University Interviews

[J'Dona]

This thread is for anyone who applied to, is applying to or is thinking of applying to university. The university students or graduates can tell of their experiences, and us pre-undergraduates can fret over it.

 

I'm really asking this because I had my interview at Cambridge (UK) and was rejected (no surprise, as the interview went horribly), and I'm reapplying next year. They ask some really strange questions at Oxbridge, or so I've heard ("Tell me about a banana. How would you weigh your head?"), though my own questions were easier and I still managed to mess it up... I've got to unsuppress the memory before I can talk about it.

 

So, what sort of questions were you asked? What sort of interviews and what kinds of people? Any advice for the newbies?

[atinymonkey]

Huh. When I was at school, Oxbride had a group who went from school to school chatting to the students with predicted grades high enough to get in. Don't they do that anymore? So far as I remember, they try and separate the people who study day and night to make the grade from the people who can absorb information quickly. I guess the questions are to watch how effectivly you can switch mental gears. You have to be a well rounded person, more than just stocked up on A level answers.

 

I'd advise looking at the types ofquestions asked at Microsoft interviews, there are a few sites on Google, they use the same interview approach (athough there is more information on them).

 

http://www.acetheinterview.com/qanda/microsoft_interview.html

[Dave]

This thread is for anyone who applied to' date=' is applying to or is thinking of applying to university. The university students or graduates can tell of their experiences, and us pre-undergraduates can fret over it.

 

I'm really asking this because I had my interview at Cambridge (UK) and was rejected (no surprise, as the interview went horribly), and I'm reapplying next year. They ask some really strange questions at Oxbridge, or so I've heard ("Tell me about a banana. How would you weigh your head?"), though my own questions were easier and I still managed to mess it up... I've got to unsuppress the memory before I can talk about it.

 

So, what sort of questions were you asked? What sort of interviews and what kinds of people? Any advice for the newbies? [/quote']

 

I only had one interview, and that was at Oxford. Needless to say, I failed.

 

I didn't like the tutors, and I didn't like the college. I probably would have accepted the place had they given it to me, but that's all well and good in hindsight The only thing I can say is: be yourself. Don't pretend to be someone you're not, it won't work.

[Hades]

u are readying yourself for work, and just as u are about to pick out two same colored socks, the lights go out in the room. in the dresser there are exactly 8 socks left. 4 white and four black. without turning on any lights, whats the least amount of socks u could pick out and have one pair of matching socks?

[atinymonkey]

5

[J'Dona]

3? Because You get either W/W/W, W/W/B, W/B/W, B/W/W, W/B/B, B/W/B, B/B/W, B/B/B, and there are at least two of one colour in each case?

 

Unless they're left and right footed socks as well (before you think I'm totally wrong), in which case I agree with atinymonkey, it would be 5. Thanks for those Microsoft questions atiny, they're pretty good. I was able to do most of them, though not at all sure about the daughter age one, need to look at it some more...

[Hades]

3

 

yes

[admiral_ju00]

before applying, think long and hard about what you want to do with your life.

this is my 2nd university i'm attending. while i always had love for science, at first i thought it would be good idea to go into computer science. needless to say, i did it, and i waisted over a year and a half plus got my self in a hole for about 10K in tuition.

i dropped that 1st university because it was completely worthless as they did not teach me anything that i didn't already knew, plus i had problems with some of the professors and the way they did things.

 

then i waited for about 2 years before going into the current university and finaly doing the things i love

 

it's just too bad that i've waisted so much time/money in the 1st place

[Dave]

Agreed. I believed that I originally wanted to do Engineering, and I wasted a lot of my time doing various things to that end. Also, don't put down a secondary university on your UCAS (if you live in the UK) unless you honestly want to go there - I made that mistake as well

[J'Dona]

Right... well, since I was only 16 when I first applied (and had already finished my A-Levels, don't ask) I only put Cambridge on and went for deferred because I planned on reapplying to Cambridge plus others in case I didn't get in (which I didn't) because I had time on my side. It's a bit depressing though... being 2 years ahead of the game for as long as I can remember and then blowing them on extra A-Levels (a new one and a retake, Cambridge doesn't like an AABC) and a gap year - I know that universities like both of those but it still feels like I'm standing still now. :/

 

But yes, I'll be putting Imperial College as my secondary as I've heard very good things about it, and some say it's even better than Oxbridge (though the Times University Guide out today says that Oxford is the top). I also like the idea of going to college on a block whose only other building aside from Imperial College is the Natural History Museum. I'd be just as happy with Imperial as Cambridge. The only problem I see is that Physics is losing its appeal to me... mostly because it's been a year since I did it and I haven't really read up on it, though next year I intend to heavily, and I'll try to memorise The Elegant Universe But I'm almost more interested in writing now, fiction that is, though that's just something I'd like to do alongside a career in science.

 

But anyway, don't want to talk about myself. I'm more concerned about the questions they ask, since that's where I messed up last time. In the Times T2 today they've got a list of some of the questions they've asked at Oxbridge in the past (though not for physics in particular):

 

"What affect on the whole society does someone crashing into a lamppost have?"

"Tell me about a banana."

"Calculate the average interatomic spacings particles in the room." (maybe a typo in the Times, I'm just dictating)

"How do you define baldness?"

"Why don't plants have brains?"

"Is this can of corned beef safe?"

"Is it possible to split the human brain in two and create two identical people?"

"How do you know if 2+2=4 in the past?"

"If it is 12pm, what is the exact time here in Oxford?"

 

My own questions were a lot simpler: sketch this curve, which equation matches the graph, draw me graphs to show the displacement of this ball on a spring over time... and incidentally I'm pathetic with graphs so I crumbled (though that was my fault, as I'd told them we'd finished Pure 4, but we still had the graphs section left to do). I messed up and accidentally wrote down the equation for the energy stored in a spring as ¹/₂k²x instead of ¹/₂kx². I'm sure that really impressed the two guys with Ph.D.'s who were watching me.

[atinymonkey]

3? Because You get either W/W/W' date=' W/W/B, W/B/W, B/W/W, W/B/B, B/W/B, B/B/W, B/B/B, and there are at least two of one colour in each case?

 

[b']Unless they're left and right footed socks[/b] as well (before you think I'm totally wrong), in which case I agree with atinymonkey, it would be 5. Thanks for those Microsoft questions atiny, they're pretty good. I was able to do most of them, though not at all sure about the daughter age one, need to look at it some more...

 

That would be why I'd fail the interview, anyhow.

 

 

Then I'd probably argue about it.

 

 

Then I'd be asked to leave.

 

 

The city.

[Hades]

 

 

sorry to swear but thats some ironic shit. I too went to a prior university for computer science where i spent 8k over the course of a year. i left and transferred to a university majoring in chem.

[J'Dona]

That would be why I'd fail the interview, anyhow.

 

Then I'd probably argue about it.

 

Then I'd be asked to leave.

 

The city.

Hehe Then they'd be making the mistake. You've got friends who can help them to "reconsider" their interpretation of the interview. I've got a BB gun that looks real enough but my brother's got the real hardware, and he's in Lincoln, which would probably be closer... (note: I'm lying)

 

That reminds me of one of my friends at college actually... she and I were two of the three students applying to Cambridge at our college, and she told me after that as she waited outside the interview room for hers the guy before her suddenly stormed out, yelling: "Fine then" or something along those lines, with a vile expression on his face. When she got in the interviewers were bristling, and were being nasty to her and saying things like "It's not a hard question" after they'd chucked a random brick of jargon at her. She didn't get in.