[lozenge]

The questions in the admissions exam and interviews are fairly straightforward, they are nowhere near any math olympiad level. Math olympiads normally require a host of advanced techniques, each of which is quite accessible but never gets taught in schools. Interview questions just need what gets taught plus some understanding of what a proof is.

[naturalgradient]

I am aware, PhD students design and mark these questions, and can interview :)

The point is that if you go to a target school doing Math olympiads throughout your school life, the admissions exam and interview is a walk in the park. The applicants who didn't have any of this preparation can still do well but will fare relatively worse against that group, and I think this is very obvious in the ultimate intake.

[Ntrails]

It's incredibly hard (impossible?) to come up with a system which cannot be prepared for by a subset of students with access to top tier tuition. You can do some score normalisation based on background but I expect you'd agree that isn't going to help if people can't get through the first years course content?

I don't believe anyone wants the course to be easier. So how do you enable people who are underprivileged to catch up with a shitload of additional tuition which has been offered to other applicants? How do you distinguish effectively between the two, whilst also accepting high aptitude students?

It's not that I think any elite university does this brilliantly - but as someone with a decent level of exposure do you have a feeling on whether there are complete solutions?

[arethuza]

Are those interviews by PhD students in addition to or replacement for interviews by proper dons?

[naturalgradient]

Each applicant receives multiple interviews and I can perform one of these as a PhD student, and have received the same training any faculty member would have.

The interview process is relatively standardized, and if my results were to differ starkly from what more experienced interviewers do they would be disregarded, and the director of studies for that college would simply not invite me back to help.

I would add that asking PhD students to do this is not the worst thing because via supervisions and other teaching efforts, we have a good picture of what undergrads here need to be able to do. An interview is a like a short supervision.

[arethuza]

Thanks - that actually sounds fairly sensible.