Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (CAAH) has a fairly small intake, but is a really good course, with plenty of variation and new and interesting things to learn, whatever background (or lack of) you have in the subject. The course focuses on the history of Greece and Rome, and there are certain ‘core’ classes that everyone must take but other than that, you can pretty much tailor it to what interests you most.
Teaching is divided between a few lectures a week (mostly at the Exam Schools, less than five minutes walk from college) and weekly tutorials (just 1 or 2 students) or classes (around 10 students), for which you prepare an essay or a presentation. This is the main focus of your learning, and takes up most of your study time. This said, the workload is pretty much what you make it; you get a lot more out of (and tend to enjoy a lot more) tutorials that you have fully prepared for, but how much work you need to do to feel prepared varies a lot from person to person. There is quite a lot of independence to your work, however this does mean that you must organise your time effectively.
The college library is really good, and tends to have most of the books on your weekly reading list whilst the Sacler (the department library) is less than ten minutes away by bike, and will almost certainly have any other ancient history or archaeology books you could want. As there are so few CAAH students at each college, classes tend to be run across the university, which means you get a great range of different tutors, as well as meeting lots of people from different colleges (also good for checking out formal hall in other colleges).
As for the interview, the interviewers do not expect any in depth knowledge of classical world; you do not need to have done Classics or Class Civ or ancient languages at A Level. What you do need is a demonstrable interest in ancient history, and some general awareness of the subject is always good. The interview is not designed to test your knowledge in any way; the tutor is interested in the way your mind works, the way you express yourself and your ability to form coherent arguments. You will be given time before your interview to examine and compare some passages or artefacts and make notes, but there really isn’t much that you can do to prepare for this beforehand. The point is not to know what these artefacts and passages are, but to show an inquiring mind and enthusiasm. You may feel that the interviewers are picking on you and pointing out flaws in your argument, but they are not doing it to make you feel stupid, but because they want to see how you think under pressure and your capacity to adapt an argument in the face of new knowledge.
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