Theology, Religion, And Philosophy Of Religion @ Gonville & Caius, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Faculty-hosted admissions assessment, 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, general discussion; Interview 2: personal statement, general discussion

Best preparation

Past papers, relevant YouTube channels and websites

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Practice talking through your opinions aloud; consider counterarguments!

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: a faculty-hosted admissions assessment

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: no

Time between interviews: about 3 hours

Length of first interview: 30 minutes; Length of second interview: 30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The interview styles were very different in each interview. One felt like a series of pre-planned questions, while the other was a very fluid, natural conversation.

I discussed a few items on my personal statement, but also topics that I knew nothing about. I think they chose intentionally obscure topics to test my reasoning without any prior knowledge. We discussed a lot of hypotheticals.

The atmosphere was nowhere near as daunting as I thought it would be. I'm a very nervous person, but I love my subject. As soon as my interviewers starting asking me questions, I settled into it. The time flew by, and I was very able to attempt to address each question.

Try not to be afraid! The interviewers are very helpful and not as intimidating as you think they'll be (even if you're talking with two at once).

How did you prepare?

Faculty websites usually have advice sections/past papers that are so useful. I had no help from school, so I decided to sit the past paper. I recommend doing it once without time restrictions, and then again with time restrictions. It's good to go over your paper after you've done it to revise your answers and see what else you could've done.

I didn't have a single mock/practice interview. While I was at Cambridge for my interview, I heard of applicants having had many many interviews with varying degrees of impressive individuals. Don't panic if you have no support from your school. I highly recommend looking online (Oxbridge websites and YouTube mainly) in order to familiarise yourself with interview structures and skills that the interviewers are looking for.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

You do not have to know everything about your subject! Far from it, actually. Your interviewers are looking to see your passion and though process.

In light of that, I wouldn't recommend that you read dozens of books in preparation for your interviews. Instead, make sure you know your personal statement inside out. Sit down and really think about your opinions of what you put on your statement. Do you agree with the viewpoint presented in the books you read? What did you learn from that lecture you attended? How did your A Level subjects inspire your interests in a particular field?

Try and (literally) talk through your opinions, and maybe try and tackle some counter opinions. I did this alone at my desk, and it really helped me to learn to articulate my feelings without having had a mock interview to prepare.