James

Applied to Merton College

I applied to Oxford because it is one of the few universities to offer Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and it is one of the best Universities in the world.  When I visited it was also a small and very friendly city and environment, but still with lots of atmosphere and things happening.  Merton was my first choice college because it had accommodation for three years and I heard it had the best food.  That last bit isn’t a joke.

My school encouraged me to think about Oxford, and helped ensure that the A-Levels (Maths, History, Economics and Philosophy AS) I took would be suitable for an application for PPE.  To prepare for my application, I visited on an open day to see the city and some of the colleges, and make sure I could see myself living here for three years.  My UCAS Personal Statement was checked by my Head Teacher and went through multiple drafts, and everyone applying to Oxbridge was encouraged to go to weekly lunchtime sessions with one of the RE teachers to debate ‘big topics’ ready for interviews.  I also tried to read some famous politics and philosophy books for my own preparation, but I didn’t get through many of these in the end.  Each day I read a broadsheet newspaper, and this seemed good preparation for general awareness of politics and economics.

With PPE you arrive on the Sunday night, and once I’d found my room, I had dinner and joined everyone to watch a film.  I got up early for a jog with a friend interviewing at another college on the Monday morning when it was absolutely freezing.  In hindsight, this wasn’t all bad as I was wide-awake for the admissions test.  You couldn’t really prepare for this: it had some questions about the meaning of words, asked for a response about an argument in a passage of text, and then some questions about Winnie the Pooh and Rabbit producing honey, and what happened if they competed or cooperated.

My first interview was economics.  I arrived early to the room and was given a sheet of paper with a game-theory problem on, and given a few minutes to think about it.   The interview started discussing the problem and some extensions to the problem, and then we discussed other economics issues, some of which I’d never thought about before (and it really showed!).  I would provide an answer for some questions, and they would show a different view point which made a lot more sense, so I’d adjust my answer.  The second interview was Philosophy, and we were talking about the difference in meaning between words and ideas, and I remember feeling it was going terribly until just before the end when I stumbled across an analogy that made a lot of sense and got the tutors nodding.  The politics interview, which was the next day, was a chat about current affairs, and the differences in the power of Prime Ministers and what power is, and then also the importance of a fair process in courts.  This seemed to go really well, but then everyone else said much the same thing about their politics interview.

Most of the time I wasn’t being interviewed I either hid in my room revising for my January modules or sitting in the games room playing pool (very badly, and it hasn’t improved much since then).  In the evenings we had a bar quiz, and I was on the same team as the youngest ever winner on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’.  Very surreal.  Everyone, interviewees and the helpers were very friendly and welcoming, and it was great recognising some of them when I arrived for real in October the next year.

If I were to do interviews again, I would definitely try and meet with other friends and practice arguing ‘big issues’ which I haven’t thought about before, and try and get a teacher involved to chair and help the discussion.  This is really good practice for constructing arguments on topics you’ve never even considered before.  The other preparation I would do would be to read books from the library that look interesting (definitely not textbooks), rather than ones I think I ‘should’ have read.  When reading, it is good practice to think about the arguments and the evidence, and see if you agree or disagree with the logic or emphasise the writer uses.

Interviews were a lot more fun than I expected.  The interviews themselves were chats about topics I was interested in, and though they were stretching, the tutors helped point you in the right direction and explain ideas you didn’t understand.  I was surprised about how friendly everyone was and it was a supportive, rather than competitive atmosphere when we were waiting for interviews.  When I left to go home after interviews, I knew I’d be delighted to come to Merton, but had enjoyed a fun three days, and was pleased just to have been able to experience a brief snapshot of being an Oxford student.