::Oxford/Cambridge Interview Questions::

86
10
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
ok so Oxford and Cambridge decided to spice up their interview questions for their candidates a lil bit ago and i jus found some of them online. some of theseare +##%+@ ridiculous. anyways here they are, lets see what you got.


2007 Interview Questions

Oxford:

1. Why is there salt in the sea? (Biochemistry, Oxford)

2. Does a snail have a consciousness? (Experimental Psychology, Oxford)

3. What does it mean to be happy? (Philosophy and Modern Languages,

Oxford)

4. When I get home this evening, how can I be sure that my wife's diamond

ring won't have turned into graphite? (Chemistry, Oxford)

5. How would you market a rock band? (Economics and Management,

Oxford)

6. Talk about a light bulb (Engineering, Oxford)

7. Would you rather be a novel or a poem? (English, Oxford)

8. If it could take a form, what shape would the novel "To the Lighthouse"

become? (English, Oxford)


[table][tr][td][font=arial,sans-serif]Page 2[/font][/td] [/tr][/table]

9. How many monkeys would you use in an experiment? (Experimental

Psychology, Oxford)

10.Does this poem remind you of anything? What about spider-man?

(English, Oxford)

11.How many grains of sand are there in the world? (Physics, Oxford)

12.Can a thermostat think? (Experimental Psychology, Oxford)

13.What colour is that notice board? (Mathematics and Philosophy, Oxford)

14.Explain the difference between shame, guilt and regret (Experimental

Psychology, Oxford)

15.How does Geography relate to a Midsummer Night's Dream? (Geography,

Oxford)

16.How would you define infinity? (PPE, Oxford)

17.How do you organise a successful revolution? (History, Oxford)

18.Can you express every natural number in fewer than 50 characters?

(Mathematics and Philosophy, Oxford)

19.Do you believe that statues can move, and how might this belief be

justified? (French and Spanish, Oxford)

20.Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Discuss. (Music,

Oxford)

21.Is Wittgenstein always right? (French and Philosophy, Oxford)

22.What happens if I drop an ant? (Physics, Oxford)

23.If you're not in California, how do you know it exists? (PPE, Oxford)

24.Is it morally wrong to attempt to climb a mountain? (Theology, Oxford)

Cambridge:

1. If I were a grapefruit, would I rather be seedless or non-seedless?

(Medicine, Cambridge)

2. Describe your school from an anthropological perspective (Archaeology

and Anthropology, Cambridge)

3. How do you feel about anger and violence? (Architecture, Cambridge)

4. How many of these pebbles would fit in a car? (Natural Sciences,

Cambridge)

5. Would I be justified in saying that only morons play sport? (Economics,

Cambridge)


[table][tr][td][font=arial,sans-serif]Page 3[/font][/td] [/tr][/table]

6. Are you cool? (Economics, Cambridge)

7. Why do we sneeze? (Natural Sciences, Cambridge)

8. Describe this saucer to me as if I wasn't in the room (Economics,

Cambridge)

9. What would happen if you drilled through the Earth all the way to the

other side and then jumped into the hole? (Engineering, Cambridge)

10. How small can you make a computer? (Engineering, Cambridge)

11.Why do you think Charlotte Bronte detested Jane Austen? (English,

Cambridge)

12.Why is rhythm important in a play? (French and German, Cambridge)

13.If money was no object, where in the world would you go and why?

(Geography, Cambridge)

14.Do you think you're clever? (Law, Cambridge)

15.Can History stop the next war? (History, Cambridge)

16.What photograph would I use to represent global warming to a business

person? (Geography, Cambridge)

17.How would you poison someone without the police finding out? (Medicine,

Cambridge)

18.How much can the success of the tank be attributed to the psychological

impact it had on enemy forces? (History, Cambridge)

19.What would you do if you were a magpie? (Natural Sciences, Cambridge)

20.Would you say that greed is good or bad? (Land Economy, Cambridge)

21.If you could walk out into the College into a time machine, who would you

go back and interview to clear up any historical problem that interests

you? (History, Cambridge)

22.Should we have laws for the use of light bulbs? (Law, Cambridge)

23.Is there such a thing as an immoral book? (French and Spanish,

Cambridge)

24.What did we learn about mankind by walking on the moon? (History,

Cambridge)

25.Tell me about your life, from the beginning to what made you sit in that

chair (Natural Sciences, Cambridge)

26.If a wife had expressed distaste for it previously, would her husband's

habit of putting marmalade in his egg at breakfast be grounds for divorce?

(Law, Cambridge)


[table][tr][td][font=arial,sans-serif]Page 4[/font][/td] [/tr][/table]

27.If my friend locks me in a room, and says I am free to come out whenever

I like as long as I pay £5, is this a deprivation of liberty? (Law, Cambridge)

28.Why is it a disadvantage for humans to have two legs? (Medicine,

Cambridge)

29.Are all our characteristics inherited? (French, Cambridge)

30.Why don't fish freeze? (Natural Sciences, Cambridge)

31.Instead of politicians, why don't we let the managers of IKEA run the

country? (SPS, Cambridge
 
not even gonna read all of those. you're going to Oxford?
i know kids who are like borderline genius and didn't get into Oxford
 
i got asked a few of these in investment banking interviews this fall/last spring
 
Damn!!
eek.gif
eek.gif


I can answer more than a handful of them, but that shh makes me feel like a complete dumbasss.

You can't tell me that applicants are knowledgeable on all those subjects??
 
Where do you pick up answer to these questions??!?!?!!??!?!


FML, ALL THOSE YEARS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL RUINED MY INTELLECTUALITY.
 
Originally Posted by lilpro4u

Damn!!
eek.gif
eek.gif


I can answer more than a handful of them, but that shh makes me feel like a complete dumbasss.

You can't tell me that applicants are knowledgeable on all those subjects??
I think it's kind of the point, seeing if people can adapt for difficult/obscure questions. Most applicants probably didn't answer themperfectly, I'm pretty sure of that. I have a couple of friends who go to Oxford or Cambridge and they said that these type of questions at the interview,although difficult, were not the key parts. They also said that it's damn near impossible to prepare for them!

But then again, perhaps the interview process is more rigorous for international students, I don't know. I live in England, so I don't know what thesituation with that is.
 
Back
Top Bottom