Travelling to Cambridge for Interview

What will it really be like to interview and sit the Cambridge Law Test? These steps of the Cambridge application are meant to help us get to know you better, but they can often seem mysterious and intimidating. Below, Jarvis takes you step by step through his own experience sitting the Cambridge Law Test and law interviews at Trinity College.

As an international student from the sunny shores of Singapore, I could elect to take the Cambridge Law Test (CLT) and requisite interviews in Singapore or in Cambridge at my selected college. As I was still serving my national service at the time of application, about two years after I received my A Levels results, I chose to do the CLT and interviews at Trinity College itself in the UK. It was to be a much-anticipated holiday after serving two years in the Singapore army, and would allow me to check out how Cambridge looked and felt (it was to be my first time setting foot in the place I now call home!).

One day to go

Having taken the A380 Airbus (another first for me!) over from Singapore, a 15 hour plus flight, I was jetlagged and still getting used to the noticeably colder and darker UK weather. However, when I arrived in Cambridge and met Mikaela, her smiles and cheerful voice made the changeover that much better. She had just finished Michaelmas of her second-year reading Law at Trinity and was volunteering over the holidays to welcome applicants and to serve as a friendly listening ear.

I had arrived the day before the CLT and interview were due to begin, around the late evening. Mikaela quickly led me to my overnight accommodation in the Wolfson Building, an extremely modern and spacious room. I was surprised, as in my imagination Cambridge was an antiquated place with rooms that must have been around for hundreds of years, with fireplaces and wooden everything. Instead, I entered a room that was modern, bright and extremely welcoming (and importantly en-suite!).

I headed off to dinner at Trinity’s hall, where I mixed with the other applicants. We were a bit tense and jittery at the start (understandable), but we quickly bonded, despite our very international and diverse backgrounds. I had a lot of fun describing my days in the army, which felt surreal as I was inside a jungle two weeks ago, in full battle order and exiting a helicopter while under fire. Back in my room, I started my preparation for the fateful day: I made sure to catch up on the news, reading the Guardian and the Telegraph. I read over a short summary that I had prepared earlier, that detailed my motivations for applying to law and the interesting books on law that I’ve read (for a list of books I recommend, check down below!). I made sure to sleep early.

The Big Day

The CLT

I woke up about 2 hours before my CLT (which was scheduled at 9am). I made very sure to eat well before the 1 hour test. The CLT itself passed by really fast. For preparation of the CLT, I had already looked up the Law Faculty’s example papers. I kept telling myself during the exam that time was of the essence, and planned strict timelines when I received my paper. I had to stop the perfectionist in me vying for that extra five minutes to tackle a specific section, and I think that such a mind set helps with achieving the best performance overall. Though the question I received was on a specific section of tort law (as I later found out during my first year), applicants are not expected to have specific legal knowledge. I do believe that my efforts to clearly detail the logical steps I took before coming to a conclusion helped with my score.

I must admit that I came out of the paper feeling helpless and certain that I would fail, and had to pop by McDonald’s for a quick pick me up meal. In hindsight, it’s normal to feel like you’ve been challenged.

The Interview

I was a bit stressed over what to wear to the interview and having done a bit of a fashion show in front of my mother a few days ago, I decided on a semi-formal outfit. I was wearing a pullover with a collared shirt and dress pants. In hindsight, the interview was quite relaxed, and there is no strict dress code.

My interview was in the afternoon, a few hours after the CLT. I was given an envelope containing the interview problem, and was allocated 30min to prep in the Trinity library. I was given a constitutional law issue concerning human rights, which I felt was difficult as Singapore had no Bill of Rights or any such analogous ideas. I wrote down my answer on a piece of paper, which I later did not refer to at all during the hour long interview session two Trinity Law lecturers.

One thing to note about the interview is that it’s meant to be fluid; it is meant to test an applicant ability’s to think on your feet. Also, it is meant to be really fun despite being intellectually challenging. I was presented with many zany scenarios meant to stretch my conclusions to the max. My approach to answering these questions was to outline every step of my logic to the interviewers, and I think that this ensured that whatever I said was clear and made sense.

I genuinely enjoyed the interview, and was appreciative of the interviewers making me feel at home in what could have been a thoroughly stressful experience.

Conclusion

I hope that by demystifying the process, it shows how painless the whole CLT and interview process is. People interested in the law would enjoy the whole thing, and come away learning more about yourself and the subject.

Books I read before the CLT:

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael Sandel. A thoroughly thought provoking read and a reminder to me of how law is shaped by philosophy and ethics.

Is Eating People Wrong?: Great Legal Cases and How They Shaped the World by Allan C. Hutchinson. A funny and quick read.

Letters to a Law Student by Nicholas McBride. Very practical advice that still serves me well during law school.

Some books that my friends recommend:

The Rule of Law by Lord Bingham. It is quite a dense read, but it will give you an insight into how constitutional law is understood and taught by the Cambridge Law Faculty.

What About Law by Catherine Barnard, Janet O’Sullivan, and Graham Virgo. Yes, it’s true, I did not read this book even though I was applying to Trinity College, where Catherine Barnard is a fellow, and I still got in! She is now my Director of Studies (a bit like a head teacher).

Cambridge University interviews typically take place in early December. For more information on the interview process at Cambridge, please see the University’s website.

If you are applying as an international applicant, you should get in touch with the admissions team at the college you have applied for to see how they plan to arrange your interview. You can find the contacts for the Cambridge colleges on the University’s website.

For an example of the types of questions you might be asked in a Law interview, take a look at this mock Law interview with two Trinity College fellows: