Practice Makes Perfect for Oxbridge Interviews

50 students from Cardinal Newman’s HE* Programme participated in a range of workshops and practice interview sessions as part of their preparations for making a successful application to Oxford or Cambridge University.

The intensive programme was run by ‘Oxbridge Interviews’, a company with whom the College has worked for a number of years, who assist with preparing students for their applications to these most prestigious universities or selective degree courses.

As part of our HE* Programme, we aim to enable students to make the most competitive and robust applications not just to Oxbridge, but also to any of the Russell Group of Universities and the two-day intensive programme is just one part of that. All the students involved received advice and guidance on how to prepare themselves for the interview and then received detailed feedback on their performance in the mock interviews.

Our students started with an interview skills workshop, working specifically on the skills that they need to build on to impress the admissions tutors, as well as practice answering difficult questions. This was followed by two individual mock interviews, conducted by an Oxbridge Alumnus from their specific subject area. They then received personalised verbal and written feedback on their performance to help show them the areas that they need to work on for the real admissions interviews.