Oxbridge Interviews

It may seem that there is a lot of secrecy and rumour surrounding the examination procedure into Oxbridge.  Even this term "Oxbridge" is sometimes not full understood by many people, but from my point of view much of this is easily explained.

I personally went through the process of applying and gaining entry to Oxbridge, in 2002 and have a good understanding of the procedure and the qualities that it is necessary to possess to be accepted.  Of course this is by no means a free ticket to these highly renowned historic institutions, but is certainly needed to have a good chance of being accepted.

The term Oxbridge is simply a combination of the words Oxford and Cambridge (maybe they thought "Camford" just didn't sound right!).  These have for many years been the top two universities in the country, by popular opinion, and also according to the rigorous inspection and rating procedures from independent bodies such as Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/universityguide) and the Times (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/gooduniversityguide/).

In the last ten years the two universities have been without fail dominating the top two positions with Oxford University recently holding the top spot.  

So you may be asking how is it possible to get into these universities?  Do I have to be a "total nerd" with no social life whatsoever?  My answer to this is a definite "no".  Results may have historically been a bigger factor, but with the recent A Level statistics showing over 23% of candidates gaining A grades this is just not enough to cut the mustard (http://www.atl.org.uk/media-office/media-archive/ATL-fears-good-A-level-grades-wont-guarantee-a-university-place.asp)

The universities sometimes even set their own examinations to work around this in subjects such as Mathematics, but this has been widely criticised for being unfair with only some private schools having the resources to train students for these.  It has seemed fairer to interview the majority of applicants that apply instead.

These interviews are based on the same process as any other interview.  Any rumours of the interviewer trying to confuse or baffle the interviewee are exactly that, rumours!  I have heard stories of people being thrown footballs as soon as they enter the room (if they catch it they are in); or the interviewer just sitting and reading the newspaper without saying a word; and many other strange tales.

In reality the interviewers at Oxford and Cambridge are looking for an open mind and quick thinking.  This does require some natural skills but can also be practised.  In the last 10 years it has become popular to advise and tutor students for these examinations to provide the best possible chance of success.  This is something I have done for applications for Mathematics and Sciences, and feel that I am not just tutoring them for this one time event but giving them a greater picture of the subject and improving the students knowledge of the overall subject in which they are interested.