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Oxford PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Students and Applicants

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Yeah im off to balliol, see you all there. Anyone got any ideas what they're going to do in their spare time (if we have much). Never been to Oxford before so i imagine i'll have a good look round. Any recommendations of where to go/sites to see?

Levhead

Reply 1081

angelene

im going to oxford tomorrow for the interview and i am scared as hell! could anyone please possibly say something to calm me down?

and how have you prepared yourself for the interviews??

Reply 1082

sally_mmm

Yes, to everyone...

Oxford has ice cream parlours!!! They're amazing to start with. I say this being allergic to ice cream- I reckon it's worth it despite the allergy.

Oxford is great just for wandering around. You'll just find a cool little hippy shop, or a book shop, or a cathedral, or a huge dorothy perkis, or a massive old college, or a shop selling amazing bagel toasties, or... I don't know, but the point is there's something for everyone and a bit more. And just the atmosphere is really cool... OH, I can't wait!

To calm you down angelene: I know there are a lot of people applying to Oxford, and it seems daunting. Don't think that because there are lots of applicants, there are lots who are necessarily better than you. How daunted you are actually has no bearing on how good you are as a candidate. So, other people you meet there might be more gobby, or might be able to recite the whole of the american constitution, or draw stupid graphs with their calculators, but none of this makes them any better candidates than you. You know yourself how well you can think, and how passionate you are. Think about it. Have some self-trust (some self-awareness!). We're not expected to be perfect at 17/ 18, but if you've applied it probably means that you have some confidence in your abilities. "Let your little light shine"- don't hide it away coz of self-doubt which you know, really, is misplaced. :-) It is, honest. Aren't you amazing?

Interview at Oxford eh?!.... Get you! :-)

lol, and with that final cheesy breath (mmm!) I shall be leaving yall
x x x

Reply 1083

sally_mmm

Balliol interviews; Levhead, P_Piantawang, Andy87, Peaches, Sally

hope that wasn't confidential or anything... eek

I hope it's just us 5, battling it out for 14 places. I reckon it probably is...

:-D

Reply 1084

LoveEng

angelene

im going to oxford tomorrow for the interview and i am scared as hell! could anyone please possibly say something to calm me down?

and how have you prepared yourself for the interviews??

Hey- the worst thing that could happen is that Oxford rejects you :wink:

Nothing more! That's it actually. There are other things that are really more tragic than an Oxford-rejection, to be honest-

just give your best! Good luck!

Reply 1085

LoveEng

Hey

I'm just wondering whether Oxford plans to interview the first candidates right on Sunday after 8pm? They'll not do that, will they??? I

Reply 1086

andy87

LoveEng

Hey

I'm just wondering whether Oxford plans to interview the first candidates right on Sunday after 8pm? They'll not do that, will they??? I

i highly doubt that. interviews are going to be held monday, tuesday and probably wednesday. but i dont think theyll have any on sunday.

Reply 1087

LoveEng

I really, really hope that.

Reply 1088

Stanway

i presume we are called sunday to be ready for monday morning interviews. after all most people dont work on sunday, and in any case, the time in an ordinary week that seens to me seems most unreasonable for a ppe interview is sunday night.

Reply 1089

angelene

okey ive had some beer now and everythings starting to feel a bit better... but now i am actually more concerned about my linguistic skills... english is not my mother tongue and i do have a bit of an accent. could that be a possible source of annoyment for the interwievers? they cant be that picky, can they? :smile:

also... ´what are you supposd to wear?! i know its not formal... but still.

Reply 1090

sadman75

im starting to get a little anxious for my interview now...i had a mock one a few days ago which didnt go too well, in fact based on that performance the teachers said i wouldnt get in hahaha ill obviously prepare harder for the real thing to avoid embarrassment... especially on the the economics side of things...ouch
good luck to the rest of you...be yourself lolol

Reply 1091

Stanway

using the word 'annoyment' instead of annoyance might annoy them, but i can't see why they would have a problem with accents and I do know a couple of foreigners at oxford with an accent. I would imagine they will discern how competent you are linguistically with the ppe subjects, and to be fair, im not sure they would be too alarmed by the use of annoyment. still, dont go by me, im just a fellow applicant. well, maybe at this stage i should say a competing applicant

also, how signicant is it that i have had no mock interview? well, probably not very significant in the grand scheme of things. how beneficial have people found these, or did not find them?

Reply 1092

sadman75

i found it highly beneficial. it was carried out as close as possible to the real thing and showed me how unprepared i really was. it was certainly difficult and slightly intimidating, but i got a feedback sheet telling me my weaknesses so pretty worthwile i guess!

Reply 1093

sally_mmm

No, mock interviews aren't aways that useful. Mine weren't. They gave me a bit of confidence and have stopped me fretting about the nightmare situations that tend to come to my mind, but unless you're doing something really wrong they're not going to be that beneficial. Glad you've recovered by the way :-)

Reply 1094

angelene

like i sad, i had a few beer when i wrote that. :smile:

are the chances equal at all colleges or are the odds higher at the less popular ones? (ive been reallocated to one of those from my original preferance)

Reply 1095

Aj_deity

You should not get any interviews on Sunday night. That would be sick and wrong. You should, however get fed, and entertained to a greater or lesser degree depending on what your college has got going on.

I had about four mock interviews- two at the Eton Summer School I went to and a couple at my school too. I have to say, my school's interviews were actually a lot closer to the real thing than Eton's version. And I went to a comprehensive which broke its Oxbridge record in my year by sending 4 people (well, technically 3, because I won't be there until some of you are, but same difference), so I think the moral there is that even the "experts" don't really know what they're talking about a lot of the time. If you've had some practice talking to people about your subject and being pushed while you're doing it, you've had all the useful interview preparation you can get. Being taught how to namedrop, however, does not fit into that category!

Reply 1096

andy87

p_piangtawan

Ooh guys, talking about (mock) interviews make me feel sick :tongue:

I'm going to Balliol tmr. Can't wait!
When are you guys arriving at the College(s)?

ill be there at around 4 PM after a 8 hour bus ride :eek:

does anybody know if we need to have with us passport type pics? I heard other people were required to bring it with them in order for admission tutors to recognise them after the interviews, which seems pretty common-sense to me. your thoughts on this?

Reply 1097

Gymnosopher

I'm at the stage of, lets say, dispair? Ha, the kind of inhabilitating anxiety that makes you forget everything and panic - so in trying to be prepared nothing goes in and in the interview nothing comes out. Ah well, I've prettymuch ruled out my chances now so best of luck to everyone else that has held it together! Here's one less in your competition :wink:

- that said I was going for a less competative college so Balliol and Magdalen competition should remain thick and gloopy!

My main concern now is to not embaress myself too much, best stratergy to have a beer than coffee pre-interview? Well then I'd hope to not feel too stupid anyway, but having studied neither phil or econ leaves me seriously lacking in these respects and politics Alevel was like 6 months ago now hmm.

I had a mock interview last year for law and that made me feel a little relaxed about the whole thing but was nothing like the real deal so that set me on edge in the interview and definately for the second when I knew I didn't know what I was going to get hit with.

Gotta get me some of those passport sized photos too.

Reply 1098

Budgie

What's this about passport photos? My letter from Magdalen does not mention them.

Reply 1099

Budgie

I keep fluctuating between the "oh my god I could be successful" mood (when the fear factor rockets) and the "I'm probably not going to get in and so am uber chilled" mood. I wish I could find a happy medium!

Oxford PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Students and Applicants

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