I really hate it at cambridge but I feel like I can't leave..help! :(

so you are saying that you would like to learn mandarin instead of the other 2 European languages that you are currently studying.which is perfectly fine,infact.i mean if they allow you to switch languages which i believe is very much possible(at least hope so) then you are better of.you'll have best of both worlds.Cambridge+your course.

now is there a problem even in exchanging languages????if there is,then there is another idea.if you could spare a few mins daily to learn mandarin through online courses or self help books.you could continue with the 2 European languages at Cambridge+in leisure hours just try to learn mandarin.that would not make you feel guilty of learning a language that you are not interested in as well as give you a sense of self satisfaction in learning the language of your own choice.you might as well get your interest back in uni course.

moreover languages can be learned anywhere.but,your degree from"Cambridge" is a special one.a lifetime tag.there are many Chinese institutes which will take you after you graduate from Cambridge,hands down.you could learn mandarin as a hobby after you graduate.but if you drop out,it will reflect very badly on your cv and you might not even be admitted for a mandarin course at tom-dick-harry university.

So something like Education Studies (Route 1) with Modern Languages would suit you then for a part II.

In any case you just need to make sure you get everyone in the welfare chain involved as you can. Contact your college unions academic officer (if you have one, we had one back when I was at Homerton), then the main CUSU education officer and make sure that you have your Director of Studies and personal tutor on board. If you get the grades for the part 1 and you have these behind you then it is more than likely that the Senior Tutor will have to shift position. At the end of the day the college will not want to look bad on an academic level by not allowing free movement between tripos (which at the end of the day is a key feature of the Cambridge Degree, hence why we all get the same degree come graduation).

yeah true true- but the issue still stands- I wasted my entire undergraduate degree and 30,000+ pounds on a course I made clear I was no longer interested in from the start

and if anything the year abroad makes it worse- there is no-where I can go with my 2 languages I would be happy to live for 8 months- if I was doing spanish it would be totally different- but I firmly believe that you either like a culture or you don't- plus it will cost me thousands of pounds extra...


and thanks so much for your advice- I will try that! it really is unfair how it works out! thank you

Surely you've had to have sorted out the year abroad by now? I was the last person to hand my year abroad plans form in last year and I was hounded by email every day until I got it to them. Have you found somewhere to go or an Erasmus place or something? I don't think it really is a case of 'you like a culture or you don't', because no culture is that simple. I've just finished my year abroad and it was a fantastic opportunity - I was terrified before I left and thought I was bound to hate Russia because it's a very difficult place to live in, but I loved the whole thing and it was the best thing I've ever done. So if I were you I would make the most of it. Not meaning to lecture, but it sounds like you're talking yourself out of what is a giant adventure because it's not about whether you like the culture or not, it's about what you do there.

As for the subject switching, it's something that is very college and subject dependent. I can understand them not letting you switch into something like Mandarin because you would probably have to start Part I over again because of having to learn the language. And if literature papers aren't your strength then naturally English won't work so well! What precisely is it that you hate about MML? I have personally found it to be very flexible in allowing you to pick a bit of this and that to suit your interests, but that could just be the papers available in my languages You know that you can borrow papers from other faculties in your fourth year as well? So you could take an English paper then. It's only one paper, but it could mitigate some of the problems.

about the year abroad- basically I spent 9 months abroad on my gap year- so I agree its an amazing experience, but there are so many other places in the world I want to go, I don't want to repeat the experience- and that was a mistake I learnt from and don't regret.

basically I have always been good at learning languages and I am interested in linguistics- and the language papers seem to prove what I have been told unofficially by academics from the linguistics departments- that the mml academics are only interested in literature- I felt like the way the language papers were designed and taught betrayed that.
and as for the other papers- I've had a lot of brilliant teachers through the years and I felt like non of my supervisors had any ability or interest in working on my essay writing- they were only interested in telling me about their field of history or literature- which I could find out about just as well by reading a book.

and now the issue is basically- I want to study education- and I have felt convinced mml just isn't the right subject for me for a long time- it feels to me that there is a lot of traditionalism and assumptions about language and ideology bound up with my course and the way the university as a whole is run and that is what I have really learnt a lot about at cambridge and that is why I want to study education- and the fact that for once I was talking to an academic that was actually friendly and responded to my genuine interests and passions convinces me that this faculty will be different

If it's really not right for you then I suggest you spend the summer/year abroad trying to convince people to let you switch There's not much else you can do. I know a lot of people who have switched out of MML - mostly to Politics, but I don't see why you couldn't drop a language and switch into Education. Have you gone down the route of trying to do so, or have you only attempted it with AMES?

hi... so im new here and I want to see if anyone is willing to give me some help..

I've been at cambridge 2 years and its the biggest regret of my life... well I have actually learnt a lot from my experiences there and I feel like I have met some amazing people and there is so much on offer..

the problem is I just hate my course- and some of my fellow students advised me to just talk to the senior tutor about it- and I know quite a few other students who were in the same situation and switched and now they're happy- but I swear my senior tutor hates me! I tried to explain that I'm just not enjoying my subject and what can I do?- this was back in first year right after I started my course..

long story short I have repeatedly asked to switch courses because I honestly believe that I need to do something new and I'd be motivated- and I can't see why that's such an unreasonable attitude to take... but when I finally found a faculty that said they'd be happy to take me my senior tutor vetoed it just like that - so now I'm at the end of my 2nd year and I really hate it but I feel so guilty and scared about leaving because my parents and everyone around me keeps telling me cambridge is so amazing and I'll regret it if I leave such an amazing university- but honestly its just not for me- I picked the wrong course, I just don't like the way they do things in cambridge and I can't take the work load- and I'm definitely not going into a job where it really matters- and all I want is to leave university feeling like I got to get my teeth into something new and something that really interests me...


ahahahahha please help!

ok this is a bit long so you can just skip this if you can't be bothered...

and the problem was that I wanted to switch from languages to english and apparently english is very very competitive- and I think it was obvious it was more because I disliked my course than because I really wanted to do english- plus I wasnt deemed good at it- which I think is fair enough, but it still left me in the same situation... so I resolved to try to make the best of it but I just hated first year and had no motivation- I managed to get a 2.1 anyway and by the end of first year I was so unhappy I was an inch away from switching to another university...
I had contacted other unis and it looked really good- but when I tried to bring it up with my parents they got really angry... and perhaps I should have stood my ground but I felt like after all I put them through when I was so determined to get there I couldn't just up and leave... and I thought well maybe I might enjoy doing another language so I looked into AMES- but 'I didn't get a good enough 2.1'

You should have talked to the student union when your senior tutor vetoed it.
Or atleast took matters higher.