Claire

I applied to Oxford in my gap year, shortly before I left for six months in Japan.  I went to a Scottish state school, The Royal High in Edinburgh, and very few people applied to Oxford, although a handful of scientists had gone to Cambridge in the preceeding years.  I had been thinking about applying to Oxford in my final year at school, but in the end I didn’t apply anywhere as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  When my Advanced Higher Results arrived (A in English, A in Modern Studies (Politics) and B in Japanese History) I decided to give it a try.

My school were very helpful, especially considering I had already left. They had a look over my personal statement and my deputy head wrote a lovely recommendation.  My history teacher also filled in the teachers’ part of the Oxford application form explaining that we were appealing one of my grades and that they fully expected me to achieve 3 As (N.B I didn’t get my appeal and I still got in, so don’t give up the faith!).  When Oxford requested two essays my English teacher re-marked a Shakespeare essay I’d written near the end of my final year, and I sent that in along with my ridiculously over the word limit Advanced Higher dissertation (I would not advise you to do this – my tutor has told me how annoyed they were as they trawled through my 5,500 words on Albert Camus).  I would love to say that I put great thought into my choice of college but I just picked one that was central, offered English and looked pretty – it worked for me.

In terms of preparation for the interview I did woefully little.  My school weren’t able to offer interview practice and I was working full-time to pay for my gap year.  I had been reading a lot in the evenings so I had a lot of things I was excited to talk about.  The weekend before my interview I furiously, and uselessly, read everything Keats had written, in the odd expectation that this would come up in the interview even though I hadn’t mentioned it in my personal statement!  I read over photocopies of everything I’d sent to Oxford (UCAS form, essays, personal statement etc – you should do this!) so I was prepared for any questions arising from them.

When the interviews came, Oxford seemed like a long, long way away from Edinburgh (made all the worse by my mother’s insistence that I should fly down to Heathrow – take the train!).  I arrived on the Sunday evening in Oxford and the student helpers in the college made me feel incredibly welcome.  By dinner time lots of people had arrived and we had a nice night chatting in the JCR.  I was amazed at the lack of competition, and by how friendly everyone was.  I distinctly remember how great it felt to speak with other people who were so passionate about their subject.

That night the academic office posted the interview schedule for the next 3 days.  Having an ‘A’ surname my interview was to take place at 9am the following morning.  I duly arrived at 8.30am at the academic office the next day to pick up a selection of poems, without titles or poets written on them.  I was allowed 30 minutes to look over one poem, making notes which I would be allowed to bring with me into the interview.  I have never been more grateful for the Scottish school system’s unrelenting focus upon critical reading than I was at that moment!  After 30 minutes of furious scribbling I was called up to my tutor’s room.

Dr Mugglestone and Dr Beaumont were very welcoming, asking me briefly about my Camus essay to settle me in.  Five minutes in I was asked to say a bit about the poem and before I knew it 35 minutes had passed and it was over.  I know that’s not particularly descriptive but there were no other parts to the interview, just some friendly opening lines and then an analysis of a poem.  I had no idea how it had gone, except that when they’d asked me to guess where the poem was set I’d confidently asserted it was in Havana, only to be informed it was in fact 1960s Dublin, which only goes to show that you can make mistakes and still get in.

My interview was over by 9.45am on Monday morning, and I was informed that afternoon that I would not be required for a second interview.  Happily my flight home wasn’t booked until Wednesday evening and Pembroke kindly agreed to put me up until then.  The next two days were spent looking around Oxford, going on the excursions organised by the JCR (ice rink, cinema, pizza restaurant etc).  I made some friends who I kept in touch with after I got home and was over the moon to see that most of them got in. 

Everyone is nervous before their interview, but what I wish I’d known then was that the Oxford interview is a great way to see if the Oxbridge system is for you: the one-on-one focus on your ideas and your ability to reason is very similar to the feel of a tutorial.  Try to think of it as your first tute and it might seem a bit easier.

Finally, I’d encourage you to apply, no matter where you’re from, as you have absolutely nothing to lose.  Maybe you’ll get in, maybe it won’t be for you, but you’d always wonder if you didn’t try.