I would have been cringing so much if I was in that class. Maybe that's what Ruby did at her Oxford interview, just tried to prove them wrong.Ruby reminds me of a guy in my class at uni who tried to convince our lecturer he was wrong about carbon dating, and that you could actually carbon date a brick..
Ruby Granger #21 Dirty kitchen, messy car; I wonder where the planners are?
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Just the apple calendar on my phone
Should we introduce her to it? You can even set reminders for when you have to leave the house. Groundbreaking, I know!You're in luck, there's an old video on Ruby's channel where she describes her interview and rejection experience in detail - it's called "I let my Oxford application define my self worth || Why I think I was Rejected". In it, she says that her first interview went very badly cause she was given an unseen poem to analyze. She had 10 minutes to read the poem and then she was asked to talk about her thoughts on the poem but she "did not have even one tiny little thought" about it (her words, not mine) which she said was due to an anxiety attack. So during the interview, she had no idea what to say and was just repeating what the interviewers said. She also did not know what the word "brine" meant so she asked the interviewers what it meant and that didn't make a good impression.
So a far cry from Ruby lecturing the interviewers actually - in fact I still feel kind of bad for her for that cause she was clearly under so much internal pressure and so out of her depth. Especially since she also said that 'ever since Year 12', she spent an hour every evening (!) doing "preparation work" for her Oxford interviews which is just kind of sad if you ask me. I don't think you're supposed to do this much preparation for these interviews in the first place.
I don't think she actually reads here, tbh. Some people always comment what is being said here on her Youtube videos and on those questions she posts on her instagram story, and I think that is how she knows.
Last year she uploaded that video reacting to her grades and she seemed terrible at handling feedback from professors, I don't think she would be able to read these threads regularly without having a mental breakdown and probably making a dramatic video about it.
I'v saw that, must of been very awkward in that interview. She didn't have a single thought, none what so ever? Not even what you thought of the poem and how its wrote?
Yh she can't cope with bad feedback well because she's probably been told her work is amazing for years and then reality hit when she went to university. I do think it's a good thing she didn't get into Oxford because they might have been far more critical of her work and I heard Oxford do seminars I think with just 1 or 2 other students and tbh I can't imagine her being asked about her opinion about something and her not waffling on about something else because she'd probably just bring in notes about everything the topic is about and i'v seen video's giving her opinion on the book she "reads" and it's not really a great opinion she gives. Just yh I like the book and the cover and not much else.
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I have anxiety and panic attacks on the regular. Not understanding a poem because you're stupid and unprepared is NOT an anxiety attack.
It just baffles me she had no opinion what so ever, what did she think they were going to ask her when she got given the poem? It doesnât seem like she knew they were going to give her a poem, I thought she would have looked up these kinds of stuff on the Oxford University website and she probably got an email about it.
It doesn't surprise me that Ruby's Oxford interview went badly because she couldn't think of anything to say about the poem they gave her. Her idea of studying literature is still rooted in the GCSE/A-level practice of memorising quotes and parroting what your teacher's told you about the text, rather than doing much analysis herself. She probably spent all her preparation time looking up what other people got asked about in their Oxford interviews and "revising" those texts on Sparknotes like she would for an exam, then got thrown for a loop when they gave her a poem she wasn't familiar with.
I would guess Ruby only gets good grades at uni because she knows how to tailor her work to the marking criteria, rather than because she's actually good at in-depth literary analysis. All her actual takes on the books she reads are more like the sort of thing you'd expect to hear at a casual book club meeting than from a final year undergrad. She might read a lot as a hobby, but that doesn't necessarily translate to actually being good at reading literature in an academic way, so it's unsurprising they didn't see her as Oxbridge material.
I would guess Ruby only gets good grades at uni because she knows how to tailor her work to the marking criteria, rather than because she's actually good at in-depth literary analysis. All her actual takes on the books she reads are more like the sort of thing you'd expect to hear at a casual book club meeting than from a final year undergrad. She might read a lot as a hobby, but that doesn't necessarily translate to actually being good at reading literature in an academic way, so it's unsurprising they didn't see her as Oxbridge material.
Was just watching her video back about the rejection and it struck me that she felt annoyed that she hadn't read an article from the New Yorker about how English and Maths are connected prior to her interview. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have helped. "Well, this article I read says such and such that I think you'd like to hear but that I only started thinking about after I read it."
I think mainly she froze because she was never put in a situation before where she wasn't just regurgitating facts but had to express her own opinion. She wanted to go to Oxford since she was 12 and basically spent sixth form preparing by giving herself all this extra work and creating a massive folder. She put so much focus towards her academics and preparation that she didn't think she'd have an issue with the real interview.
At least she's not so deluded to try to claim her interview was perfect and Oxford made a mistake in rejecting her. She knew she would be rejected after her first interview. She was very honest in her video where she looks back on application.
^ I remember as part of her interview prep she had like a whole BINDER of stuff (poems + copied Sparknotes analysis...) she probably memorized. She has ZERO originality. I imagine the interview went something like this:
Interviewer: so what do you think about this poem?
Ruby: ...(panics)
Interviewer: well, anything themes or symbols jump out at you? Perhaps some literary devices you noticed?
Ruby: HALLO, IT's ROOBEE!! Did you know, the Victorians enjoyed letter writing? Oh, isn't it quite quaint and aesthetik? I love Oxfort by the way, SO many pretty and aesthetik buildings!! Wouldn't you agree?
Interviewer: ...
Ruby: Please admit me!! As a reward I shall gift you a biscuit and half of a Poopkin Productisf;nsan journal. Oh by the way, what does "breen" mean? I seem to have skipped over that word in my extensive research of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Interviewer: Hello? Yes, please get security up here IMMEDIATELY.
Out of the 100,000,000 words she reads in a year she's never come across "brine"? Not even in a food recipe? Shows she doesn't retain/ actually learn anything from books. I probably took more enjoyment and knowledge out of the 40 books I read in 2021 as opposed to Ruby's 200. Quality>>> quantity.
I betDumbledore the interviewer saw right through you
Interviewer: so what do you think about this poem?
Ruby: ...(panics)
Interviewer: well, anything themes or symbols jump out at you? Perhaps some literary devices you noticed?
Ruby: HALLO, IT's ROOBEE!! Did you know, the Victorians enjoyed letter writing? Oh, isn't it quite quaint and aesthetik? I love Oxfort by the way, SO many pretty and aesthetik buildings!! Wouldn't you agree?
Interviewer: ...
Ruby: Please admit me!! As a reward I shall gift you a biscuit and half of a Poopkin Productisf;nsan journal. Oh by the way, what does "breen" mean? I seem to have skipped over that word in my extensive research of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Interviewer: Hello? Yes, please get security up here IMMEDIATELY.
Out of the 100,000,000 words she reads in a year she's never come across "brine"? Not even in a food recipe? Shows she doesn't retain/ actually learn anything from books. I probably took more enjoyment and knowledge out of the 40 books I read in 2021 as opposed to Ruby's 200. Quality>>> quantity.
I bet
The fact she says she likes monochrome outfits but then wears a green and blue skirt with a black top with a brown cardigan with a white, red and blue scarf is something.
"The idea was that if you served children really bland food they wouldn't be like too greedy..."
"...so loads of the food was just so boring and bland (...)"
an English literature student, everyone
Friendly reminder that you donât have to look thin or be underweight to have an eating disorder or anorexia... I do find her reading around the topic concerning, however, I donât think making comments about her body is necessary!
"The idea was that if you served children really bland food they wouldn't be like too greedy..."
"...so loads of the food was just so boring and bland (...)"
an English literature student, everyone
Friendly reminder that you donât have to look thin or be underweight to have an eating disorder or anorexia... I do find her reading around the topic concerning, however, I donât think making comments about her body is necessary!
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If only she had a book club.... oh wait
I canât claim to know much about the Oxford tutorial system, but based on this, as well as the way sheâs always saying âtoday, weâre learning about X in my seminarâ, I donât think she would have done well. She would have been called upon to form her own opinions and arguments all the time. But she still sees even her seminar classes as a teacher-student situation rather than a discussion forum, goes in overprepared with secondary reading and tries to impress the teacher by asking them overly detailed, trivial questions about historical context.
Being asked to comment on an unseen poem after just ten mins is a gift of an interview task because you would not be expected to know all the possible historical contexts or famous critical reviews of the piece. They would have been expecting her to comment on what she could actually see on the page, e.g. form, structure, metre, tone, phrasing, choice of words, subject, any invocation of myths or folklore, meaning, etc etc. There's so much she should have just pounced on! When I was at school that's what we did all the time in English Literature classes, we were often given photocopies of random poems or chapters to pick apart in order to discuss. In the discussions the teachers wanted us to explain what we could observe and infer from the text as a standalone piece. Of course for other tasks we learned how to analyse texts in contexts of history, society, critical review, but analysing extracts was definitely something we did a lot. I went to an inner city comprehensive school, which at that time had no successful Oxbridge students for years! I'm very surprised if Ruby wasn't similarly shown how to pick apart unseen poems.
What the Oxford interviewers probably wanted to see was can the potential student demonstrating the ability come up with things to discuss and explore, from practically no preparation. They wanted analytical skills being applied, not regurgitation skills.
What the Oxford interviewers probably wanted to see was can the potential student demonstrating the ability come up with things to discuss and explore, from practically no preparation. They wanted analytical skills being applied, not regurgitation skills.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with failure, but she was way too arrogant about Oxford, she genuinely felt entitled to a place at one of the worlds top universities so her rejection honestly was just so cringe to watch.
I really hope she doesnât put all of her energy this year into applying for a masters there because itâll just show sheâs not really grown or moved on from it. I get that itâs her âdreamâ but ffs itâs a university, you spend a couple of years of your life there and thatâs it, itâs hardly the be all and end all.
I really hope she doesnât put all of her energy this year into applying for a masters there because itâll just show sheâs not really grown or moved on from it. I get that itâs her âdreamâ but ffs itâs a university, you spend a couple of years of your life there and thatâs it, itâs hardly the be all and end all.
I rewatched the video after it was mentioned here last night and that binder full of random preparation explains so much about her busywork now. She spent so long doing mindless, directionless "preparation" for Oxford that she says several times was hard work and a lot of work that she doesn't know how else to work (or hasn't bothered to adapt). It's obvious to me that the kind of work she was doing was never going to help her through an Oxford interview. She had swathes of notes on Sylvia Plath, but didn't work on the critical skills she really needed - and would still benefit from. Even her obsession with that New Yorker article shows how she can't think independently - she should be able to justify why she's studying the subjects without having to rely on someone else's opinion. I'm guessing she just did chemistry to that level because she found it easy to memorise at GCSE level and felt comfortable with that.
Also, she says she did know what brine was...but couldn't think of anything else to say, so asked what it was. To buy time? To sound inquisitive? To show that she's not scared of asking questions? She just made herself sound sheltered and childlike.
Also, she says she did know what brine was...but couldn't think of anything else to say, so asked what it was. To buy time? To sound inquisitive? To show that she's not scared of asking questions? She just made herself sound sheltered and childlike.
Looks like sheâs finally taken the vegan food account out of her bio
That's exactly it. Her gigantic sense of entitlement used to put me off and annoy me but I feel kinda sorry for her. Sure, she's still annoying as heck but man, all those resources and money and wealth and whatnot and Ruby still bases her self-worth on an internalized to-do list of academic "success." Ruby doesn't need Oxford, Ruby needs therapy.
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