Biomedical Sciences @ St Hugh's, Oxford in 2016

Interview format

3x 20 min interviews; over 2 days

Interview content

Personal statement; graph/diagram/biological specimen

Best preparation

Practise talking about subject to others

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Interviews didn't ask many questions about university / course choice.

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: BMAT

Number of interviews: 3

Skype interview: No

Interview spread: one on first day; two on second day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon

Length of interview: Around 20 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

All interviews were similar, with some questions about the personal statement first. Then there were questions where I would be shown something such as a graph, diagram, or biological specimen, and asked questions about it.

The atmosphere in the room varied - some felt more like an interview and some less formal. I felt quite comfortable (but still a bit nervous) in all of them because the tutors reassured me that they didn’t expect me to know everything and were encouraging me to make guesses or pointing me in the right direction.

How did you prepare?

I prepared for the test using practice papers.

The most useful interview preparation was doing practice interviews with teachers in school, and generally just talking to people about the subject, such as explaining something to my parents even though they understand nothing about biomedical science.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

The interviews were pretty much as I expected, though they didn’t ask as many questions about my college/university/course choice as I thought they would. That was reassuring as I found those the hardest to word properly when doing practice interviews.