The interviews at Queen’s are nothing like the hostile interrogations that some newspapers seem to believe they might be.
Students who show themselves to be frank, thoughtful and unpretentious will be regarded more favourably than those who try too hard to impress or who take the view that it is safest to say as little as possible. At the interview, the tutors are trying to find out whether the students applying have done more than passively absorb what they have been taught already. We try to ascertain the nature and strength of your intellectual interests and your potential for independent development. Interviews typically last for twenty-five minutes. You will usually have two interviews, either in the same college with different tutors, or in different colleges. In some subjects you may also be asked to sit a short written test and to read and prepare a text before the interview (e.g. a poem, case report, short article on a scientific subject, historical document, etc., as appropriate to your subject).
Because Queen’s is a popular college with high academic standards, we usually end up with a greater number of good candidates than we can admit. This is why we try very hard, and usually with success, to ensure that the good candidates who cannot be found a place with us are taken by one of the other colleges. All colleges and all subjects are making more and more effort each year to guarantee that the best applicants to Oxford get in somewhere irrespective of which college they put on their application form.
Most disabilities can be catered for. Potential applicants are most welcome to contact the Tutor for Admissions to discuss their needs prior to submitting an application.