An Anonymous Interview
This is one person’s
recollection of his/her interview at Downing College for Medical
Sciences.
This is not intended to tell you the answers for your interview, merely
to give you some guidance on what the objectives of the interview are,
and prepare you a little.
I decided to apply to
Downing as soon as I walked into the main courtyard, and decided that
this was definitely the place where I could spend three years of my life.
I applied in October and heard back from the college fairly late in
comparison to all my friends from school who also applied to Cambridge.
In fact I think I was the last to hear from my Cambridge college.
The letter told me the
date and times of my two interviews, as well as the people who would
interview me. One of the interviews would be with two people, a man and a
woman, while the other interview would be with one man.
I turned up on the day
and went the Wilkins room where I sat with my parents in a room filled
with other candidates and other students of the college who were helping
calm applicants' nerves.
My first interview was
with the man and the woman. I was prepared for this to be a science
interview, and indeed it was. I was asked about genes, and how genetics
could help in medicine. I was also asked about experimental procedures
involving genes. I was then asked about HIV, a virus which I had read a
lot about and had talked about in my personal statement. I told the
interviewers what I knew, and they then asked me some questions, testing
some of the principles behind how the virus worked. I found this very
tough, and gave wrong answers a couple of times, but with a bit of help I
was able to answer the majority of their questions. The first interview
ended with some general questions about why I had picked Downing.
My second interview was a
short while later. I was expecting this to be a general interview about
my hobbies and interests outside of medicine. I was very shocked when it
was nothing like this. The interview started with my interviewer asking
me about my A-level Biology project on Ecology, what a nightmare that
was. I had not written up my project and was unsure on a lot of areas,
but was pushed to answer his questions and did so to the best of my
ability. The interview then moved onto DNA. As in the last interview the
questions started off at a very basic A-level standard, and having
answered these questions correctly, the questions then became harder,
testing my thinking. Again I faltered, and answered questions wrongly,
some of them because I was under pressure and made a stupid mistake, some
because they were educated guesses, which were not correct. I could see
he was pushing me to think for myself, and use the information I had
gathered during my A level Biology and Chemistry courses, and put them
together. With a little help again, I managed to answer his questions.
The interview ended much the same as the first interview with questions
outside of science. This time I was asked about my sporting activities,
and whether I would play for the college at the sports which I said I was
interested in.
When I came out of the
interview I was relieved, but felt I had given a good account of myself.
Yes, I did make some stupid mistakes, but that is bound to happen when
you are under pressure. I knew what to expect thanks to my teachers at my
school who had told me a little about the Cambridge interview process, as
well as speaking to pupils from my school at Cambridge.
My advice would be to
expect to be pushed, and expect to get things wrong. They are testing you
to see if you can think for yourself, use the information you have learnt
at A-level and take it to a slightly higher level. They are not expecting
you to get everything right, so do not worry when you don’t. Just
try your best and show them you can think for yourself.
Best of luck with the
application and interview.
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