Oxbridge Interview

The Oxford interview: what happens, the questions tutors publish, and how to prepare

Oxford runs about twenty thousand interviews every December. Its tutors have published their questions and told you what they're listening for.

Oxford interviews shortlisted applicants online in early to mid December, and it is open about what happens: 'focused conversations about your chosen subject, more like a short tutorial with someone who knows it well'. Usually two tutors, occasionally more; most candidates have more than one interview and some are interviewed by a second college. Oxford gets around 23,000 applications for about 3,300 places, shortlists roughly 10,000 people and runs about 20,000 interviews, so being shortlisted is already an achievement, and the interview is the last thing between you and an offer. It starts gently, something from your personal statement or why you applied for this course, then moves to the subject: what you're studying now, what you've read beyond school, and then questions designed so that nobody could have prepared an answer. Oxford's tutors have published dozens of these with their own explanations, and the pattern is the same in every subject: take a position, give the reason, then the tutor changes one fact or asks how you'd test it, and watches what you do. They say plainly they don't assess manners, appearance or extracurriculars. They assess whether you can think in front of them and whether you care about the subject. This page gives the published questions by subject, what the tutors said they wanted, the December format, and how to practise the conversation before you're in it.

Merra is not affiliated with the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, any college or UCAS.