Shanika

Worcester College

I was always planning on applying to Oxford, but I never thought I’d actually get a place and was certain that I wouldn’t fit in. It was only when I spent a week experiencing student life in Oxford on the Sutton Trust summer school that I felt I could actually spend three years here and really enjoy myself.

My state school was linked with the Access Scheme and I attended Oxbridge conferences and had mock interviews, as well as having a Music student read my Personal Statement and help me make changes. The most useful thing I did was going to the college and subject Open Days: the tutor interviewing me at Worcester remembered seeing me at them, as well as on the summer school! During the Open Days, the tutors recommended reading certain books before the interview, which I tried (and failed!) to do.

As soon as I arrived for the interview period, I was taken to the Faculty of Music, where I had to perform a short piece for my preferred college’s tutors. That afternoon, I was sent to another college for an interview (I had three in total).

The interviews were nothing like what I expected them to be. It was more of a friendly chat than an interview! I was asked about the written work I had sent (only the Worcester tutor had seen it) as well as questions about my A Level syllabus and my interest in world music. In all three interviews, I was asked to look at a piece of music and talk about its style and interesting features. I found this part of the interview quite hard and didn’t always answer correctly, but the tutors were happy to give me a moment to think and to prompt me when necessary! Sometimes I came out feeling really embarrassed about things that I had said- I made one of the tutors laugh by insinuating that Beethoven was very arrogant!- but in retrospect, I think these things may have got me through: it wasn’t what I knew- or didn’t know, most of the time!- that the professors were interested in, it was how I could argue my point of view and engage in a debate with them.

Interviews were only part of the whole experience: most of my time was spent either practising for other auditions or talking to the other interview candidates. The atmosphere was very friendly and supportive, with everyone saying “Good luck!” when they saw you outside an interview room. Beforehand I had been worried that all the people there for Music would be from private schools, but even though they were, the majority were really friendly and weren’t snobbish at all. The highlight of the socialising was a pub quiz full of questions that no one could possibly know the answer to! It was a great way of making friends with people and it was nice to see familiar faces when I turned up for Freshers Week!

I think the best way to prepare for interviews is to attend as many of the Open Days, summer schools and Access events that you can: only then can you get an idea of what Oxford is really like.