My interview was around December 10th, and I was informed that I was invited to interview around 2 weeks previous. This initial email inviting me to interview informed me who would be interviewing me, and that I would have 2 interviews. When I arrived, I was met by a student sheepdog (current students volunteering at interviews) at the porters' lodge, who took me through to the buttery (college canteen) to sign in.

I was taken to my first interview by a student, and I had about 20 minutes (I think?) to read a prose extract of about a page in length. I was able to annotate the piece and bring it with me into the interview, in which I discussed the extract with two academics (one who turned out to be my DoS, another my lecturer the following year).

After this interview, I had my second about an hour later. This was also preceded by about 15 minutes to read a BIZARRE poem (I still don't get it), and then we discussed it in the interview - this, again, was me and two academics. Both interviews were in college, in rooms that I've now had as my supervision rooms in first year - both very comfy and welcoming!

In the first interview (with the prose extract) I essentially just had a stream of consciousness, thinking out loud approach - they want to hear how you reason and approach a text. So, for example, there was a goat in the extract which felt so out of place that it had to symbolise something, but I couldn't think what a goat might symbolise - and that's essentially what I said to them. They then gave me some suggestions, and I kind of weighed up the different possibilities. We then spoke of the Shakespeare text I was studying at A Level (Hamlet), which I hadn't yet finished reading in class. They were super fine with this, and so we just had a rather general discussion about the text and how it might relate to other Shakespeare plays.

My second interview was much less relaxed - this was definitely more of a grilling. Having spoken to everyone that got in, this was the same for everyone (a nice interview then an intense one). The poem was so bizarre that I just had to throw caution to the wind and just give any and all ideas I had, no matter how silly they seemed. I think they just want to see how creatively you can think and approach a text, too. We then discussed my personal statement (no stone is left unturned, make sure you've read ALL of the texts on your statement!!!) which developed into a broader discussion about literature. In particular, its relation to power and priviledge. Again, just say what you think!!

Practice interviews!! I had my English teacher sit down with me about 3 times and just grill me on my statement and my literary interests. You can't underestimate the value of practising this kind of formal discussion. Practise in the mirror, start speaking up more in class - just anything to help you get used to speaking up for your own ideas.

Don't be afraid to admit to what you don't know - they will give you a push in the right direction because they want to see how you learn and deal with new info.