Veterinary Medicine @ Sidney Sussex, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

3x interviews (20 mins)

Interview content

Vet science: skeleton, animal questions & work experience; Science: extract; Personal: personal statement & SAQ

Best preparation

Online resources, speaking while working through work

Final thoughts

Think out loud

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

Three interviews, two interviewers at each, each about 20 mins long in total. 1 scientific paper based (2 interviewers); 1 personal; 1 vet science.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Science interview: started off with a quite specific skeleton question which became more broad talking about skeletal design and the whys etc. Nothing I had done at school, but stuff that was possible to work through. We spoke about zoonoais and about diseases I suggested, as well as discussing work experience. I mentioned in my personal statement, going into detail on some things I found interesting.

Scientific paper interview: Given a short scientific paper to read for about 10 mins, and then moved to another room to talk to the interviewers without notes. Some challenging questions regarding immune systems which I hadn’t covered at school but also interpreting data.

Personal interview: Based off personal statement and SAQform information, fairly relaxed. There was a data interpretation question, but was largely about my interests and academic performance.

In all of the interviews I was asked a mix of very direct questions and much more open ended questions.

How did you prepare?

New Scientist magazine and BBC website for on-topic things happening in the vet world. Talking out loud as I worked through school work helped me answer questions clearly in the interview whilst I was still thinking through the problem (best advice I was given). Also doing some light research on stuff I saw on work experience meant I had some extra stuff to talk about in the interview.

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

Honestly didn’t think I would have got an offer - I even walked into one of the doors, which just goes to show you don’t really know. Even though I had no idea of the right answer at some points just talking out loud to the interviewer as I tried to logic a solution meant they could point me in the right direction when I was stuck.