Medicine @ Newnham, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

3x interviews: 2x academic + 1x general

Interview content

Academic interviews: data interpretation from graphs and figs., discussion of ethics; Personal interview: ref personal statement.

Best preparation

Spoke with current students; revised all relevant AS and A2 information; mock interviews at school

Final thoughts

Know personal statements and A-Level topics well. Relax.

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

My interviews were in early November (before BMAT results were even published). We were taken by students to a waiting room which had a kind and friendly atmosphere (although of course lots of nerves!).

From the room we were taken in turn to 3 interviews, 2 academic with two interviewers and 1 personal interview with the admissions tutor

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What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The personal interview addressed the personal statement in detail, expanding on points mentioned and the two academic interviews focused largely on data interpretation from graphs and figures, as well as a few ethical questions.

How did you prepare?

I spoke to a current student in the year above me which provided mostly reassurance that it’s doable and read traditional medical school questions online, particularly ethical scenarios. It was the same preparation as for other medical school interviews except I made sure I was up to date with the stuff we had covered from AS and the start of A2 at school.

I had a few practise interviews at school which ended up being far more cryptic and scarier than the actual interviews so were good preparation.

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

The academic things were definitely based on A-level topics so don’t worry they’ll throw something at you that you’ve never heard of from the start (they might build to there but from my experience they lead you in nicely then build in difficulty).

Don’t ignore your personal statement as I was told Oxbridge would never mention it but it’s a submitted form so it’s fair game for them to discuss and my interviewers picked it apart quite ruthlessly (don’t lie on it!!)

Try to relax. It was quite a good opportunity to talk to other candidates as a lot of my friends first met at interview. Remember, everyone is in the same boat!

Fake it till you make it with confidence, key things are to sit leaning slightly forward and MAKE EYE CONTACT, especially for Medicine this is good practice as they’re analysing your people skills as well as academic.