A Guide to University Interviews
This applies to you if you’ve previously taken your subject at school. Stay on top of the material and be prepared to answer questions that build upon it. You will be asked some questions that leave you feeling out of your depth - this is intentional, and it is not expected that you will be immediately able to respond correctly. Being well versed in your coursework will give you the foundational knowledge needed to attempt tackling these less straightforward questions.
If you have no previous experience, then you should nevertheless familiarise yourself with the basics of the subject. Knowing some foundational principles and methods will help you in responding to questions, even if no previous knowledge is formally required. Additionally, having such familiarity will allow you to defend your interest in the subject more easily.
Know your interests: You’ve likely mentioned some aspects or events that got you interested in the subject in your personal statement. Perhaps you’ve even referred to some elements of the course which you find particularly fascinating. Ideally, try reading around those areas as far as possible to potentially back up that claim.
Know your personal statement: This ultimately is an extension of the point made above. Be prepared to expand upon what you’ve written in your personal statement and answer some questions about your experiences and choices.
Know your own claims: If you referred to a specific book you’d read, a project you’d done, or an online course you’d completed, then be prepared to talk about that in-depth. Review the content, even if you’re relatively confident in your memory, so as to not be caught “red-handed” by overly specific questions on it.
Thinking out loud:
While interviews will be more or less focused on testing your knowledge, depending on the course you’re applying to, they usually have the primary function of assessing how you think and how you’d operate in a university classroom setting. To do so, you’re placed in a situation that mimics university tutorials. The goal then is to show that you’re teachable, that you thrive in this type of situation, that you are willing to engage with the interviewer and think on the spot.
It is, therefore, more important to voice your thoughts than to respond straight away and give a correct answer to every question. Obviously, take time to think about the question and give a reasoned response, don’t feel pressured to blurt out a half-baked argument. But your reasoning skills will usually be the focus of the interview, so voice your train of thought:
- What are your thoughts on the question?
- What potential variables could pose a problem to your answer?
- Does anything seem unclear or ambiguous?
- What other pieces of information might be needed to improve your response?
Especially in the humanities and social sciences, interview questions will frequently not have a right or wrong answer or will deliberately be impossible to answer correctly with your current skill set. Don’t let your fear of being wrong keep you from speaking up and engaging with the interviewer.
Subject-related questions:
For this subtype, useful strategies will differ depending on the subject. Social science interviews differ from those in the humanities, and both are very distinct from those in STEM-adjacent subjects.
Social science and humanities interviews tend to have more questions which are fundamentally unresolvable and will require a response based on weighing up different viewpoints, leaving room for balancing and ambiguity. They are also less based on your potential previous knowledge. As such, your strategies to prepare for the interview should be different. An example might be the focus you place on revising your coursework. While this will be a central element of preparation in the sciences, it’s not always necessary for social sciences and humanities subjects. In the latter you might benefit more from reading around your subject, pursuing your interests and staying on top of current affairs.
Both types of interviews will feature questions that are intended to be hard, if not impossible, to answer “correctly”. In these cases, an excellent strategy is to get creative: draw on a wide range of subjects you might be familiar with, weigh up different opinions and currents of thought to arrive at a possible hypothesis and engage with the interviewer throughout. Don’t hesitate to ask them questions or invite them to comment on your train of thought. An example might be the question “what is justice?”. Here you could ask yourself what the answer of law or philosophy might be. Do they differ and if so, why and in what respect? Justice is not merely a closed-off concept, but also a political buzzword: A politician will have a different conception of criminal justice than a criminology major or a psychologist. These are potential trains of thought to pursue and weigh up against one another.
University-related questions
There is no one-size-fits-all response to questions about choosing a course or university. The most important thing is to be specific. Try to avoid broad “promotional” statements and make your answer as precise and individual as possible. To that end, it is useful to be well informed about you the university to which you’re applying.
“Why are you suited for this course/university?” - Think about this question beforehand. Even if you don’t encounter it verbatim, it is still something to keep in mind during interviews. What qualities and achievements of yours do you think match up with this specific course and the university’s style of teaching? The answer to questions like this needs to ring true for you, and there will be no model response.
Try to give examples and show room for development. E.g. if your response centres around creativity or independence, mention some situations in which you were able to use that to your advantage. How will it help you on the course? How might you address potential difficulties you could face?
Questions about your personal statement
For this type of question, the most important thing is to know your personal statement inside out. Go through it line by line before the interview and think about what the interviewers might ask. (Why did you choose these A-Level subjects? What do you find enriching about an extracurricular activity you pursue? What did certain events or achievements teach you? What sparked your interest in certain areas of your subject? Why are you interested in those particular aspects?)
If you’ve mentioned books you’ve read or courses you’ve taken, then expect to be asked about them.
Don’t just reiterate what you’ve stated in your personal statement - be prepared to go more in-depth and expand upon the things you’ve written.
Make sure you’re responding to the interviewer’s precise question rather than sticking to pre-rehearsed statements.
Ideally, try to relate these aspects, be they extracurriculars, interests or academic experiences, back to the course for which you’re applying. Focus on how they contributed to your interest or helped you develop skills and knowledge which will benefit you at university.
As regards long-term academic interests, not everything is clear cut, and it is perfectly normal to have various diverging passions. Don’t feel you need to be certain as to your future plans when applying for university. If you’re asked about them, you needn’t make any conclusive determinations. Focus on the potential for development the course offers you, on avenues you’d like to pursue further and how it would enable you to do so.
Potential stumbling stones:
Antagonistic lines of questioning:
You might find your interviewer pursuing a rather confrontational line of questioning. This is usually deliberate: assuming the opposite point of view to test your reasoning and see how you defend your position.
Don’t respond by abandoning your viewpoint and immediately agreeing with their comments, but be prepared to listen to the interviewer’s input.
Engage with them throughout the discussion and, if applicable, make use of and assimilate the additional information into your argument, potentially modifying it.
Try to keep your reasoning calm and logical, even under pressure.
Don’t feel the need to give a clear-cut one-sided answer: Acknowledge potential problems or downsides of your argument, weigh up positive and negative factors and arrive at a balanced conclusion.
Whether your interview is based purely on a face-to-face segment or includes time allocated to working on a text, statistic or problem, anxiety can detract from your performance and concentration.
Rather than completing last-minute revision before the start of the interview, take time for yourself. Cramming in new information now will only confuse you and potentially leave you too nervous to structure your thoughts properly during the interview. Take some deep breaths immediately beforehand.
If you notice yourself panicking during the analysis segment, pause for a few seconds, take a deep breath and relax your posture. The same thing applies to the interview.
Your interviewers will not only not mind, but rather expect you to take a few moments to think through a question. Don’t be afraid to pause and collect yourself, if you stumble over your words or lose your train of thought. Feel free to speak up and ask for a second to think or to revise a previous statement, if you feel comfortable doing so.
Practice speaking out loud beforehand
Go through potential questions you might be asked about your personal statement and try to find example questions for your subject. Practice thinking out loud, i.e. verbally expressing your thoughts while going over the issue, as opposed to mentally planning your response in silence. Pay attention to your speech flow. Pause for a few seconds rather than going “uh” and keep your spoken sentences short and stringent. Never-ending subordinate clauses are tough enough on paper; they're even harder to follow in spoken word.
Wear something you are comfortable in
Broadly speaking your clothing should be clean and err somewhat on the plain side of things. There is, however, no need to be formal. Don't feel you have to stuff yourself into a blouse or dress shirt and blazer unless it genuinely makes you feel at ease. Your interviewers will assess you based on your knowledge and interest, not judge you for the style, formality or price of your clothing.
If anyone has questions relating specifically to interviews in the humanities and social sciences or to interviews at Oxford and Cambridge, please get in touch!
