to arrive 30 minutes early to read the material that the interview would be based upon.

They usually start by asking you something about yourself to ease any tensions, but this won’t count towards how your interview goes as a whole.

Relax as much as possible and really listen to what they have to say! Rehearsing answers beforehand at school etc will not help you at all, they can spot this a mile off. If you don’t understand something, be honest. Ask them to repeat that, ask them to provide more information or just say that you’re sorry and you don’t know how to answer. I did that during my first interview and I’m sure it was fine. They’re looking for people who can benefit from the tutorial system and the overall teaching system at Oxford. They interview because they only have so many spaces and they want to make sure that you are the right fit. The interviews are challenging and demanding but try and relax and you’ll actually find them quite rewarding and interesting too.

Okay that’s really helpful thankyou!

What sort of of material do they give you? Is it like something that has happened in the news recently or like a made up scenario?

Also can I ask what college you applied to? I am interested in Brasenose College but don’t know which college to apply to yet.

I am thinking about applying to study law at Oxford and in my recent mocks I got AAA in English Lit, History & Geography but am terrified about making a mistake in the interviews ( if I get that far) or embarrassing myself and looking like an idiot.

Does anyone have any advice about the interview stage at Oxford?

There were scenarios based on the law that we were given a basic outline of and also legal issues that vary in different countries. I’m sure this can be different at different colleges. I applied to New College and all of the law students who applied for New College were only interviewed there so I can’t unfortunately speak for the process at other colleges either.

I did interviews for geography and got an offer this year. I was nervous about the interviews, but they were actually not that bad. In fact, they were quite an enjoyable experience once I got over the initial nerves. Hopefully, if you really like what you're studying, you'll find being asked such challenging questions and having the chance to respond to them actually pretty fun.

The interviewers are really helpful and don't want to give you a hard time. You'll feel nervous, but don't let it put you off because they're not trying to catch you out or anything - they just want to see how you think and how you'll respond to challenging and interesting questions. Don't worry about feeling like an idiot - the questions are meant to be hard, and they will need a bit of thinking time. The main thing is not to rush your answers.

Now, they might purposefully ask a bit of a screwball question - I had one interviewer who specialised in gender studies ask me some crazy question that threw me off a bit - but again, it's not to catch you out and gives you an opportunity to show you can think outside the box a bit, so again, just don't panic and rush your answer.

Some useful advice I got was also to challenge source material they give you - sometimes source material you get isn't really enough to adequately answer the question you've been given - eg it might make assumptions or tell you about only one aspect of the question - so don't be afraid to point that out because those are exactly the sort of skills they're looking for.

Hope that helps and your application goes well, good luck.

Concentrate on the LNAT. If you get an interview, they saw something that they liked, and you're in with a chance. Relax, be yourself, and see what happens. You are not expected to get everything right - they need to see how you think when tackling problems / concepts that are unfamiliar, and how well you can take guidance. Don't be too afraid to say what you think, even when you disagree with the interviewer - just make sure to explain your reasoning. Thinking out-loud can be good too - they need to know how, more than what, you think. They have a lot of interviewing experience and will do their best to put you at ease. Good luck.

In addition to the advice given above, I would add that, while 'sample interview questions' are available online (including on the Oxford website), they're not especially useful. While it can be helpful to get an idea of the style of questions, they're completely removed from their context, and viewing them in isolation may well make you more nervous, since there's a good chance you won't be able to answer many, if any of them. It's important to remember that interview questions are based either off information given to you (in the pre-reading or by the tutors themselves) or the contents of your personal statement. While they will push the limits of your knowledge, they're more interested in how well you can talk about things you already know, and how you can combine that with new information to form a convincing argument.

In addition to the advice given above, I would add that, while 'sample interview questions' are available online (including on the Oxford website), they're not especially useful. While it can be helpful to get an idea of the style of questions, they're completely removed from their context, and viewing them in isolation may well make you more nervous, since there's a good chance you won't be able to answer many, if any of them. It's important to remember that interview questions are based either off information given to you (in the pre-reading or by the tutors themselves) or the contents of your personal statement. While they will push the limits of your knowledge, they're more interested in how well you can talk about things you already know, and how you can combine that with new information to form a convincing argument.

Totally agree with this! To add to information about misleading examples, don’t stress about the LNAT example essays. They’re at a far higher standard than anyone of our age and experience would be expected to write! Nicholas McBride explains in ‘Letters to a Law Student’ that these examples shouldn’t be something that you should expect to live up to. I will admit that they stressed me out when I read them! All I could think was that I would never write an answer like that to that particular issue!

Ahh okay thankyou very much for your help!

All good advice here so far.

Just to re-emphasize - don't go into the interview being terrified of making a mistake or embarrassing yourself! That would be the biggest mistake you could make. Think things through on the spot, explain your thinking, and don't be afraid to change your mind if you think you're heading in the wrong direction.

All good advice here so far.

Just to re-emphasize - don't go into the interview being terrified of making a mistake or embarrassing yourself! That would be the biggest mistake you could make. Think things through on the spot, explain your thinking, and don't be afraid to change your mind if you think you're heading in the wrong direction.

Yes! Explaining your thinking is so important - they're interested in how you arrive at an answer just as much as (if not more than) the answer itself. Getting an answer 'wrong', but demonstrating a logical method (especially if you can correct that method and arrive at the correct answer if your mistake is pointed out) will arguably put you in a better position than guessing/getting the 'right' answer but not knowing how you got there.

I am thinking about applying to study law at Oxford and in my recent mocks I got AAA in English Lit, History & Geography but am terrified about making a mistake in the interviews ( if I get that far) or embarrassing myself and looking like an idiot.

Does anyone have any advice about the interview stage at Oxford?