Undergraduate interviews

why does cambridge interview prospective students?

We want to understand how you think, how you approach new ideas, and how you respond to challenging questions

At Cambridge, interviews are an important part of the admissions process, for us and for you.

We want to understand how you think, how you approach new ideas, and how you respond to challenging questions. It’s an academic conversation, similar to the small-group teaching you’d experience here at St John's.

Interviews give us a chance to go beyond your personal statement, school grades, or test scores. They help us get a fuller picture of you — especially if you come from a background that’s underrepresented at university.

You don’t need to be polished or know all the answers. What matters most is your curiosity, your enthusiasm for your subject, and your willingness to think things through.

Your Interview

Interviews are an academic conversation about the subject you’re passionate about. They are designed to find out what you know, not what you don't

If you’re invited to interview, the interviews will typically take place in December.

Depending on the subject, St John's applicants usually have one or two interviews. An interview will have two or three interviewers per interview and a total duration of 35-50 minutes.

These panels normally include the Director of Studies and College Fellows within the subject you've applied for, and their aim is to learn more about your aptitude and interest for the course. Your interviewers will want to see how you think and problem solve, and where your subject related interests lie. Our interviews are designed to find out what you do know, not what you don't.

We try to make our interviews as relaxed as possible, so if you are offered an interview and have any questions, do let us know in advance and we will do our best to help.

how to prepare

There are many things you can do in advance to help you feel prepared and confident

It’s helpful to:

• Explore your subject beyond what you’ve learnt at school or college. You can do this by reading books, watching films and documentaries and listening to podcasts
• Think about interesting topics that are relevant to your subject and that you might like to talk about
• Read your personal statement and any submitted written work again
• Talk about your subject with your friends, family and teachers
• Have a practice interview which focuses on academic problem solving. Ideally ask a teacher or someone who doesn't know you well so that you can practise expressing your ideas and opinions. Alternatively, you could ask yourself questions for half an hour.

Any of these things will help you to get used to talking through your work, thoughts and approaches to problems, in a critical and reflective way.

If you’ve applied for an arts, humanities or social sciences course it’s also useful to:

• read more than the texts set by your school, sixth-form or college
• analyse what you’ve read
• think and talk critically about what you have read

If you’ve applied for a maths or science course it’s useful to:

• practise problem solving
• think about how you might show or explain the way you worked out a problem
• read more about your subject and focus on parts that particularly interest you

The University's guide to preparing for interviews gives general advice on preparation for Cambridge interviews.

The St John's Admissions Office hosts information and guidance webinars to help our applicants prepare for their interviews. These are a great way to find out more and the aim is to help you feel at ease about the process.

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INTERVIEW FORMAT

You are welcome to have your interview either at home or at school, as long as you have a quiet room to yourself

St John's interviews all applicants online.

For your interview, you will need reliable wi-fi, a device with video and audio capability, and a quiet room where you can be on your own. You are welcome to have your interview either at home or at school, as long as you have a quiet room to yourself.

Some subjects require you to use a digital whiteboard as part of the interview, which means you will need a tablet and stylus in addition to the device you are using for the interview. If you have any trouble accessing one to use in your interview or for practice, please contact the St John's Admissions Office and we will help.

The subjects at St John's that currently require a whiteboard for interview are:

• Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Economics
• Engineering
• Physical Natural Sciences

This will be confirmed in your invitations should you be invited to interview.

Timings

If you’re invited to interview, the interviews will typically take place in December.

Where possible, your interview(s) will take place within a small window on the same day. We try hard to minimise disruption to your schooling. Interviews can start as early as 8am, with the later ones finishing at 6.30pm UK time. It may not be possible to make any changes after you have been notified of your interview times. 

We aim to ensure candidates who are in different time zones to the UK are scheduled during reasonable hours in your local time zone, but interviews can occur between 6am and midnight local time.

Any special arrangements for interviews in individual subjects will be communicated when you are notified of your interview date.

‍ It is important that you:

• Keep the advertised interviewing period free as much as you can
• Provide detailed information about your availability in your My Cambridge Application
• Notify us of any changes to your availability, and the reasons for these changes

If notified through My Cambridge Application we will consider your availability, but this is not guaranteed.

Please avoid making other fixed commitments that might clash with interviews as we will not be able to re-arrange interview times assigned to you.

We are only able to change interview times due to exceptional circumstances, and requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.

St John's does not normally offer undergraduate places to candidates who are unavailable for interview.

If you are unable to attend an interview during the advertised interview period, please contact the Admissions Office as soon as possible.