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'I was made to feel ignorant'

Anastasia Fedotova, the deaf student who had been rejected by Oxford, last month gained six grade As at A-level. As a result, questions were asked again about the university's admissions. Here, she tells what happened at her interviews. And, below, an admissions officer explains how Oxford selects its students

Thursday 05 September 2002 00:00 BST
Comments

It was a cold Tuesday morning in mid-December when the letter from Brasenose College arrived turning me down for a course in mathematics. My parents were away, so I was on my own with my rejection. There was no heart-warming meal or comforting words to ease the pain. I wandered around Manchester drenched as it was in customary cheerless drizzle and found an internet café. I logged on and stumbled by chance on an Oxbridge admissions website. This is where the lucky and the losers share their experiences. I filled out the following form...

Why Oxford?

First university I heard of in Russia. I fell under its magic spell.

Did you get an offer?

No.

Do you have any tips on Oxbridge forms?

Didn't get an offer so I am the wrong person to ask.

What happened at your interviews?

I had a couple of interviews at Brasenose and one at Christ Church. Missed the first interview scheduled for 10.30am because I sat in the noisy junior common room (with a queue of baby-faced boys in smart suits) and did not hear my name on the loudspeaker. It was rescheduled for 6.30pm.

The first interview was at noon with the biomaths don, who asked questions on the board in maths symbols. It was based on curve sketching and I tried to impress him with my knowledge of logistic equations (chaos theory stuff). Went out punching the air.

I had a late interview with another don who looked like Reg from Coronation Street and who telephoned my school for advice before the interview. Finding that I could lip-read well, he seemed happy to conduct the interview with me in the same way as with a hearing person. But it wasn't easy to lip-read his genial talk. He was forced to repeat questions three times, and was finally reduced to writing on the board. The interview inevitably overran the time limit. I was finding it hard to concentrate and I managed to get only the permutation question right. Feeling utterly defeated, I told him, "I barely answered your questions!". He replied: "But that is the point of the interview, to recreate the tutorial." It was such a pity that the interview went the way it did because he was such a friendly person and the sort of tutor anyone would want.

At Christ Church it wasn't much better. I was made to feel ignorant, although the tutor was understanding enough to conduct the interview by writing on paper.

I went to the interviews mindful of the need to dazzle. So I was upset afterwards that I had fallen so short of requirements. The rejection letter that came six days later was a depressing testimony to that. The outcome was different for my best friend. She came back from Cambridge with tears streaming down her face but was shocked to get an offer to read maths.

What is your advice for someone wanting to prepare for interview in maths?

Do something I didn't do: practise loads and loads of maths questions. Maths is like sport – talent needs practice and training to get to the top. Public-school boys are much better coached and prepped than state-school ones – don't let them win!

How did you feel when you got the letter from Brasenose?

Strange. I had set my heart on Oxford and had been unusually lucky most of my life, academically speaking.

Your plans?

I shall reapply – but this time to Cambridge. There are encouraging stories of people being rejected, reapplying and receiving an offer. I just hope it will work for me too. Whether my unfortunate experience was just a blip, like Manchester United losing 5:0 to Chelsea, remains to be seen.

...with that I left the internet café. The drizzle had subsided. Life goes on. I resumed my interests in science – the relationship between quantum mechanics (physics) and probability (maths) and the part H-bond (chemistry) plays in DNA formation (biology). I knew only bad exams would drag down my AS results to B, but could not help feeling chuffed when I saw those six As inside the envelope. Friends and teachers congratulated me. Then the media arrived – but that's another story.

education@independent.co.uk

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