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University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Magdalene College (Cambridge) Students and 2016 entry Applicants

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Reply 780

renaissancemensch

bella90

70% of people at homerton are from state schools. compared to some 10-20 (thats very roughly)at magdalene.

Gosh, there's that much of a difference? I did not know that. Not that it matters.

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Reply 781

whirleygig

renaissancemensch

Should I infer from that that Magdalene is full of privately-schooled boys...?

Not if the interview period was anything to go by: it was almost all girls. I was the only boy doing the MML test on the 12th. Not sure about the private/state-school proportion, though.

Reply 782

200428

fumblewomble

Can you give a source for these statistics? I'm not sure how reliable they are.

I'm not sure why I even still look here haha still swimming in the pool :biggrin:

in the old alternative prospectus it deffo said there was a private school majority at magdalene, but it was nowhere near 80/90%. Something in the region of 60% private iirc.

Reply 783

bella90

i might have overstated. its definately more than 60% though. but that should not bother anyone really! :smile:

Reply 784

Supergrunch

Last time I remember seeing a statistic, I think it was somewhere in the region of 55% private - somewhere in the 50s, anyway. The sex ratio is something like 60:40 I think, although of course that varies hugely from subject to subject.

Reply 785

bella90

fumblewoman, that's the statistic i saw and was surprised how even it is!

Reply 786

Supergrunch

fumblewomble

That's more what I'd expect.

For gender ratios it's pretty even overall - see student numbers stats:
* Total Undergraduates in 2007-8 = 371 (185 men + 186 women)
* Total Undergraduates in 2006-7 = 366 (180 men + 186 women)

Ah, so more girls? I suppose that fits better with observations - either way, there doesn't seem to be any great majority.

Reply 787

lilman91

Hi, recently got an offer from Magdalene but I'm just thinking in advance. If I were to get in, how is accomodation allocated. On the website, it says students are arbitrarily asssigned a room in the first year but can you ring them up to get a preference if you're early? Because I would genuinely prefer an ensuite because I am very peculiar about sharing bathrooms and that sort.

Reply 788

Supergrunch

No, it's totally at random (based on the alphabet, or so the Master tells me), and I'm pretty sure no freshers get ensuites, unless they have a good reason for needing one. I wouldn't worry too much - you should get something fine, and then you can ballot for a room with an ensuite in the second year if you so wish. Anyway, congrats on the offer, hopefully you'll be here in October!

Reply 789

whirleygig

The order for the ballot in second/third (fourth for MML folks) year is drawn up randomly, so you could be the first to choose, you could be last. Then the list is turned around for the next year, so if you were first to choose in 2nd year, you'd be last in 3rd. (I think.)

Reply 790

Supergrunch

whirleygig

Not quite, you'd still choose before any of the people entering the second year. It works like this:

Freshers: Rooms assigned at random.
2nd and 3rd Years - Ballot drawn up in Lent term of the previous year. The 2nd years (then Freshers) are randomly ordered, and this is placed under the reversed random order of the 3rd years (then 2nd years). So if we call the leaving year X (p people), 3rd years Y(n people) and 2nd years Z (m people), each year is ordered randomly in its first lent term, and the ultimate ballot is, in order of priority: yn, yn-1, ... , y2, y1, z1, z2, ... , zm-1, zm. (with the previous years overall ballot being xp, xp-1, ... , x2, x1, y1, y2, ... , yn-1, yn) As far as I know, 4th year returning MMLers are treated as being in the 3rd year, and it's worked out so that 3rd years get priority over any 4th year part IIIers. Once this ballot is drawn up, it determines the order in which you are called to pick rooms near the end of Lent term, so what you have to choose between depends on the choices of those higher up. People often put up posters and so on in the ballot room requesting people don't choose a particular house and so on, as they're going for a shared house.

You get to keep the room chosen at this point, unless it is designated as a scholar's room (read: a nicer room), in which case anyone getting a first in the summer exams (assuming you have them - hard luck for first year English and History students) can opt to kick you out, should they so choose. This is because anyone getting a first (i.e. scholars) can choose among the scholar's rooms, regardless of who's previously chosen them (unless of course the person choosing the room is also a scholar, in which case they stay in that room and aren't allowed to choose a different scholar's room). If you do happen to get kicked out, you end up in the room that the scholar taking your room chose previously. I think if multiple scholars want the same room, priority is decided by their positions on the ballot, but I'm not sure of this - it may be based on results, but I think this is unlikely. Anyway, this means that choosing a scholar's room is something of a gamble, as you may loose it later on (but will of course get the room of the scholar should you be kicked out). There are a few more quirks on top of the whole scholar's room thing, such as specific rooms given to people holding positions like captain of the boat club and organ scholar, but that's pretty much it.

Reply 791

whirleygig

^ Are you doing Maths, by any chance? :p:

Reply 792

Supergrunch

whirleygig

^ Are you doing Maths, by any chance? :p:

Lol no, linguistics, although I was a natsci last year. I have a habit of phrasing things mathematically, which is sometimes an advantage and sometimes isn't. :p:

If you like: 2nd years, 3rd years, leaving year. These are arranged into random blocks like this: [Head----------Tail]

And the ballot is: [Tail----------Head][Head----------Tail]

with the previous year's one being: [Tail----------Head][Head----------Tail]

Reply 793

whirleygig

Hey, linguistics, nice choice.

And colour coding is always better than endless letters and numbers :smile:

Reply 794

lotsofclouds

I have a maths PGCE interview on Monday. Thinking of applying to Magdalene..but I have a couple of questions!

What's the accommodation like for postgrads?
I've read Magdalene had a bad reputation for its food, is this still the case?!

Reply 795

proudclod

Yeah, the cafeteria's still dreadful.

It's a lovely, lovely college other than that, and kitchens are good, so I wouldn't let it put you off.

Reply 796

TheBestDuck

I have a couple of questions about Magdalene. Any help/advice would be appreciated.

i) Unloading
Where is the best place to park up for unloading? I have been down to Magdalene a couple of times and it there didn't seem to be any obvious place nearby where my parents could park to unload.

ii) Accomodation
I believe that accomodation is issued to first years via a ballot. When does this happen? Do I find out before I arrive at Magdalene or upon arrival in October? Is the price of accomodation for first years the same? If so what is that?

Reply 797

mwiko

1) depends on where your room is! If it's in thompson's lane, then thompson's lane is easiest to unload. If in college then there are a number of places where parents can pull in to unload which are reasonably close.

2) Rooms for first years are randomly assigned. You'll find out where your room is when you arrive in october. The rooms are placed into price bands according to how good they are. I don't think any freshers rooms are above band 3 though.

Reply 798

TheBestDuck

Thanks for the quick response.

Does the college ask about cost preference before doing the ballot for accomodation? ie if I would prefer a lower band accomodation can I specify that before the ballot or is it a case of just accepting whatever I get in the ballot regardless of the price band (given that they are all band 3 or less).

Reply 799

Supergrunch

TheBestDuck

No, it's totally random I'm afraid. And in addition to what mwiko said, if you're in Mallory, Benson, or Buckingham court, there's a little bit of Mallory you can park in and load stuff onto a trailer to take to your room.