PPE Interview - Wish I'd Known (Expert Oxford Application Advice)
There is a lot of bad advice given to students about interviews. Some of this comes from the press and speculation on internet forums. However, a lot also comes from well-meaning teachers and relatives who have an ill-informed understanding of the process due to misleading media coverage and a history of poor communication from Oxford. While a lot of this is changing due to an increasing focus on access from Oxford, there is still a long way to go before the advice that most students hear starts to reflect the reality.
You have probably heard horror stories of students being thrown curveball questions and ejected from the room when they stumble. This is far from the reality.
Interviews are relaxing and pleasant experience where most of your time will be spent talking to other PPE applicants with similar interests.
Ultimately you are all there due to your passion for the subjects. Take the opportunity to indulge this passion and get lost in deep discussions and debates.
Throughout the whole process which usually takes 2-4 days, you will spend 20-50 minutes in total in interviews. This is usually a combination of two 10-15 minute interviews with a possible third one if you are chosen to be interviewed at another college (more on this later). One of your interviews will be with tutors from two of the PPE subjects; this will depend on which college you are at. The second interview will be with tutors from the other discipline. For example, you may have one interview with an economics tutor and a second with tutors from both economics and philosophy together.
Some tips on general interview tips can be found here. However, it is worth repeating a few. Firstly, you are not expected to have an answer to every question, especially not straight away. They are looking for students who can take their time to think critically. Feel free to ask follow-up questions to help you understand and formulate a stronger answer. Take your time and do not rush to give an answer. Furthermore, be wary of taking too strong a stance.
While they would like students who can argue and defend an opinion, ultimately you are there to learn from the tutors and need to be able to adapt your response, changing your opinion when presented with new information.
Finally, you don’t need to be right! Most of you will have never studied most of the course formally before, you are not expected to always know the answer. However, you should still take the time to explain your thought process and talk about how you might work towards an answer or what additional information you might need.
For the economics section of the interview you are likely to be given at least one maths question; this will not require any knowledge beyond A level. Do not worry if you are stuck, the tutors will help you work through it step by step. In addition to this, there will be a couple of open questions that are designed to assess how you critically evaluate evidence and reason. You have possibly heard of incredibly obscure questions being asked at this stage similar to “what do you think the cost of a snow storm is on the UK economy”. They are not expecting you to give an exact answer, you do not even need to come close. What they will be looking for is how you approach the question, the steps you take and the follow-up questions you ask; they are looking for you to use a logical process.
You should show a passion for economics; the easiest way to do this is to bring in relevant examples to support your answers.
The politics interview will take a similar format to the others. You are likely to be asked some form of probability or statistics question here. Just as with the maths question in economics, do not worry about getting it correct straight away. Take your time and if needed they will help you get towards an answer. In addition to this question, you will be given some abstract questions.
It is worth understanding what they are looking for; they are not wanting you to know the answer, they want to see how you approach the question and your reasoning.
Let us know if you have any questions about this article or anything related to PPE at Oxbridge at all.
This article was written by Emrys (Oxford - PPE).
If you find this content useful, please visit Emrys' profile for further information on applying to Oxbridge. Alternatively, book support now with Emrys, using the form below.
Author: Emrys - Oxford
BA Philosophy, Politics & Economics
I have provided tuition internationally to students from Dubai, China and Pakistan. Through this I have a wealth of experience offering support for Oxford applicants, providing help with interviews and the TSA, where I managed to achieve a score of 80+ which is considered exceptional.
