Geography Interviews

The best place to start is Oxford's official information on preparing for interviews. But after you've looked there, read on to hear some students talk about their Geography interviews.

Rosie Shennan

I loved my interview! I went off on a rant about how bad recycling is in America and talked for ages about these kids I babysat, and how even though it wasn't formal employment I thought the social benefits of babysitting as recurring and community based were just as important. It wasn’t scary in the slightest, it was just like a fun conversation about Geography stuff I wanted to talk about.

Rosie, St Peter's, student from 2014
Adam Kellett

My interviews started with an extract that I read half an hour before on human-driven climate change - I was then asked about my views on it. I was told that the tutor would disagree with whatever we said just to see how our argument developed. I was also asked if international trade should be promoted despite creating equality, and my opinion on HS2.

In my second interview, I was shown a photo and asked to describe the geography of it - after that I then had to guess where it was (which I got totally wrong!) After that I was asked about the geography of Facebook in relation to being exposed to extremism and the role of social media in the Arab Spring

Adam, Hertford, student from 2014
Lizzie Fry

I had two interviews for Geography, one with a more physical focus, one more human. I was asked questions about my personal statement (as a post A-Level applicant I had some travelling/volunteering one there already that came up in both interviews, as well as my future plans). Both interviewers also asked about time I spent on charity placements - they seemed to be trying to see what I had learnt from this and my approach to others from different backgrounds. In my second interview I was asked how I would explain globalisation to year 9s. In the other I was asked to suggest explanations for drought data in U.S. states. For the first two explanations I offered I was disproved by another data set and I had to use some previous knowledge of water use in different states to reach a viable explanation, I actually quite enjoyed this test of my ability to think on my feet!

Lizzie, Teddy Hall, student from 2015
Bryony

I had two interviews, one for physical geography and one for human. There were two people in each - one tutor and one researcher from the department. I was asked to argue various points of view e.g. whether I though climate chance or terrorism is a bigger threat to humanity, and made to argue the opposite side to what I actually believed. I was given a map showing 'tree growth' around the world and had to analyse it. I was asked about field work I had done.

Bryony, Worcester, student from 2014

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