Much like the undergraduate route, two year conversions at Cambridge are expected to attend an interview before they receive an offer. These interviews are a crucial part of the path to an offer, as it allows the college staff to assess someone based not only on their personal statement, but their attitude toward, and aptitude for, the course. The interview process is a chance for potential candidates to sell themselves in person.
Interview Experiences
Hughes Hall
I remember that I sat my LNAT as soon as I was able (scored 24) and sent my UCAS form off on the first day that the cycle opened. In fact, when I had to ring up the helpline for some reason, the person on the phone told me I was the first in the whole country to submit! Whether this was true or not, I don't know... I was subsequently invited for an interview in December. Where I was travelling from meant it would have been rather difficult for me to go down in the morning, so I was able to stay overnight in college accommodation. This was nice, as I got to see a bit of the college and also didn't have to worry too much about being late in the morning due to trains, or having to get up early and therefore not being in the best shape.
I had already been told that I would have a General and a Subject interview, but that there was no need for me to do any special preparation for the latter. The first one I attended was the General interview, who I had with the Senior Tutor and another member of staff. It was quite relaxed; they asked me some questions about my personal statement and what I hoped to achieve in five years, as well as how I thought I would adapt to being in a collegiate university.
A little later I was called to the Subject interview; this was with the Director of Studies for Law and the Undergraduate Admissions Tutor. First the Admissions Tutor told me a bit about what would happen if I received an offer, as well as making sure that I was aware of the monetary cost of the degree and whether I could afford it. Then the DoS explained to me a summary of a legal case and asked to interpret 'reasonable doubt' for the prosecution, defence, and then decide what verdict I would give.
Both interviews took until about lunchtime, having started at about 9.30, but there was also quite a bit of waiting. I left feeling as if I had done my best, but I wasn't sure whether I would get an offer or not. I received a general 2.i offer from them in January which I was very pleased about.
St Edmund's
I found the LNAT rather straight forward and scored a 21 - not great but it did the job. I actually found out about the the test towards the tail end of the test year, about a week before the application deadline. Adrenaline kicked in at the right time and I was able to sit the test on Oct 30. When I was invited to interview, I could not attend in person because I applied as an international student from Pakistan. I was told to write an essay and submit it 24 hrs before a telephonic interview conducted by the Director of Studies (DoS) of my college.
On 11/26/2008 I was sent an email stating that the college would like to interview me on 12/6/2008 at 0900 GMT. The email contained essay prompts from previous years to help me prepare. I was also told to provide a telephone number so that the DoS could call me on a date and time set by the college.. They mentioned that I could find useful info about the interview here (more detailed information about the St Edmund's test, as well as a list of example questions, can be found here). Essentially, the test was very similar to the written section of the LNAT, different only in that I was allowed an hour to complete it compared to the LNAT's 40 minutes.
I answered question #3 and emailed it to the office of admissions and the DoS as requested. The following day the DoS called bang on time and most of the interview was centered on my essay response. After questioning me on various parts of the essay, he answered personal questions about Cambridge, and more specifically, the affiliated law degree. I was told that the interview could last anywhere between twenty minutes to an hour. Mine lasted about 20-25 minutes, 80% of which was dedicated to questions about my essay. I was asked to extrapolate parts of my essay response which he may have found unclear.
I was quite nervous during the interview, partially because it was conducted via telephone - obviously I couldn’t read the DoS’s body language when he responded; further, he maintained a very neutral tone which was disconcerting as my answers often felt inadequate. Possibly, the reason why he didn’t press me too much after the majority of my answers is because he found them satisfactory; however, at the time, it certainly felt like he wanted to get over with the interview and move on to a ‘better’ candidate. Being rather tongue-tied and shuddery throughout the interview, I felt pretty bad afterwards. I think I would have done better had I interviewed in person.
The DoS actually called me on 12/24/2008 (18 days after the interview) informing me that I had been admitted to read law at St. Edmund’s. Maybe my post-interview anxiety was unwarranted but certainly it wasn’t my best experience or performance.
Lucy Cavendish
I took the LNAT on Oct 31st in London, although I had sent in my UCAS applications much earlier, sometime towards the end of September. The college had initially told me in an application confirmation email that they would write to shortlisted people by mid-November.
By the very last week of Nov I still hadn't received anything in the post. I emailed the admissions officer on November 25th, who responded immediately and said the letter had gone out on November 17th. In fact, I received a big envelope only on the 27th, which was a week after they had posted the interview offers, most probably due to postal delays.
I answered question #3 and emailed it to the office of admissions and the DoS as requested. The following day the DoS called bang on time and most of the interview was centered on my essay response. After questioning me on various parts of the essay, he answered personal questions about Cambridge, and more specifically, the affiliated law degree. I was told that the interview could last anywhere between twenty minutes to an hour. Mine lasted about 20-25 minutes, 80% of which was dedicated to questions about my essay. I was asked to extrapolate parts of my essay response which he may have found unclear.
As soon as I received my interview offer, I contacted the college for accommodation, and I was lucky to receive a free accommodation for the night before the interview.
My interview date was set for Tuesday, Dec 9th. I had 2 written tests in the morning at 9:15am, and I started my 2 interviews at 2:40pm. Unfortunately, there really isn't a way to prepare for these tests and interviews. The tutors made sure that there were no trick questions involved. They were testing our ability to think and argue persuasively rather than our knowledge of the law. The admissions tutors were friendly so they made me feel very comfortable during the 2 interviews. I received my offer in early January.
Even if your interview does not go as planned, it does not mean that you will not be offered a place. Cambridge operates a 'pooling' system, which means that candidates which are deemed able from their chosen college interview, but are unfortunately not able to receive a place there, can potentially be offered a place at an alternative college by their applications being placed in the 'pool', to be 'fished' out by other colleges.
NB. Applications for the two year course at any institution aside from Oxbridge do not have to undergo an interview.
Offer Statistics
Hughes Hall
2004 2005
Applications - 23 19
Offers (from Pool) - 4 (0) 5 (0)
Admissions - 3 4
2006 2007
Applications - 17 25
Offers (from Pool) - 6 (0) 10 (0)
Admissions - 4 NA
Lucy Cavendish
2004 2005
Applications - 24 17
Offers (from Pool) - 10 (0) 4 (2)
Admissions - 8 2
2006 2007
Applications - 23 19
Offers (from Pool) - 10 (2) 8 (1)
Admissions - 7 NA
St Edmund's
2004 2005
Applications - 35 35
Offers (from Pool) - 8 (0) 6 (1)
Admissions - 7 4
2006 2007
Applications - 19 24
Offers (from Pool) - 5 (2) 6 (2)
Admissions - 6 NA
Wolfson
2004 2005
Applications - 32 15
Offers (from Pool) - 5 (0) 4 (0)
Admissions - 5 3
2006 2007
Applications - 15 22
Offers (from Pool) - 3 (1) 7 (2)
Admissions - 3 NA
2 comments:
Out of cursiosity how long was the general and subject interview each? and was it a case of a grilling in the latter of the legal scenario?
Thanks:)
It's quite hard to recall...but I'd guess that they were about 30 minutes each; I had to wait quite a bit before and after each one. And no, it wasn't a 'grilling' at all :-) although it obviously wasn't as chatty as the first interview, I didn't feel any sort of pressure. He just let me explain my answers in my own time.
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