17 November 2022
Mr Chris Kellaway, Head of Oxbridge
On Sunday 13 November, Miss Gallagher, Director of Higher Education & Careers, and I hosted an afternoon of interview preparation for Upper Sixth students who have made Oxbridge applications or applied for medicine, dentistry and nursing courses.
At the start of the afternoon, students paired up to interview each other about their personal statements so they are prepared to answer any questions that may come their way. Miss Gallagher and I then took them through interview techniques, generic interview questions and how to respond to them, and how to prepare for an online interview specifically (as almost all university interviews are now conducted online). Miss Gallagher then interviewed me on Teams so the students could critique me and learn what to do and what not to do.
In the next session, the students worked on applying their skills. Medical applicants underwent a carousel of interviews with a group of junior doctors, whilst the students applying to Oxbridge had an online interview with an external subject specialist. Our interviewers included former Woldingham Head and Deputy Head Girls Susie Triffitt, Sarah Adegbite and Sofia Rooke-Ley, who are now at Cambridge. Thank you to them for giving up part of their weekend to interview current students and provide them with such valuable feedback.
After working together to complete a logic puzzle, the day finished with everyone sharing their learnings from the interviews – a discussion that continued over a meal at La Cucina in Oxted.