Joe

Before I got my AS level results I had never really considered applying to Oxford. I had gone to a bog standard local comprehensive Secondary School, and I hadn’t done as well as I had hoped in my GCSEs. After a year at Sixth form College, I managed to achieve 5 ‘A’s at AS, and was encouraged by my Senior Tutor to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. After some research, I got the impression that Oxford had a better reputation in the Arts and Humanities, and I found that they did do my ideal combination of History and Politics.

Very few people from my College had got into Oxford, but the local College organised an exchange interview scheme with another local School. Our students would have a mock interview with tutors there, and their students would come down to Bexhill for the same experience. While this mock interview didn’t reflect the style I eventually found at Teddy Hall, it did give me the opportunity to think about how I would present myself, and how I would answer questions about my motivation, in a structured way. Other than this, I spent a lot of time working on my personal statement, asking the advice of tutors and friends I respected and trusted.

Before I was interview I had to sit the History Aptitude Test (HAT.) It is an exam that you cannot prepare for, and lasting for three hours, it aims to identify your ability in the analysing of unfamiliar sources, as well as give you the opportunity to show whether or not you recognise the relevance of general historical theory and specific historical examples to periods you have not studied.

When I came up to St Edmund Hall, I was expected to attend two interviews, about half an hour long each. In my History interview I was met by two friendly Tutors who introduced themselves and asked me questions on an essay I had had to submit as part of the application process. The essay had been on the role of airpower in WWII, and the questions aimed to test the depth of knowledge I had in the subject, and to consider how it fitted into the overarching role of airpower in war throughout modern history. I was also asked what other factors were significant and/or significantly different about WWII and the Axis defeat, and they clearly wanted to know whether or not I was able to think about wider themes in a clear and logical way. Finally, they asked me what I had read on the subject, and asked me about fields of personal interest in History.

My second interview was in politics. I was asked immediately what I had studied in politics, and after having done so, was told that they would try and ask me questions on subjects outside of my experience to see how I thought, and determine whether or not I could construct an argument. I was asked about identity in politics, and to what extent a political theorist was influenced by his environment. I had the opportunity to talk about my practical experience of involvement in British politics, and how this interacted with my approach to the subject.

Both interviews were intellectually vigorous, but while the History interview was primarily a discussion which subtly drew information out of me, the Politics interview was based on a series of questions the tutors asked me, and was operated on a more confrontational style. I was suspicious of the relaxed atmosphere of the first, and quite anxious about the second.

Both were enjoyable and useful, and in both the Tutors were polite and engaged. I had come up to Oxford with visions of darkened rooms and Tutors sitting with their backs to me, and of strange unrelated questions on topics I had never heard of. What I got was a stimulating academic experience that left me tired, fretful but also encouraged. It wasn’t what I had been expecting, and that was a good thing.

Revising those subjects I had specifically mentioned in my personal statement was really helpful, and I would encourage people to spend some time doing this. Otherwise, I think it is important to keep a sense of perspective and try and stay relaxed. While you are in Oxford, you should explore the College you have applied to, spend some time thinking about your topic, engage with other interviewees and avoid late nights and drinking.

The JCR organised a film night, but applicants spent most of their time together, striking up friendly relationships and conversations. There was not an overriding sense of competition, and I learnt a lot from the people I met - and met a lot of people with backgrounds and experiences completely outside of my own – a fantastic chance in itself.