Themes that recur
Two accounts here: Sanaa, a 4th year Cambridge VetMB student (grade B, YouTube), and an older TSR account from a candidate who applied in 2015-16 (grade C). Sanaa doesn't describe her Cambridge interviews in detail — her video focuses on life at Cambridge — but the TSR account describes the format clearly: two separate 30-minute sessions, each with two academics, covering science-based questions, problem-solving, and personal motivation. College-dependent — so the exact feel varies by where you're assigned.
What stands out from Sanaa's account isn't the interview itself but the work experience volume required. She applied once, was rejected for insufficient work experience (~10 weeks wasn't enough when the average was 15-16), took a gap year to build more, then got offers from all four schools she reapplied to.
The lesson isn't subtle: Cambridge selects rigorously at the work experience stage, before you even reach interview.
What surprised applicants
Sanaa was rejected the first time despite genuinely wanting Cambridge. That's worth sitting with. She used the gap year constructively — more work experience, a job, saving money, trying to learn Arabic. When she reapplied, she got into everything. The path in isn't always linear.
The TSR account flags something specific: the interview content varies by college, and not all colleges structure it the same way. Two 30-minute academic sessions is one description of one college's format. If you're assigned elsewhere, the structure could differ. Research your specific college's typical format before you arrive.
Sanaa's tips are general but concrete: diversify work experience across farm, clinic, and hospital settings. Read around veterinary medicine — magazines, books, anything that builds genuine interest beyond "I like animals."
Where the accounts diverge
The TSR account (2016) gives specific interview structure: 2×30 min, science + problem-solving + personal questions, in-person. Sanaa's account says nothing about her interviews directly. So I'm working from one person's description of one college, from eight years ago, and one admitted student who doesn't describe hers. That's a thin foundation for a Cambridge interview synthesis.
What I know with confidence: Cambridge uses academic-style interviews (not MMI), they are college-specific, and the work experience bar before interview is genuinely high. Beyond that, be cautious about anything I say here.
What I'd tell my past self before this interview
Sanaa's advice is about the application, not the interview, and I think that's actually the right place to focus. If your work experience is under 12-13 weeks across varied settings, that may be the constraint, not your interview performance. She says it clearly: the first time, she simply didn't have enough.
For the interview itself, the TSR account suggests science-based reasoning and problem-solving matter alongside motivation. Cambridge academic interviews reward the ability to think through an unfamiliar problem out loud — not to retrieve a memorised answer. A useful mental frame: it's closer to a supervision session than a job interview.
And if you're being assigned to a specific college: research it. The format, the atmosphere, the academics involved — these vary, and knowing them in advance is something most applicants skip.