Jasmeen

Why did you apply to Oxford?
Pretty much on a whim...I am an overseas student (from the USA) and had previously lived in the UK for a few years so decided to also look into uni over there. Oxford had a course (physphil) which looked really interesting and nowhere in America offered it, so I thought I might as well apply and then decide if I actually wanted to go if I got in.

What preparation did you do for your application and before your interviews?
Having no idea what was expected in a UK personal statement, I did loads of searching on the web for some guidance. I found very little, but I realized the personal statement doesn’t actually matter that much in the end…my tutors later told me that everyone basically writes the same statement and they’re all rubbish.  For the interview, all I did was look back over my physics and maths notes from that year so far, just to make sure I wouldn’t forget something really stupid or obvious. I don’t think it actually made any difference though, apart from making me more confident.

Please describe the format of the interviews you had, including some of the topics covered and how the interviews went.
The interview went well (as far as I could judge). I was interviewed in the OUP office in NYC, by a chemistry tutor who was part of the USA interviews team. He was polite and friendly and we got on alright. I had half an hour to look over a paper before the interview and then he asked me some questions on it, after first asking some general questions on why I wanted to do the course and some hobbies and activities I’d mentioned in my personal statement. We covered some really basic calculus and simple harmonic motion. He would ask simple questions first and then ask more difficult and unusual questions about things I obviously wasn’t supposed to know, but was supposed to try to make an educated stab at. He led me through the answers, giving me hints along the way, and didn’t seem particularly bothered if I couldn’t get some stuff.

I also had a phone interview later on, in which a Balliol physics tutor asked me about some of the questions I’d got wrong on the admissions test, to see if I could realize what I’d done wrong and why. He also asked me about what I’d been covering in AP physics in school, as the syllabus is quite different to that of A-levels (and doesn’t prepare you well at all for oxford physics, in my opinion).

Please describe any admissions tests you may have sat.
A maths test which included basic calculus.

Was there anything you did which you thought helped, or anything you think you should have done when preparing which would have been useful?
No…I think the best preparation is relaxing and making sure you’re confident. They really have very little interest in the knowledge you’ve acquired in school about your subject, but care more about how well you can pick things up and how fast you can learn. I think it also really helped that I was incredibly enthusiastic about the subject and showed that I had pursued it in my own time as well by reading books and attending extra classes etc. I also think it helps to listen carefully to the advice of the tutor as he’s helping you through the problems, rather than try to prove you can do it all on your own.

What was your overall impression of the interview process - what did you expect, how did it compare to what happened and what did you take away from the process?
The interview was not so different from an oxford tutorial. If you didn’t learn anything interesting from the interview or if you didn’t enjoy it, then you probably wouldn’t like the teaching style at oxford. Overall it was a fun and interesting experience, although admittedly a bit nerve-wracking as well. But once it’s over you forget all about it and get on with your life, until of course, it’s letter time.