Architecture @ Jesus, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Pre-interview tests; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, applying ideas to given buildings; Interview 2: portfolio

Best preparation

Read books from the faculty reading list

Final thoughts

Use the summer before the UCAS process begins to get extra reading done

Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.

Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.

Interview Format

Test taken: Architecture written and drawing
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: About 4 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I loved my first interview. Initially I was asked about my personal statement and this relaxed me, as I was so relieved to be able to talk about my EPQ and all the preparatory reading I had done. As the interview progressed, I was asked to apply my ideas and learning to different buildings shown to me on a laptop. This encouraged me to form opinions on the spot.

What made the experience so much better than expected was the fact that my interviewers smiled throughout and were really encouraging. At no point did I feel that the questions were trying to trick me and there was also no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer to most of them. The interview actually flew by!!

How did you prepare?

I read articles in The Guardian, books on the faculty reading list, practice questions which I made up myself and got marked by school. I used the course content as a rough guide for topics to cover.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

I found it beneficial to do a lot of reading in the summer before the UCAS application process, as I had a lot of spare time. I would really recommend using that summer because it’s a great opportunity to explore your subject without schoolwork distractions. This was the first step I took in preparing myself and in hind sight was the most important and effective because it gave me a base of knowledge.