Colleges Seek Kids' Opinions on Grapefruit, Perfect Crime

Quirky questions catch students off-guard
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2008 12:34 PM CST
Colleges Seek Kids' Opinions on Grapefruit, Perfect Crime
Why not let Ikea's managers lead the country instead of politicians, Cambridge asks.   (Photo: Business Wire)

Bored with prospective students regurgitating textbook knowledge, Cambridge and Oxford have revamped their interview questions to include the abstract (Would you rather be a novel or a poem?), the existential (What does it mean to be happy?), and the downright crazy (How would you poison someone and get away with it?), reports CNN.

Administrators say that ruminations on whether thermostats can think will get students “out of their comfort zones,” and will possibly even the playing field for low-income students competing against those who can afford $300-per-hour prep sessions. "What we want to do is get them to start thinking for themselves,” Oxford's admissions director says.
(More Oxford stories.)

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