We welcomed 360 interview candidates to St John’s in December during two weeks of admissions interviews.

Students were interviewed for 40 subjects offered at St John’s, with our 84 interviewers holding a total of around 800 interviews. We also held 30 interviews over Skype for candidates who were unable to visit Oxford in person. 

Alongside their interviews, our candidates were also given plenty of opportunities to relax. As well as spending time socialising in the JCR, students enjoyed board games evenings, movie nights and trips to G&Ds for ice cream, while activities such as watching The Apprentice in the Graves Room proved particularly popular (perhaps because it was the interview stage of the process…). Thank you to our 30 student helpers who welcomed our candidates and kept them relaxed and entertained, and who also gave them an insight into College life at St John’s, and a huge thank you to our Admissions and Access staff who worked incredibly hard to organise and run the whole interview process. 

Interviews form an important part of the selection process at Oxford. They are designed to explore candidates’ intellectual potential and enthusiasm for their subjects, as well as how they suit our system of small group or one-to-one teaching. Being invited for interview at Oxford is already a fantastic achievement in its own right, so congratulations to all of our interview candidates on making it to this stage – we hope that the interview process was an enjoyable, if challenging, experience. 

Candidates will receive decisions on their applications on Tuesday 14 January. We would like to wish all of our applicants the best of luck in all of their future endeavours, whether at Oxford or elsewhere.