Interview critiques 1

Alison Wolf writes that she is "utterly bemused by Oxbridge's arrogant belief that abandoning exams for interviews meant they would be 'fair' to everyone" (Opinion, THES , February 7).

She may well be bemused if that is what she thinks. The reality is that there used to be both entrance examinations and interviews. The exams were dropped because it was believed that they favoured candidates from the private sector. The interviews were kept - they are in addition to procedures followed in other universities and lead to conditional offers.

That is not "arrogant" and does not point to "an increasingly disputed admissions procedure": the candidates' subsequent A-level grades and their low dropout rate suggest that the system has some merit.

Keith Gore
Oxford