Bizarre questions put to sixth-formers hopeful of university place, writes ANDREW FFRENCH

Sixth-formers are being asked a series of bizarre questions when they attend interviews for Oxford University. As pupils from across the country are preparing to submit applications to Oxford University and Cambridge University, a study of 1,200 has revealed some of the quirkier lines of inquiry from tutors who interview candidates for places.

About 16,000 school leavers will visit colleges in Oxford or Cambridge to be quizzed in the hope that they can gain a coveted place at Britain's top universities.

Last year's applicants to study politics, philosophy and economics (PPE) at Oxford said they were asked: "If there were three beautiful women standing in front of you, which one would you pick? And does this have any relevance to economics?"

Others applying for places on the same course were asked to price a teapot or compare Tony Blair with a 19th-century politician.

The survey, conducted by Oxbridge Applications, an organisation that advises applicants, was published as this year's deadline for hopefuls looms.

Jessica Elsom, of Oxbridge Applications, said the interview process at Oxford and Cambridge was "notoriously eccentric".

She said: "With the increase in the numbers of students excelling at A-level, the Oxbridge interviews are one way of finding out who really cuts the mustard.

"In last week's rankings of universities worldwide, Cambridge comes second, with Oxford at number three, so competition will be as fierce as ever."

The QS World University Rankings by the Times Higher Educational Supplement placed US university Harvard in first place.

Ms Elsom and her colleagues struggled to answer the question facing candidates for the veterinary medicine course at Cambridge: "What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow?", but added that only ten per cent of those surveyed felt they had been asked bizarre questions.

Oxbridge Applications, which charges up to £850 for a preparation weekend, lists a series of questions which candidates have faced in the past, including: "How might you argue that what everyone says is a banana is not a banana?"

A spokesman for Oxford University said interviews were not designed to "floor candidates" but to urge them to demonstrate that they could think for themselves.

She added: "You should expect to be challenged and taken to an area which is new to you and to argue from a new point of view.

"Tutors go to great lengths to make people relaxed. It's a common misconception that they get hit by this kind of question as soon as they walk through the door." Questions reported by applicants included:

Here is a piece of bark, please talk about it. (Biological Sciences, Oxford) Explain how a perm works (biochemistry, Oxford) Why do so few Americans believe in evolution? (human sciences, Oxford) Are you cool? (Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford) Why can't you light a candle in a spaceship? (physics, Oxford) Why don't we just have one ear in the middle of our face? (medicine, Cambridge) At what point is a person "dead"? (Medicine, Cambridge) Put a monetary value on this teapot. (Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Cambridge) Describe a potato, then compare it with an onion (natural sciences, Cambridge)