University of Cambridge Freshers Megathread 2016

Original post by Helenia

At least you won't have to share awkward supervisions/lectures with any of them if something did happen. :wink:

My group of friends had a bet between them for who could pull my college son first. He turned out to be gay, which rather scuppered their plans. :p:

Did your 'group of friends' include you in the pursuit? :tongue:

Reply 862

Original post by Mathemagicien

Don't they use A-level grades to determine your supervision partners in the first year, like with STEP?

Is that possible? In reality, large majority of successful appliants (= freshers) have very high grades/UMS in their chosen subject. Isn't it a bit unrealistic to differentiate between them?
There were 11 students for my daughter's course at her college in her year. As far as I know, all of them had top grades in A-level/IB......

Reply 863

Original post by Mathemagicien

Yeah, I was meaning UMS, but I guess it is very unrealistic lol; STEP is designed for near-Cambridge level, so STEP scores of Cambridge freshers has more variance than A-levels.

My impression is that the way match supervision pairs (or small groups) is more holistic and there's no any one rule across colleges, especially for the first years.
It looked more like DoS/supervisors match the pair who they think would work well together for each other, rather than mechanically matching them based on their grades/UMS or whatever.

From the second year onwards, it'd more depend on the schedule/availability of supervisors and how many students want to be supervised by him/her. If he/she is very popular and over-subscribed, they choose whatever the number of students they can take, but nobody really knows how they choose them........

Reply 864

Original post by alow

I mainly know physics people though, and I'd think Phys NatScis are more likely to do more A Levels because of further maths so have more A*s.

I just found someone with exactly my same grades on my same course (at my same college)

I don't feel too bad now :lol:

Reply 865

alow

19

Original post by Serine Soul

I just found someone with exactly my same grades on my same course (at my same college)

I don't feel too bad now :lol:

Great

But really, no one is going to care about your A Levels as they're really not that good at determining how smart you are. Almost anyone could get an A* at an A Level in most subjects with enough practice, not many people are actually good enough at the subject to get into Cambridge.

Reply 866

Helenia

20

Original post by vincrows

Did your 'group of friends' include you in the pursuit? :tongue:

Hehe, no, I was otherwise occupied...

Reply 867

Original post by Serine Soul

I just found someone with exactly my same grades on my same course (at my same college)

I don't feel too bad now :lol:

Honestly, as I said many times before, nobody really cares about where you came from, how you were at school/A-level/whatever, etc.
People may ask these questions and talk about it in the freshers week when they meet for the first time, but that's only because they don't have anything else to start talking to each other! :biggrin:

After that, everyone accepts you as who you are, and that's it. Too busy to talk about and worry about how their/other's grades were like at school, because the work you do there is a beast of totally different level/ A bit of difference in grades at school is nothing. :wink:

Reply 868

Original post by Helenia

Hehe, no, I was otherwise occupied...

That sounds even worse........ :tongue:

Reply 869

Original post by vincrows

Honestly, as I said many times before, nobody really cares about where you came from, how you were at school/A-level/whatever, etc.
People may ask these questions and talk about it in the freshers week when they meet for the first time, but that's only because they don't have anything else to start talking to each other! :biggrin:

After that, everyone accepts you as who you are, and that's it. Too busy to talk about and worry about how their/other's grades were like at school, because the work you do there is a beast of totally different level/ A bit of difference in grades at school is nothing. :wink:

Thank you

Reply 870

@sayswho that MB/Chem clash is a typo

Reply 871

Original post by Serine Soul

Thank you

You're always very welcome. :smile:

I hope I won't have to say 'What did I tell you?' again, anymore. :biggrin:

...though I must confess I enjoy saying it a little....... :tongue:

Reply 872

username1162972

Original post by jweo

Do they really do that with STEP?

Yh

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 873

sayswho

6

Original post by Serine Soul

@sayswho that MB/Chem clash is a typo

Phew, that's a relief! :biggrin:

Thank you for letting me know.

Reply 874

Helenia

20

Original post by vincrows

That sounds even worse........ :tongue:

It probably was :p:

Reply 875

EnglishMuon

16

@Zacken incase u didnt receive an answer about the NUS card....just look on their site. the deals are kinda specific and limited but if you find something you're gonna use multiple times its probably worth it.

Spoiler

Reply 876

Original post by sayswho

Phew, that's a relief! :biggrin:

Thank you for letting me know.

No probs!

Original post by EnglishMuon

@Zacken incase u didnt receive an answer about the NUS card....just look on their site. the deals are kinda specific and limited but if you find something you're gonna use multiple times its probably worth it.

Spoiler

The thirst is real

Reply 877

EnglishMuon

16

Original post by Serine Soul

No probs!

The thirst is real

lool yea. Fortunately for my family's sake I only have 1 brother called Louis so id hope nothing weird happens.

Reply 878

username1162972