The Cambridge Chat Thread

Is there anywhere that sells sweets that's open at this hour?

Is there anywhere that sells sweets that's open at this hour?

Can you get to the 24h Tesco in Milton...?

I'm glad I'm not losing it in thinking it was a bit out of order... I moan about it a lot on this thread, but I always leave oral supervisions feeling absolutely terrible. She knows that the issue is not with the quality of my Russian, which isn't far behind anyone else's, but with my absolutely shattered self-confidence in terms of speaking as we've discussed it before, fairly recently, so why on earth she thought it was acceptable to say that to the others I'm not sure.

She emailed me after their supervision was over asking me if I wanted to change groups to one where I might progress better, but it has left me wondering whether this is for my benefit or for the benefit of the other people in the supervision. All the oral supervisors in Russian are centrally allocated, so I'm speaking to my DoS (who also happened to handle the allocations) on Monday to explain the situation and see what she thinks. I will certainly move groups and might switch supervisors, depending on what my DoS thinks and whether that's even possible this late in the year.

I just feel even worse about oral now. I went from speaking Russian that was good enough to get me a 2.1 in my oral last year to barely being able to string a sentence together, and my speaking has definitely worsened during the year. Clearly something about my supervisions isn't working for me, and I would have been happy for her to approach me from that angle. But telling two of my friends that the supervision is better without the crap person being there (paraphrasing, but that's the essence) is just not very nice

Not before 'this hour' becomes 'that hour'!

Oh dear, I'm pretty sure I just signed up for RAG Blind Date, letting a (pretty much) randomer fill in my form.

We are auditioning now. Are you planning to sing in many this year? Our stuff might not be to everyone's taste, so we are doing lots and lots of auditions to try and get at least one.

That's why I love my CISS

Obviously I wasn't there and I don't know you, the supervisor, the group dynamic or anything. However my guess is that you are blowing this out of proportion and taking it too personally.

A good supervisor will want to get every student in the best possible working environment. That can sometimes mean jigging supervision groups around a bit to balance personalities, interests, abilities, levels of confidence etc. It is not any reflection on the individual students but simply a recognition of the fact that some group dynamics lead to better work and performance than others and that students can benefit from a change in the group.

Your friends fed back the comments the supervisor made for their ears to you. I would imagine that all that was said was 'hey this worked really well today. Did the smaller group help? Have you been holding back in other supervisions?' This is not synonymous with 'the absent person is crap, isn't she?'. It is the supervisor seeing what they think about their best work environment.

When the supervisor emailed you she was talking to you about your best work environment and asking whether a change of group might help you. In her professional opinion this might be a good option and she is giving you the chance to say what you think. Perhaps your confidence issues might be better dealt with in a different group and you might benefit from this option. Remember - supervisors are not there to judge you - they are there to give you all the help they can to make progress.

The only unfortunate thing that has happened here is that your friends told you stuff that the supervisor meant to be a quiet word between them and you have assumed that a) the supervisor is putting them before you and b) that the supervisor has been dissing you. I don't think that either of these things will be true - the supervisor would not have asked your friends what they thought without first thinking about the options for all of you. At the time of speaking to them, however, she would only have talked about things from their perspective since your progress is between you and the supervisor.

It seems to me that the supervisor, whether you like her teaching style or not, has only done what any good supervisor would do and is simply trying to make things better for everyone. We're all adults here. We know that some people need one thing while other people need a different thing. There is no shame in rejigging the groups. And you must always remember that supervisors are not ultimately there to judge you -they are there to help you to make the most progress possible. If, in their professional opinion, a change would be beneficial then they are going to have to instigate it somehow. It sounds to me like you've all been asked your opinion and had your say - can't get fairer than that. Your friends simply made a bad judgement call to tell you too much rather than realising that you might take it personally and being discrete.

NB being supervised with close friends is not, as a general rule, a particularly good idea anyway, no matter how nice it might feel to you.

This might sound harsh, and I think its a good idea to relate your concerns to your DoS. But I don't think you should see it as a slight on your academic ability. I think everyone here knows how committed and engaged you are with your subject. I doubt that there's a problem with your ability or capacity. I also think you shouldn't try and judge your performance by how the supervisions go. Its a very specific situation and it doesn't represent the scenario you encounter come exam term.

Ohhhh that makes a lot more sense. I thought six was particularly excessive...the most I know of someone paying to go to is three...

My TSP and tiling > your TSP and tiling .
If you have no idea what I'm talking about then I'm probably adressing the wrong person, however it would be quite a surprising coincidence if there was another person in Cambridge using your nickname...

Obviously I wasn't there and I don't know you, the supervisor, the group dynamic or anything. However my guess is that you are blowing this out of proportion and taking it too personally.

A good supervisor will want to get every student in the best possible working environment. That can sometimes mean jigging supervision groups around a bit to balance personalities, interests, abilities, levels of confidence etc. It is not any reflection on the individual students but simply a recognition of the fact that some group dynamics lead to better work and performance than others and that students can benefit from a change in the group.

Your friends fed back the comments the supervisor made for their ears to you. I would imagine that all that was said was 'hey this worked really well today. Did the smaller group help? Have you been holding back in other supervisions?' This is not synonymous with 'the absent person is crap, isn't she?'. It is the supervisor seeing what they think about their best work environment.

When the supervisor emailed you she was talking to you about your best work environment and asking whether a change of group might help you. In her professional opinion this might be a good option and she is giving you the chance to say what you think. Perhaps your confidence issues might be better dealt with in a different group and you might benefit from this option. Remember - supervisors are not there to judge you - they are there to give you all the help they can to make progress.

The only unfortunate thing that has happened here is that your friends told you stuff that the supervisor meant to be a quiet word between them and you have assumed that a) the supervisor is putting them before you and b) that the supervisor has been dissing you. I don't think that either of these things will be true - the supervisor would not have asked your friends what they thought without first thinking about the options for all of you. At the time of speaking to them, however, she would only have talked about things from their perspective since your progress is between you and the supervisor.

It seems to me that the supervisor, whether you like her teaching style or not, has only done what any good supervisor would do and is simply trying to make things better for everyone. We're all adults here. We know that some people need one thing while other people need a different thing. There is no shame in rejigging the groups. And you must always remember that supervisors are not ultimately there to judge you -they are there to help you to make the most progress possible. If, in their professional opinion, a change would be beneficial then they are going to have to instigate it somehow. It sounds to me like you've all been asked your opinion and had your say - can't get fairer than that. Your friends simply made a bad judgement call to tell you too much rather than realising that you might take it personally and being discrete.

NB being supervised with close friends is not, as a general rule, a particularly good idea anyway, no matter how nice it might feel to you.

It sounds like that super good linguist ought to be isolated. Surely they'll get enough dialogue with the supervisor. And individual supervisions can be seen as a bonus. In fact when I had issues with people in my group in first year I asked for individual supervisions, and that's what the supervisor gave me. If that one super-able guy/girl is that much better than everyone, perhaps they should be moved out and given special, focused attention instead. Better for everyone perhaps.

I was wandering if there are any may balls/june events that would be recommended, but are not on the sunday, monday or tuesday? Its just I want to go to another one as well as my own as well as another group of people. We were considering Emma's ball but its on the sunday

Its called the Old Chemist Shop Antique Centre, its on the right as you go out of town beyond the Railway bridge on Mill Road. google maps I'd love to go there with you and try on dresses! I tried on 5 today but without a second opinion it wasn't as much fun! I needed Craggy's honest opinion on colours etc

Why a randomer?