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Strange questions

SsEe

Somebody told me one of those rumours that a tutor threw a rugby ball at an interviewee coming through the door to see how alert he was or something. Everytime I entered for an interview I was genuinely on my guard :smile:

.

I've always heard that was a rumour, but a couple of days before my Cam interview, i was given a mock interview by some barristers i'm friends with that'd studied at Ox/Cam... i was told that by one of them that the 'rumour' was indeed true (because he knew the guy it happened to) however that was quite a long time ago, and that it was only a one-off.

However the reason why it happened was that the student in question happened to be the England Under-19 Rugby Captain and the interview was at Keble College (which i've been told apparently is extremely serious about its rugby!)

Reply 41

bavman

LOL! I was told not to pay attention to any of the myths by my "subject" interviewer (i put the "" because i had a General Interview and both interviews were about English). He said somehting along the lines of "You wont have to throw anything out of the window or set anything alight" -- I replied "I brung a lighter just in case".

But onto the questions, again, sub. interviewer,

"So if Existentialist Philosophers belived that life was pointless how did they justify their existence"...as you may have guessed, this was curveball i didnt expect, definately not in an Eng. Interview. The rest of the interview was easier but i did reallll bad, he got rid of me in ten mins. :mad:

Overall, still an interesting experience...

Reply 42

iluvcheesecake

I was warned about some strange questions in my (Oxford) Philosophy interview, but it actually wasn't that bad compared to what it could have been!

My friend, on the other hand, who had a Philosophy interview at Cambridge was asked to prove that cows exists, and I've heard stories of people being asked what their chairs think about them sitting on them... Not quite sure what I'd have said if asked that! Quite possibly, help!

Reply 43

inactive__user

Originally Posted by SsEe
Somebody told me one of those rumours that a tutor threw a rugby ball at an interviewee coming through the door to see how alert he was or something. Everytime I entered for an interview I was genuinely on my guard .

The question is...did he catch it?

Reply 44

tash087

2

RA87

The question is...did he catch it?

He did catch it! -He was the England Under-19 Rugby Captain at that time! :smile:

Reply 45

Ipsen

tash087

He did catch it! -He was the England Under-19 Rugby Captain at that time! :smile:

Next question is... did he get in?

Reply 46

Tyler Durden

17

tash087

He did catch it! -He was the England Under-19 Rugby Captain at that time! :smile:

You just couldn't have made it up! :p:

Reply 47

Thedarkone

Would the French Symbolist poets have approved of Bob Dylans lyrics? (English)

Reply 48

Amrad

1

La Gioconda

This question seems like an alluring one. What do p1 and p2 represent? unit prices? Would you care to enunciate the logic which led to your conclusion that 'b' signifies excess demand? Many thanks.

Surely b represents the difference in money spent on the two goods?

Reply 49

tash087

2

Ipsen

Next question is... did he get in?

I believe he must have got in, because one of the barristers that i know who told me about it, went to Oxford himself and was friends with the guy it happened to...

Actually i never asked my friend that question... the time when i was told this was just after my mock interview and so my mind wasn't quite thinking about asking quesions... i must remember to ask him about that though! :smile:

Reply 50

tash087

2

englishstudent

You just couldn't have made it up! :p:

Nope i definitely didn't make it up! I was surprised myself when i found out... but hey, i guess it was a more interesting way for the interviewer to find out about the guy's rugby skills, rather then asking all the usual questions such as "i see that you're the England Under-19 Rugby Captain..." :smile:

Reply 51

DC_1234

Zarathustra

"I see on your personal statement that you've taught lower-school lessons on the problem of evil...that sounds great...TEACH ME THE PROBLEM OF EVIL" *sits back and waits*.

:eek:

Would've been the one thing I hadn't revised! :rolleyes:

In my second interview (by far the worst one), we were talking about the mind-body problem and I had agreed to defend physicalism (on the basis that substance dualism is such a fundamentally untenable position). She was talking about replicas and trying to force me into contradicting myself, but I could see it coming and was happily spinning of into absurdities to avoid it. I managed not to contradict/undermine physicalism, but in the end we got into such a ridiculous hypothetical situation in the argument that she just burst out laughing and it all broke down.

First interview (again), we're talking about the possibility of a secular morality and I suggest simply constructing a value system conducive to the smooth-running of society and well-being of individuals within it, rather than one designed to 'please the deities' etc. "right...very good. That works. What about if there was just one person though...on a desert island, say...then there'd be no society, consensus or anything. How would they have a morality then?"

More as they re-surface from the dark repressive recesses of my mind :biggrin:

ZarathustraX

Groovy! Who did you have for the interview?

Reply 52

Spunky Fish

Grifter

what was the the strangest/ most abstract question you were asked at your Oxbridge interview?

Interviewer: We're going to move on to something completely different now. Can you define a white lie for me?

Me: Er...to deliberately tell a falsehood to the benefit of someone's feelings.

Interviewer: Now define a lie for me.

Me: To deliberately tell a falsehood.

Interviewer: (Holds up pen) Now, this is a bannana. Am I lying to you?

Reply 53

Tyler Durden

17

Spunky Fish

Interviewer: We're going to move on to something completely different now. Can you define a white lie for me?

Me: Er...to deliberately tell a falsehood to the benefit of someone's feelings.

Interviewer: Now define a lie for me.

Me: To deliberately tell a falsehood.

Interviewer: (Holds up pen) Now, this is a bannana. Am I lying to you?

Yes he was...

What did you say?

Reply 54

planetzod

AMARU

I was asked a very clever question about 3 pirates sharing out 100 gold coins (for PPE). But no, it wasn't *freaky* sort of strange, just clever and unexpected.

What was the question?

Reply 55

Spunky Fish

englishstudent

Yes he was...

What did you say?

I initially said that he was but I hesitated for a long time. He asked me why I hesitated and I said "because to lie is to decieve someone and I know that what you're holding isn't a bannana but a pen, and so you aren't lying to me."

He said I got it right too :smile:

Reply 56

ponjavic

1

Mine wasn't really that strange but still, the topic he chose...
Engineering at Girton, Cambridge.

I have a cup of coffee and some milk, the milk is cold. Suddenly the telephone rings and I have to answer it. Naturally I want my coffee to be as hot as possible when I come back. Should I pour the milk now or later?

There are two perequisites for making a good cup of tee. The first is that the water is boiling. The second one is that it should be hot. Why doesn't my tee taste good on a mountaintop?

And for the third quesiton we discussed the force on a refrigerator door, what's with the kitchen theme? :P

All very sensible questions but still...

*Awaiting my rejection letter*

Reply 57

Acaila

17

That really is strange! :eek:

Strange questions

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