Coaching for Oxbridge interviews ‘is useless’
STUDENTS applying to Oxbridge should avoid private coaching for entrance interviews because tutors can spot it a mile off, the head of Cambridge admissions has warned.
Dr Sam Lucy said she could tell whether candidates had been tutored immediately and it ‘doesn’t come across well at all’.
Her advice comes shortly before the October 15 deadline for applying to Cambridge, with interviews held later in the year.
She also said applicants are just as likely to be accepted if they turn up wearing a T- shirt and jeans rather than a smart suit because they are assessed on what they say.
Speaking at the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon, Dr Lucy said applicants are often stopped mid-flow if they turn up with scripted answers.
‘There is quite a lot of overthinking of the process and trying to interpret what we’re looking for,’ she said.
‘We are looking for people who are extremely enthusiastic about the subject they are applying for, and have got the right aptitude and prior knowledge for it. That’s actually all there is to it, it’s not some big secret.
‘You do find people who are coming along with little rehearsed answers to things, so they are sort of predicting what the questions might be and learn a response – that never, ever works.’
Asked if that meant companies offering tutoring for Oxbridge admissions were a waste of time and money, Dr Lucy said ‘absolutely’, adding: ‘Those who have been coached for interviews often can be detected because the tone of their voice changes when they deliver a rehearsed answer.’
Dr Lucy recommended a more relaxed approach to preparing for the interviews, saying: ‘I advise applicants to pretend you’re already a student, turn up ready to engage. Think of it more like a teaching session, and less like a job interview.’
She said applicants should ‘feel comfortable’, adding: ‘If you are comfortable in jeans and a Tshirt, absolutely fine. It tends to be a compromise between what you actually feel comfortable in, and what your mother would let you leave the house wearing.’