The Cambridge Chat Thread - it's over 90,000!

And we did have that sort of feel, but it was quite intimidating the way he would just sit down and expect us all to talk about his lecture notes, especially as for a group of us, there weren't that many "talkative" or inquisitive students. so lectures would inevitably just be a repeat of his lecture notes rather than a large scale supervision.

I never had any problems with annoying students - the other economists in my college (who I had the majority of my supervisions with) were all great, they did all the work and weren't afraid to contribute to the discussion.

Blegh. This is the thing that annoys me about British students. They're so passive and reticent. (Sorry I'm not suggesting that this is necessarily you, I just found that with a lot of groups) I had such a blast on the MPhil (in the same department) because it was so international and people were much more talkative and enthusiastic.

It's not necessarily about being passive and reticent though - I'm not! Although those are often adjectives used for me by supervisors and others who haven't understood that it is less about reticence and more about how my brain works (apparently not in tandem with my mouth). One can also be inquisitive without being talkative! One well placed and well thought out question can be worth a whole barrage

I've had a lot of individual supervisions this year, and I've generally found them very useful, even if having someone spend a whole hour picking apart your dissertation draft isn't necessarily the most pleasant of experiences...I'm quite slow at taking in new ideas, so sometimes my dissertation supervisions ended up with me saying "I don't get it...will have to have a think about this" and my supervisor giving me a pained look and saying: "Which part don't you understand? It's quite simple really"...

In that respect, I feel your criticism of the paper is misplaced: it gives the facts and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions – the safest possible way to avoid an argument.

I have probably misjudged some people in supervisions before, but when I said that I had lectures and seminars in mind more than supervisions! Its extremely irritating to go to a seminar where nobody has done the reading and nobody is prepared to contribute.
As for lectures, I often see a re-occuring thread in GUD which goes something like 'don't you hate students who ask questions in lectures'... and then its followed by several pages of UK students from around the country venting their ire for the selfish egoist who dared to waste everybody's time by using the tiny moment of actual contact time they have to learn Regular students seem to think its selfish to ask questions after a lecture (at the designated time) because it stops everyone leaving early, and asking questions during a lecture instantly damns the person as being someone who just wants to show off.
I think a lot of people are scared to ask questions or get involved in lectures and seminars because they know everyone else thinks this way. Whereas international students don't have the same inhibitions, which is great!

I hated being one of the only ones to ask questions and chip in with an opinion. I was aware that everyone probably thought I was a dick, but I'm someone who thinks and learns through interaction so its really hard to stay focused and concentrated unless I can come in and ask how it connects with related thoughts I'm having. Oh well...

I have probably misjudged some people in supervisions before, but when I said that I had lectures and seminars in mind more than supervisions! Its extremely irritating to go to a seminar where nobody has done the reading and nobody is prepared to contribute.
As for lectures, I often see a re-occuring thread in GUD which goes something like 'don't you hate students who ask questions in lectures'... and then its followed by several pages of UK students from around the country venting their ire for the selfish egoist who dared to waste everybody's time by using the tiny moment of actual contact time they have to learn Regular students seem to think its selfish to ask questions after a lecture (at the designated time) because it stops everyone leaving early, and asking questions during a lecture instantly damns the person as being someone who just wants to show off.
I think a lot of people are scared to ask questions or get involved in lectures and seminars because they know everyone else thinks this way. Whereas international students don't have the same inhibitions, which is great!

I hated being one of the only ones to ask questions and chip in with an opinion. I was aware that everyone probably thought I was a dick, but I'm someone who thinks and learns through interaction so its really hard to stay focused and concentrated unless I can come in and ask how it connects with related thoughts I'm having. Oh well...

There's one *really* keen guy in my lectures who always asks questions, and gets a groan from the whole lecture theatre any time he does. If I have questions, I just ask the lecturer at the end, as do most other people, which seems to be the norm.

Nah, he's being nice to me now Another supervisor, but it honestly wasn't as bad as it appears...my written work is generally a lot better than my performance in supervisions would suggest, so I think my supervisor was just genuinely surprised that I didn't understand whatever he was explaining straight away. And although I got on well with him, I think he was generally regarded as quite a tough supervisor. Anyway, I probably wouldn't work that hard if all my supervisors were nice to me

On jobs that help people: If you're average at jobs that help people but are good at earning lots of money without hurting people, isn't it likely to be better to earn the money and then spend it in ways that help people? Do you earn 25k helping people or earn 100k and spend 75k on getting three people to help people? It's not that I wouldn't like a job that has a more positive influence on society, but having a job that doesn't help directly may allow you to help more outside of your job (not that I actually do, but that's beside the point).

My experience is quite contrary to Alex's - always in groups, usually 2-4 and occasionally eight if it's a revision session or a maths class. With the exception of a one-to-one with Dr K in first year which was not a pleasant experience...

I can see why people don't contribute in lectures - my impression of the couple of students who do ask questions is usually that they're trying to trip the lecturer up rather than contribute at all, and at least one lecturer has got decidedly snippy if someone asked a question which she deemed to be stupid (despite her being pretty much the only lecturer to stop and ask if there are any questions!)

And I have two PhD students out of four supervisors this year, and I had two out of six last year, however this year's have been really good so I'm not complaining!

I think it can depend on how many questions and what they are. I do an unsupervised subject this year so our only contact time is lectures. We're encouraged to participate and ask questions (and a lot of people do). But there's one person who will ask a LOT of questions and a lot of them are on random things, usually in a tone which suggests the questioner is attempting to get a laugh from us. Some of this person's questions are brilliant and informative and I appreciate them. But there are an equal amount which are either fundamentally mistaken or just weird. It's gotten to the point that when this person asks a question, half the room groans or rolls their eyes (no one else gets this reaction) just because if it's not a relevant question, we waste time listening to the answer when we could move on and maybe find another area where we want to ask questions.

My experience is quite contrary to Alex's - always in groups, usually 2-4 and occasionally eight if it's a revision session or a maths class. With the exception of a one-to-one with Dr K in first year which was not a pleasant experience...

I can see why people don't contribute in lectures - my impression of the couple of students who do ask questions is usually that they're trying to trip the lecturer up rather than contribute at all, and at least one lecturer has got decidedly snippy if someone asked a question which she deemed to be stupid (despite her being pretty much the only lecturer to stop and ask if there are any questions!)

There's one *really* keen guy in my lectures who always asks questions, and gets a groan from the whole lecture theatre any time he does. If I have questions, I just ask the lecturer at the end, as do most other people, which seems to be the norm.

Oh man, revising all my sociology notes from beginning of the year just riles me up so much with regards to globalisation and especially WTO/IMF....such a contrast to 6th form education where they basically teach you globalisation > everything....

Oh man, revising all my sociology notes from beginning of the year just riles me up so much with regards to globalisation and especially WTO/IMF....such a contrast to 6th form education where they basically teach you globalisation > everything....

One of the first things I learnt at Cambridge was that everything I learnt at sixth form was wrong. Including all the Spanish grammar I did. Proceeding from the point of assuming all prior knowledge to be incorrect was much simpler