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Now I've made my offer, will I be academically OK at Cambridge (Compared to others)?
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Niccolo
Cheers,
By the way, do you think the A Level subjects i did are any good, especially for a history or law degree? Thanks
By the way, do you think the A Level subjects i did are any good, especially for a history or law degree? Thanks
History is because it develops critical analysis and interpretation skills, plus you have to retain a lot of information. Languages are always useful, especially if you go into commercial practice with offices abroad and multinational clients etc. Politics possibly as good background. If you do law though, its taught mostly without assuming any prior knowledge so again, no need to worry too much.
chriswhit
History is because it develops critical analysis and interpretation skills, plus you have to retain a lot of information. Languages are always useful, especially if you go into commercial practice with offices abroad and multinational clients etc. Politics possibly as good background. If you do law though, its taught mostly without assuming any prior knowledge so again, no need to worry too much.
thanks for your help.
What aspect of law do you specialise in?
Hehe I had to have a chuckle at this thread... A few points I feel I may add -
1) the whole "state schoolers thinking they are great for getting in" thing - basically state schoolers will endlessly say how unfair an advantage public schoolers have, and public schoolers will endlessly say how unfair an advantage state schoolers have, everyone wants to be hard done by and wants to feel like they are that little cut above the rest. Its absolute crap. State schoolers (like myself) dont get extra lessons and prep for interviews, but the admissions people know this so make allowances for it, which makes public schoolers rant about how they arent as hard on the state school contingent. They're doing their best to make it a level playing field and I think they do a pretty damn good job. And if anyone replies with "but but but but its so much easier for state / public students to get in" then you are just being ignorant and arrogant to think that you had it harder than anyone else. Also public schools dont necessarily give better education than state, for example our local state sixth form consistently out performs our local public school for A-levels.
2) Ciccu - I've said this before but I'll say it again... how come people in Cambridge are stupid enough to be brainwashed by these people? They just encourage crazy extremism, "normal" christians seem to come to cambridge and be put under so much pressure by Ciccu propaganda that their views arent strong enough that for the sake of their souls they end up losing sight of reality and giving in to this mad fundamentalist regime. Its frightens me because its just one step away from making suicide bombers!
3) Big pond, small fish - when you get to cam at first I suspect you will find it wierd not particularly standing out from the crowd for your abilities. Everyone there was in the top few students of their school and it feels like you are right at the bottom for the first few weeks because you see people managing to do things that you just cant get your head around. But it gradually transpires that they have things they can't get their heads around too, everyone is good in different areas and you'll find that it makes for an enormousely more stimulating intellectual environment when you can discuss things with people and everyone can make a contribution in their own way.
Sorry for the long post!
1) the whole "state schoolers thinking they are great for getting in" thing - basically state schoolers will endlessly say how unfair an advantage public schoolers have, and public schoolers will endlessly say how unfair an advantage state schoolers have, everyone wants to be hard done by and wants to feel like they are that little cut above the rest. Its absolute crap. State schoolers (like myself) dont get extra lessons and prep for interviews, but the admissions people know this so make allowances for it, which makes public schoolers rant about how they arent as hard on the state school contingent. They're doing their best to make it a level playing field and I think they do a pretty damn good job. And if anyone replies with "but but but but its so much easier for state / public students to get in" then you are just being ignorant and arrogant to think that you had it harder than anyone else. Also public schools dont necessarily give better education than state, for example our local state sixth form consistently out performs our local public school for A-levels.
2) Ciccu - I've said this before but I'll say it again... how come people in Cambridge are stupid enough to be brainwashed by these people? They just encourage crazy extremism, "normal" christians seem to come to cambridge and be put under so much pressure by Ciccu propaganda that their views arent strong enough that for the sake of their souls they end up losing sight of reality and giving in to this mad fundamentalist regime. Its frightens me because its just one step away from making suicide bombers!
3) Big pond, small fish - when you get to cam at first I suspect you will find it wierd not particularly standing out from the crowd for your abilities. Everyone there was in the top few students of their school and it feels like you are right at the bottom for the first few weeks because you see people managing to do things that you just cant get your head around. But it gradually transpires that they have things they can't get their heads around too, everyone is good in different areas and you'll find that it makes for an enormousely more stimulating intellectual environment when you can discuss things with people and everyone can make a contribution in their own way.
Sorry for the long post!
They would be my major concerns too if I got an offer; would I be able to cope with the work when everyone else would be so much smarter than me, and would I fit in? I think everyone, or at least 99% of people, feel exactly the same way, so you won't be alone. You just have to remember that you got an offer, and you wouldn't have done if the admissions tutors didn't think you were good enough.
Right, to start with I'd like to suggest that those people who perceive their purpose in life as comparing themselves to others tend to be complete c***s. If you're not at university for yourself then you're really better off not being there at all. Secondly, I'm ure you'll do fine but you probably shouldn't continue to make comments about obese people or I will be forced to warn the Jesus historians in my year (my brother being one and me knowing the rest pretty well) that you're not such a nice guy.
MB
MB
Niccolo
It was only really relevant in that it is a contributing factor to his embattled bitterness and thus one of the reasons that he makes comments of that nature. The other is that he actually is pretty smart and yet his grades suggest that he shouldnt even have been doing A levels in the first place.
what actually pisses me off is that you seem to be suggesting those you dont get AAAA or BBBB shouldn't even be doing A levels. What is that about? surely if grades CDE are availible it is suggestive of the fact that people who get them get an A level at D level and should have been doing them. He doesnt appear to actually be your so called 'freind' then does
Mop
There seem to be three sorts of people at Cambridge. A few are geniuses who can cruise to a first, a few are people who possibly shouldn't really be there and struggle their entire time (or just give up and do the minimum work neccessary to get a third) and then the vast majority are of around equal, average ability. You probably already know if you are a genius, and it's unlikely you'll be in the small group who really struggle, so most likely you, like nearly everyone else, will find the work difficult but doable.
I would like to add two more 'sorts of people' if i may.
one - this grouping, so I'm told, and also as i know, consists of 70-80% of the students at cambridge, who are "toffs and snobs" and who believe they are the intellectual elite of the country, but i do place more emphasis on the toff/snob bit. this was the population make-up of my last boarding school incidentally. as this may seem controversial and these people will strenously deny this fact, i apologise for offence. i would like to add to this group those traditionalists that love the monarchy, the oxbridge rowing event - an outdated tradition and those who love to revel in the oxford-cambridge "rivalry" - another archaic tradition beyond my comprehension! (again apologies for all you "traditionalists!") A useful addition to this category would also be 'conservatives' which i have heard there are a lot of in oxbridge!
two - this group of people are the total opposite of the above group, and probably consist of mainly left wing thinkers like myself. i do not know this group for a fact exists, and is probably smaller than my perception of it, but i hope it consists of 20-30% of students at camb! for the record i am in this group.
i would say though there are probably a thousand different groupings of people in cambridge alone, so i hold my own groupings not to be fantastically accurate, but as a generalisation i guess the will suffice.
you probably shouldn't continue to make comments about obese people or I will be forced to warn the Jesus historians in my year (my brother being one and me knowing the rest pretty well) that you're not such a nice guy.
A good lesson to learn here, Cambridge is a *very* small place, and you would be amazed how word can get around about stuff. Its the dregrees of separation thing - someone knows x in your college, who knows ur friend, who knows you etc etc!!
As for the groups - might be broad "types" of people maybe, but I wouldnt take this too far. Life at Cambridge is by and large what you make it. Just go on with an open mind, take people as you find them, try to avoid annoying people and be yourself (hopefully the latter two arent contradictory) and you won't go far wrong. Certainly to talk about 70-80% of people being snobs is a bit of a generalisation and is most certainly very, very different to what I found.
adampogonowski
one - this grouping, so I'm told, and also as i know, consists of 70-80% of the students at cambridge, who are "toffs and snobs" and who believe they are the intellectual elite of the country, but i do place more emphasis on the toff/snob bit.
.
.
Um, wait a minute. You're not actually at Cambridge yet, right?
crana9
Um, wait a minute. You're not actually at Cambridge yet, right?
i did say that i am told this by many people i know who are
and as the world generally tends to mirror the same groupings of people and different social settings contain different groupings of people, if one social setting is similar to another, as i believe cambridge is to my last school, also as i have been told by 4 people who went to my last school who are now at camb, then i make the above generalisation.
but please note, i did say generalisation and i didnt say it was a set truth.
i dont know if the above analogy made sense! sorry!
You did say "so I'm told, and also as i know"
Your school and Cambridge are not really comparable.
Wait till you get there, is my advice.
(It's also the case that you do tend to notice the people who stand out more than the people who blend in. At my college the braying people are just louder than most of the more normal people, so it kind of appears that there are more of them than there really are, just because you notice them more...if that makes sense)
Your school and Cambridge are not really comparable.
Wait till you get there, is my advice.
(It's also the case that you do tend to notice the people who stand out more than the people who blend in. At my college the braying people are just louder than most of the more normal people, so it kind of appears that there are more of them than there really are, just because you notice them more...if that makes sense)
crana9
You did say "so I'm told, and also as i know"
Your school and Cambridge are not really comparable.
Wait till you get there, is my advice.
(It's also the case that you do tend to notice the people who stand out more than the people who blend in. At my college the braying people are just louder than most of the more normal people, so it kind of appears that there are more of them than there really are, just because you notice them more...if that makes sense)
Your school and Cambridge are not really comparable.
Wait till you get there, is my advice.
(It's also the case that you do tend to notice the people who stand out more than the people who blend in. At my college the braying people are just louder than most of the more normal people, so it kind of appears that there are more of them than there really are, just because you notice them more...if that makes sense)
meh - i am waiting till i get there and i will let you know!
yeh i did say as i know, i will change it to as my inclination goes!
why is my school not comparable to camb - it may be to me, and also certain people of the same mind set as me also make this comparison. but then again, maybe it is down to a persons own view to make the comparison.
adampogonowski
what actually pisses me off is that you seem to be suggesting those you dont get AAAA or BBBB shouldn't even be doing A levels. What is that about? surely if grades CDE are availible it is suggestive of the fact that people who get them get an A level at D level and should have been doing them. He doesnt appear to actually be your so called 'freind' then does
I would like to add two more 'sorts of people' if i may.
one - this grouping, so I'm told, and also as i know, consists of 70-80% of the students at cambridge, who are "toffs and snobs" and who believe they are the intellectual elite of the country, but i do place more emphasis on the toff/snob bit. this was the population make-up of my last boarding school incidentally. as this may seem controversial and these people will strenously deny this fact, i apologise for offence. i would like to add to this group those traditionalists that love the monarchy, the oxbridge rowing event - an outdated tradition and those who love to revel in the oxford-cambridge "rivalry" - another archaic tradition beyond my comprehension! (again apologies for all you "traditionalists!") A useful addition to this category would also be 'conservatives' which i have heard there are a lot of in oxbridge!
two - this group of people are the total opposite of the above group, and probably consist of mainly left wing thinkers like myself. i do not know this group for a fact exists, and is probably smaller than my perception of it, but i hope it consists of 20-30% of students at camb! for the record i am in this group.
i would say though there are probably a thousand different groupings of people in cambridge alone, so i hold my own groupings not to be fantastically accurate, but as a generalisation i guess the will suffice.
I would like to add two more 'sorts of people' if i may.
one - this grouping, so I'm told, and also as i know, consists of 70-80% of the students at cambridge, who are "toffs and snobs" and who believe they are the intellectual elite of the country, but i do place more emphasis on the toff/snob bit. this was the population make-up of my last boarding school incidentally. as this may seem controversial and these people will strenously deny this fact, i apologise for offence. i would like to add to this group those traditionalists that love the monarchy, the oxbridge rowing event - an outdated tradition and those who love to revel in the oxford-cambridge "rivalry" - another archaic tradition beyond my comprehension! (again apologies for all you "traditionalists!") A useful addition to this category would also be 'conservatives' which i have heard there are a lot of in oxbridge!
two - this group of people are the total opposite of the above group, and probably consist of mainly left wing thinkers like myself. i do not know this group for a fact exists, and is probably smaller than my perception of it, but i hope it consists of 20-30% of students at camb! for the record i am in this group.
i would say though there are probably a thousand different groupings of people in cambridge alone, so i hold my own groupings not to be fantastically accurate, but as a generalisation i guess the will suffice.
What is with your desire to categorise everybody?? Personally I put you, as with one or two of the other people who have posted on this thread, in a category marked "ignorami". Your stereotyping is disgraceful and its that kind of mentality which just leads to a absolute death of open-mindedness. Cambridge contains a cross section of people, not statistics, who dont slot conveniently into categories. There arent four, five, six, "types of people". Snobbery in oxbridge still exists in a tiny proportion but those types of people are in extreme minority. And yes, Cambridge is an institution which comes with a lot of tradition, but I have chosen to be there and be a part of that tradition - if I didnt want to be a part of it I wouldnt have chosen Cambridge as a university!
Please dont misinterpret me, you havent offended my traditionalist views, just come across as a completely closed minded, ignorant clone who is has become swept up in stereotypes and "pop-politics" to the extent that you have ceased to form any of your oppinions based on anything tangible whatsoever.
Edit:
I'd like to add to this post that the people who are going to have trouble making friends and settling in at cambridge are people with closed minds who make a conscious effort to separate themselves from everybody else. Its a fantastic place with a massive variety of people where everybody has their niche. There is tolerance for everybody except the intolerant.
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