Human, Social And Political Science @ Corpus Christi, Cambridge in 2020

Interview format

2x interviews

Interview content

Both interviews: questions on anthropology, ethnography, provenance, and the personal statement

Best preparation

Mock interviews; re-reading personal statement, submitted essays, and extracurricular readings; talking about politics.

Final thoughts

Read as much as you can. Be open to changing your mind or admitting to mistakes in the interview.

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: 2 hours
Length of interviews: 20-30 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Both interviews were primarily about my personal statement: asking me to further develop the ideas in my personal statement, or (in one memorably difficult question) linking some of the ideas in it to an unrelated submitted essay. One interview probed my personal statement more than the other, which was more of a discussion based on it. I was also asked a question about anthropology which was used to further test my understanding of what anthropology was and of the ethnographic method. I also remember that I was given two texts and I had to compare their messages and this went into further detail, including some discussion of provenance.

I remember feeling quite stressed and getting really sweaty - the second interview was at around 6 o'clock and at about 4:30, my room had got cold and I'd closed the window. Almost as soon as the second interview started I remember feeling like I'd melted through my t-shirt and felt so hot. All the interviewers were really nice and helped to make me feel comfortable.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

1. My school organised a mock interview with two of my teachers, who asked me some general questions about Politics and a question each on anthropology (linked to an extract they gave me) and sociology.

2. My cousin, who is doing a philosophy masters degree, and his girlfriend did a mock interview with me, where he chose to ask me question linked to political philosophy and international relations theory

3. I re-read my personal statement, submitted essays and went back through some of my notes for readings I did in advance of my personal statement

4. I just sort of did a lot of talking about politics, e.g. at the family dinner table

What advice would you give to future applicants?

My best advice is to just read as much as possible and as early as possible. The sooner you start on reading: (a) the more different things you'll be able to pick on to write your personal statement and you'll be able to pick and choose to weave a narrative (b) the more confident you'll feel thinking about the subject (c) the more ideas you'll be exposed (and re-exposed) to and able to pick out your brain's 'archive' when the pressure is on at interview.

My other advice is, at interview, don't try to be stubborn if a line of discussion isn't working, be open to changing it or admitting that you've made a mistake - it shows flexibility and an ability to actually think. Remember that interviewers are looking to see how you think, not that you think correctly 100% of the time.