Classical Archaeology And Ancient History @ University, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: discussion of pre-reading, personal statement; Interview 2: discussion of pre-reading, identifying archaeological objects

Best preparation

Re-read personal statement and written work

Final thoughts

Try to stay calm so you can think clearly

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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 15 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My first interview was ancient history-based. Just before the start of the interview, I was given a short passage from a translated ancient historical source—I had about 15 minutes to read it and take some notes. I had never come across this passage before and knew nothing about its historical context, so I just tried to summarize it in my own words and to think about some wider issues of source criticism. I felt quite stressed because I did not recognize the passage, but now I know that tutors often deliberately choose very obscure sources. When my preparation time was over, a student helper brought me to the interview room. I remember feeling extremely nervous when I walked in, but the tutor and PhD student who led the interview were super nice, and I immediately felt much calmer. First, they asked me some general questions about my personal statement and written work. Then, we went over the passage that I had looked at before the start of the interview. I actually really enjoyed that part of the interview because their questions were meant to help me think about certain aspects that I had not considered before. It did not really matter that some of my answers were incorrect because the tutors were mainly interested in the thought process behind my answers.

My second interview was classical archaeology-based. Again, I was given a short passage (this time a translated ancient description of an archaeological monument) which I had never encountered before. The interview itself was led by a tutor and PhD student, who were also really friendly. The first part of the interview was a discussion of the passage, and the questions were again really meant to help me. In the second part of the interview, they showed me pictures of archaeological objects. I recognized some objects, but it was definitely not meant as an exercise of recognition—the most important thing was giving a thorough description and thinking about the wider significance of the object.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I re-read my personal statement and written work, and did some general reading on classical archaeology and ancient history so that I would be familiar with a broad range of objects and periods. None of my family members, friends or school teachers knew how Oxford interviews work, so I just watched some YouTube videos to get an idea of what to expect.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Oxford interviews can feel like an extremely daunting prospect. It is perfectly normal to feel stressed about them, but staying as calm as possible during the interview can really help you to think in a much clearer way.