Is Oxbridge Interview Coaching The Way Forward?

Should you get Oxbridge Interview coaching? This article explores the value of receiving support for your upcoming Oxbridge Interviews. We'll look at what coaching involves and how it can increase your chances of gaining an Oxbridge offer.

Last Updated: 29th November 2018

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Deciding whether to get Oxbridge Interview coaching is an important step to success.

The statistics tend to speak for themselves! When it comes to the questions of whether you should consider Oxbridge Interview coaching or not, you should always consider the latter. Here’s why.

What does Oxbridge interview coaching involve?

That depends on the Programme that you feel will suit you best. However, almost all valuable Oxbridge Interview coaching will involve dedicated individual teaching that is tailored to your strengths and weaknesses.

Interviewing is a skill that requires a truly personal approach in order to improve. Students should be tutored by current students who took the same Interview as you will be taking and know all the tips and tricks to help you secure a place.

Coaching could also be by Interview coaches who are either current or ex-tutors at Oxbridge and are best placed to help you delve into the mind of an admissions tutor! At UniAdmissions, we’re proud of our experienced tutors. If you want to find out a little more about them, take a look here.

Expert Interview coaching is the surefire way to Oxbridge Interview success and to ultimately receive an offer from your dream university. 

With over 95 hours of guided study (including One-To-One Tuition, Intensive Courses and Comprehensive Materials), our expert Oxbridge Interview support truly gives you an advantage that can make the difference between an offer and rejection.

Discover our Interview Programmes by clicking the button below to enrol and triple your chances of success.

Oxbridge Interview Coaching Statistics

Oxbridge Interview coaching can be a way to give yourself an advantage over the thousands of other students applying for their dream course at the two prestigious universities, Oxford and Cambridge. These students tend to all have stellar grades and perform well on Admissions Tests, leaving the Interview to sort the good candidates from the great. 

For example, in 2019, only 7% of Oxford E&M applicants received an offer out of the 1530 students that applied. Looking at the applicants’ GCSE grades, 433 (28%) achieved eight or more 8/9s and actually 201 (13%) of applicants achieved ten or more 8/9s. There was even a student who achieved fourteen 8/9s! Therefore, those 13% of students who had some of the best possible GCSE grades and are also likely to have high scores on the Admissions Test (TSA), are competing to be in the top 7% that get an offer. The only way they can really achieve this is through a great Oxbridge Interview performance.  

Oxbridge Interview coaching statistics really do speak for themselves about the benefits of this kind of tuition. In 2023, the national average admissions rate for Oxbridge entry was 16%, but UniAdmissions’ success rate, over the last three years is 57%.

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Average Oxbridge Success Rate
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UniAdmissions' Oxbridge Success Rate

We take a lot of care to ensure we’re continually improving on this figure. The formula we’ve created has shown its value time and time again. Getting expert Interview coaching can significantly improve your chances of making a successful application to Oxford or Cambridge University, allowing you access to a world-class, well-respected education.

Download our FREE 90-Page Interview Starter Guide

Our 90-page E-Book is filled with expert Interview Advice, common interview questions and first-hand interview experiences from successful Oxbridge applicants. 

To access all this for free, just enter your name and email address and you’ll be sent the guide directly to your inbox. 

UniAdmissions Free Interview Starter Guide Book

How Does Interview Coaching Improve Your Chances?

Gives you access to valuable real-world practice

Most applicants haven’t ever been through a formalised Interview process, and it’s very unlikely that they’ll have ever gone through anything like an ‘infamous’ Oxbridge Interview. The specific format, tricky questions, and high expectations mean it’s difficult to prepare for an Interview without some inside knowledge.

Oxbridge Interviews usually ask particular kinds of questions which are sometimes designed to have no answer – their aim is to see the way you think.

This means that you can’t pre-prepare answers like you might do to normal Interview questions that you’ve found online. Interview coaching can help with practising the skills you need to be able to answer any question thrown at you!

You’ll be prepared for the worst

Oxbridge is very well known for throwing curveballs in their Interviews, to see whether you can think on your feet. These questions, in recent years, have become more uncommon but they are still a very real possibility.

Although this is a concept some students feel more comfortable approaching, most don’t. With this in mind, it’s vital to note that this is something that you can train. With the right training, you will feel more comfortable if you end up in a situation you haven’t prepared for in the Interview.

Oxbridge Interview coaching helps refine the skills you need to be able to think on your feet. For instance, by using what you do know to answer questions that might not immediately seem answerable, such as “How long is a piece of string?”

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A UniAdmissions student working with their Interview tutor.

Question of style

Oxbridge Interview coaching can also help with the feel of the Interview through mock scenarios and encourages students to be more natural. Oxbridge tutors have said in the past that they can smell someone who has been coached a mile off, and they tend not to look kindly on these candidates!

The trick is to not rote learn answers to questions, but rather to practice skills and the situation until it becomes second nature to you. We don’t tell students what to say, but rather, how to think about and formulate a strong answer.

Honest feedback

Oxbridge Interview coaching can also be a great chance for you to gain skills you can use past your university application, throughout your life. For instance, Interview coaches can give personalised, honest feedback about Interview performance – something which you won’t get after the real Oxbridge Interview.

They can also help you work on nervous ticks you might have that may serve to give a weaker impression to the interviewer. For example, perhaps you “umm” and “aah” so much when you’re nervous that your overall answer gets lost amongst the response. While critique can seem harsh, we all know it’s the best way to improve, and improvement before an Oxbridge Interview can only be a good thing!

Gain an edge

As mentioned, thousands of students apply to Oxbridge, and while almost every student applying is of a high calibre, Oxbridge needs to be shown that you are better than other potential students.

It’s your chance to demonstrate this in the Interview, but you need to know what the admissions tutors are looking for, and how you can tick these boxes.

Improve your Interview performance through effective, guided Oxbridge Interview preparation.

Whether you are applying for Maths, History or Medicine, we have the right Interview support for you. Our Oxbridge Interview Programmes effectively prepare you through One-To-One TuitionIntensive CoursesComprehensive Materials and Enrichment Supervisions to give you the best chances of Oxbridge success. 

Discover our Oxbridge Interview Programmes by clicking the button below to enrol and triple your chances of success.

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UniAdmissions students placed at Oxford And Cambridge

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UniAdmissions students placed
at Oxford And Cambridge
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