To those already at Cambridge University - did you make any mistakes at interview?

I'm not 100% sure what I said was correct, but it is certainly frowned upon by the mods, from what I can gather. Probably best to wait for Nina or someone to appear and confirm my suspicions.

The data protection declaration from Emma states that: "The College expects me to retain confidentiality and not to share interview questions and unseen work [...] before the admissions round is complete in early January."

From this it seems that they are not interested in having the interviewees becoming too informed about the interview or any unseen work before the actual interview - quite understandable i guess, to best give equal opportunity to all applicants.

In a discussion on entropy and protein folding I concluded that proteins cannot fold up. At all. Absolutely impossible.

In my first interview my interviewer was Scottish, and I found myself mimicking his accent

In the same interview Iwas asked why I thought the law was so important, and I started off by saying that it effects everyone in everyday life, and decided to use the example of cheese (when you buy cheese it came here through EU law, you are entering into a contract etc). But I found myself in a rut and had lost my train of thought so I ended up just listing a long list of types of cheese- "whether it be cheddar, edam, mozzarella, or even goats cheese, or llama cheese- I had that in Peru once, it wasn't very nice. I have a pet llama, you know- he's called Basil...he can't make cheese because he's boy...of course, that's another type of law- biological law. But I'm not good at science, which is why I chose proper law. Of course in real law we have natural law, but that's a whole different kettle of fish...which are, of course, very different to cheese."

I know the exact verbal splurge because it was recorded during interview and has since been played back to me at every given opportunity

I meant afterwards too, but if that's all it says then I don't know.

Well I for one would probably have a hard time not talking about the interview, but from what I can gather from the other threads about this subject, people are allowed to talk about the interview (and I would be surprised if not someone discussed it immediately afterwards).

Mine were major. In a discussion on entropy and protein folding I concluded that proteins cannot fold up. At all. Absolutely impossible. (It isn't) And I said that the phosphate probably doesn't break in the hydrolysis of RNA (it does). And I started talking about friendly bacteria.

In my first interview my interviewer was Scottish, and I found myself mimicking his accent

In the same interview Iwas asked why I thought the law was so important, and I started off by saying that it effects everyone in everyday life, and decided to use the example of cheese (when you buy cheese it came here through EU law, you are entering into a contract etc). But I found myself in a rut and had lost my train of thought so I ended up just listing a long list of types of cheese- "whether it be cheddar, edam, mozzarella, or even goats cheese, or llama cheese- I had that in Peru once, it wasn't very nice. I have a pet llama, you know- he's called Basil...he can't make cheese because he's boy...of course, that's another type of law- biological law. But I'm not good at science, which is why I chose proper law. Of course in real law we have natural law, but that's a whole different kettle of fish...which are, of course, very different to cheese."

I know the exact verbal splurge because it was recorded during interview and has since been played back to me at every given opportunity

I'm not 100% sure what I said was correct, but it is certainly frowned upon by the mods, from what I can gather. Probably best to wait for Nina or someone to appear and confirm my suspicions.

IMO asking people not to talk about interviews until January is fair, but it seems a bit excessive not to be able to do it after that as well.

Please tell me exactly which part of the phrase "they use the same questions each year" you don't understand.

Yes, I get that. It wouldn't kill them to make up some new ones each year, though.

Is it encumbent upon the tutors to change for you, the potential applicant, or do you think it might be more appropriate that you play their game by their rules, given that they are the referees as well as full-time players?

In the same interview I talkedwhy I thought the law was so important, and I started off by saying that it effects everyone in everyday life, and decided to use the example of cheese (when you buy cheese it came here through EU law, you are entering into a contract etc). But I found myself in a rut and had lost my train of thought so I ended up just listing a long list of types of cheese- "whether it be cheddar, edam, mozzarella, or even goats cheese, or llama cheese- I had that in Peru once, it wasn't very nice. I have a pet llama, you know- he's called Basil...he can't make cheese because he's boy...of course, that's another type of law- biological law. But I'm not good at science, which is why I chose proper law. Of course in real law we have natural law, but that's a whole different kettle of fish...which are, of course, very different to cheese."

**edited so as not to anger the friendly mod

I know people sometimes cry after the interview, but has anyone ever cried during the interview? If so, how did you remedy the situation?

I'd imagine that it's not very typical, seeing how it's illegal without the consent of the applicant and all.

GENIUS! I haven't laughed like that since one friend of mine was asked at a Princeton interview why was he applying at Harvard.

Oh aren't you? How come?

I meant afterwards too, but if that's all it says then I don't know.

Well I for one would probably have a hard time not talking about the interview, but from what I can gather from the other threads about this subject, people are allowed to talk about the interview (and I would be surprised if not someone discussed it immediately afterwards).

I just think that the rules lead to unfairness. Assuming the same questions are used each year, people from schools with many oxbridge applicants will know what they'll be asked from talking to people who've been through the process, whereas people who only have TSR as an oxbridge resource will have no idea.

Yeah, and that's how Oxbridge Applications have built up such an impressive bank of questions, too.

Judging by their press releases, their bank is about as impressive as Northern Rock...