By Grace Critchley
Christmas - tis the season to be jolly ... or maybe not so jolly if you have an abundance of interviews looming before you. Okay, yes there might be a lot riding on these interviews, but there are several thousand other people in the same boat (and to those of you who are pessimistic, no this boat is not the titanic!).
Tip 1: try and use some form of social media before hand if you have it available - I used student room and found a fellow perspective biochem student who was also coming to interviews, I found this really helped calm my nerves as it meant I at least knew one person before arriving! Contrary to the expectation you may have that all other interviewees will be competitive and ruthless, in my opinion everyone was lovely and supportive and I enjoyed getting to know other students over dinner.
Top Tip 2: Don’t be daunted if you have a letter waiting for you when you arrive with a problem sheet or essay inside. Not all tutors set work, it really is college dependent, but in any case it’s nothing to worry about.
Top Tip 3: Also, if you’re like me and you’re useless at navigating yourself around new places, don’t worry, there are so many other students around! Either discretely follow another interviewee that looks like they know where they’re going, or branch out and get help from a student ambassador ... either does the trick really.
Above all, you should remember to be proud of yourself for getting this far and to make the most of being in Oxford around Christmas time, it really is beautiful!