[RechtsDerIsar]

(Original post by Tortious)
Erm...I'm not sure I understand the question. We all move in on Saturday/Sunday, then term "officially" starts on the Tuesday. Lectures start on that Thursday, unless you're some kind of scientist - don't ask which kinds, since I don't know. If you're an offer holder (soon to be a fresher, I mean), you'll have introductory lectures on Thursday and Friday, and the main lectures start after the weekend.

I'm a 2012 fresher and on a gap year at the moment and just wondered whether they would allow to attend some lectures, not necessarily related to my subject, before October. Common sense says no, but on the other hand it's Cambridge

[maths134]

(Original post by Tortious)
Erm...I'm not sure I understand the question. We all move in on Saturday/Sunday, then term "officially" starts on the Tuesday. Lectures start on that Thursday, unless you're some kind of scientist - don't ask which kinds, since I don't know. If you're an offer holder (soon to be a fresher, I mean), you'll have introductory lectures on Thursday and Friday, and the main lectures start after the weekend.

Ok so although camb terms are shorter you arrive like 3/4 days before terms officially start?

[Alice...:)]

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[Tortious]

(Original post by RechtsDerIsar)
I'm a 2012 fresher and on a gap year at the moment and just wondered whether they would allow to attend some lectures, not necessarily related to my subject, before October. Common sense says no, but on the other hand it's Cambridge

That's the thing - there aren't any lectures before October!

(Original post by maths134)
Ok so although camb terms are shorter you arrive like 3/4 days before terms officially start?

Yep, that's right. We also leave just after term ends. Since the week starts on a Thursday (note that some supervisors don't buy into this), the last lectures are on Wednesday, you have DoS meetings on Friday (I think ) and then you leave on Friday night/Saturday morning.

(Original post by Alice...:))
I've been so excited about going to uni and being able to do my own food shopping but I got the impression that most people just but meals in the college (Selwyn). Is this true? If I do want to buy my wn food would i have anywhere to cook it?
Also, what's Selwyn like socially? I'm slightly worried because it's renowned for being academic (according to my mum ) :s.
I wish Selwyn had a bit more of a reputation so I'd no what to expect

Aha, a fellow lawyer. Well, I can't comment on the catering aspect, but you've got awesome Fellows at Selwyn (two of whom are lecturing me at the moment and they're absolutely brilliant ). Selwyn does have a reputation for being quite academic, but from my experience, people are very friendly and it doesn't strike me as stuffy in the slightest.

[lk2011]

(Original post by Tortious)
That's the thing - there aren't any lectures before October!

I think he means lectures during this year- as in, would a future student be able to catch a lecture or two if he or she wanted to without being a member of the unversity yet!

[Tortious]

(Original post by lk2011)
I think he means lectures during this year- as in, would a future student be able to catch a lecture or two if he or she wanted to without being a member of the unversity yet!

Oh, I see.

To be honest, probably not. In theory, there is provision for you to ask someone (not sure who) at the Faculty and it's up to them, but I suspect that that exception to the general "no members of the public" rule is only in place so that they can run things like the Cambridge Law Conference. It's worth asking though, if you're really keen - the worst that can happen is they say no...

[Alice...:)]

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[Tortious]

(Original post by Alice...:))
Yeah, I've heard the Selwyn law fellows are lovely as well
Would you say the social life in Selwyn is below average for cambridge? (i know you don't go there, but from the impression you've got).
I'm just massively into music and living near London at the moment, love the social aspect of going to see bands. I realise Cambridge don't get included in many bands, but I'd like to at least socialise a bit!
I don't mean to sound ungrateful for getting an offer, but every now and then I feel like I want to not get the grades for cambridge so I can't go to my second choice (Bristol) for the more social side of uni.
I do sound ungrateful! (i'm so happy to get an offer, really, i am!

I really couldn't say since I've only been around the college for supervisions. However, it strikes me as quite like Pembroke in that it's not a new college, but it's not old and dull. I've had a quick Google and Selwyn, like Pembroke, holds bops (there's one on at Pembroke now, but I've got too much work... ), so I'd imagine it's no better or worse than other colleges.

As far as the music scene goes, it's not that good here. I got really lucky in first year and saw KT Tunstall at The Junction (which has had The Klaxons since and, I think, is having Kitty, Daisy and Lewis perform soon), but we don't get the same "big names" that you might at other places. Clubbing in Cambridge as a whole is also subpar compared to elsewhere, but to be honest the community feel of colleges is such that you'll find plenty of people to hang around and go out with, so...I dunno. I'm not really into clubbing, but some people are out at least once a week so it can't be that bad!

[Aesc]

I'll be taking a desktop to uni, got it recently so won't be upgrading for ages. I had been thinking that I would handwrite lecture notes and notes from books in the library, and then type them up: obviously this will take time. Now wondering whether it would be worth my while to get a cheap (~£200) netbook for my next birthday, the idea being that I could use it in lectures and the library and then transfer notes much more easily onto the PC. I imagine I'd be writing essays on the PC: Netbook will literally be just for note taking and e-mail. Going for an arts subject (Classics) if that makes a difference.

Tl;dr: Should I supplement my desktop with a cheap netbook?

To answer which, of course, requires some knowledge of how much time is spent in libraries rather than taking out books, how much time is available to waste on typing up notes, and whether or not typing notes in lectures is acceptible. Not too bothered about an actual tech answer, I can get those later in more appropriate threads But apologies if this is perhaps not the best thread.

[Topaz_eyes]

(Original post by Aesc)
I'll be taking a desktop to uni, got it recently so won't be upgrading for ages. I had been thinking that I would handwrite lecture notes and notes from books in the library, and then type them up: obviously this will take time. Now wondering whether it would be worth my while to get a cheap (~£200) netbook for my next birthday, the idea being that I could use it in lectures and the library and then transfer notes much more easily onto the PC. I imagine I'd be writing essays on the PC: Netbook will literally be just for note taking and e-mail. Going for an arts subject (Classics) if that makes a difference.

Tl;dr: Should I supplement my desktop with a cheap netbook?

To answer which, of course, requires some knowledge of how much time is spent in libraries rather than taking out books, how much time is available to waste on typing up notes, and whether or not typing notes in lectures is acceptible. Not too bothered about an actual tech answer, I can get those later in more appropriate threads But apologies if this is perhaps not the best thread.

What subject will you be doing? If it's Natural Sciences, you won't be writing your own notes anyway during lectures (revision is another matter!).

Lecturers tend to give you sets of notes, often with blank spaces or space for annotation which you use and contain most of what you need for the course.

[Tortious]

(Original post by Aesc)
I'll be taking a desktop to uni, got it recently so won't be upgrading for ages. I had been thinking that I would handwrite lecture notes and notes from books in the library, and then type them up: obviously this will take time. Now wondering whether it would be worth my while to get a cheap (~£200) netbook for my next birthday, the idea being that I could use it in lectures and the library and then transfer notes much more easily onto the PC. I imagine I'd be writing essays on the PC: Netbook will literally be just for note taking and e-mail. Going for an arts subject (Classics) if that makes a difference.

Tl;dr: Should I supplement my desktop with a cheap netbook?

To answer which, of course, requires some knowledge of how much time is spent in libraries rather than taking out books, how much time is available to waste on typing up notes, and whether or not typing notes in lectures is acceptible. Not too bothered about an actual tech answer, I can get those later in more appropriate threads But apologies if this is perhaps not the best thread.

(Original post by Topaz_eyes)
What subject will you be doing? If it's Natural Sciences, you won't be writing your own notes anyway during lectures (revision is another matter!).

Lecturers tend to give you sets of notes, often with blank spaces or space for annotation which you use and contain most of what you need for the course.

Topaz_eyes is right about lecture handouts - they're all on the Faculty website (for Law anyway) and you can usually download them before the lecture and just type into them.

People have different ways of organising their notes. My friends handwrite and have a different notebook for each subject, whereas I prefer to type them since they're easier to back up and search. You do get a significant number typing into the lecture handout (probably under a third of laptop users), but most people use OneNote. I find that it's easier because it replicates a paper filing system and means that I can have different "notebooks" for each subject, along with "sections" and "pages" for each supervision/lecture/source used.

Also, I used to have a netbook (pretty old!) and when it broke I had to decide whether to go for a laptop or a netbook. I'd recommend the laptop every time. I've got a Toshiba Satellite C660 - it's not that heavy to take to lectures (roughly 2.5kg - less than some of my textbooks, I suspect!) and, best of all, the screen's wide enough to view two PDF pages side by side. It makes things much easier when I'm trying to read articles online - just something to consider.

[Canned Door]

(Original post by Tortious)
To be honest, probably not. In theory, there is provision for you to ask someone (not sure who) at the Faculty and it's up to them, but I suspect that that exception to the general "no members of the public" rule is only in place so that they can run things like the Cambridge Law Conference. It's worth asking though, if you're really keen - the worst that can happen is they say no...

I didn't notice which subject the other poster has an offer for, but, big if, if it's a fairly well populated lecture, how is anyone going to know? I mean, if you look 15 you'd probably get a few funny looks, but more than that? How many people do you have in law lectures? I think it'd be odd in MML, because there are so few of us in lectures beyond first year. Agree though, you're not really meant to until you're officially a student.

(Original post by Tortious)
As far as the music scene goes, it's not that good here. I got really lucky in first year and saw KT Tunstall at The Junction

When Slow Club were performing as well? I was there too! *high5*

[Tortious]

(Original post by Canned Door)
I didn't notice which subject the other poster has an offer for, but, big if, if it's a fairly well populated lecture, how is anyone going to know? I mean, if you look 15 you'd probably get a few funny looks, but more than that? How many people do you have in law lectures? I think it'd be odd in MML, because there are so few of us in lectures beyond first year. Agree though, you're not really meant to until you're officially a student.

Well, as you say, there's "being allowed to do it" and "getting away with doing it".

When Slow Club were performing as well? I was there too! *high5*

I'd forgotten about them, and I didn't realise anyone else was going! I went on my own as a little fresher (19 October - still got my ticket!) thinking I was too uncool to tell my friends I was going to see KT. I think this was my favourite part - it's so different to the original that I couldn't tell which song it was at first, especially when she opened with "oh-woah ****, oh...".

[Aesc]

(Original post by Topaz_eyes)
What subject will you be doing?

Sorry, it was buried in the text: Classics. So mostly historical and literary lectures (and language, but I don't think they're really lectures). As such, I don't think it's likely to be as hand-out based?

(Original post by Tortious)
Topaz_eyes is right about lecture handouts - they're all on the Faculty website (for Law anyway) and you can usually download them before the lecture and just type into them.

Also, I used to have a netbook (pretty old!) and when it broke I had to decide whether to go for a laptop or a netbook. I'd recommend the laptop every time. I've got a Toshiba Satellite C660 - it's not that heavy to take to lectures (roughly 2.5kg - less than some of my textbooks, I suspect!) and, best of all, the screen's wide enough to view two PDF pages side by side. It makes things much easier when I'm trying to read articles online - just something to consider.

Were you using the netbook/Toshiba as your primary computer? If I wanted to read articles etc I think my desktop would be fine; same in terms of space to back-up files. More importantly, think a proper laptop might be out of my price range for now! But having either a netbook or a laptop would be useful?

[Tortious]

(Original post by Aesc)
Were you using the netbook/Toshiba as your primary computer? If I wanted to read articles etc I think my desktop would be fine; same in terms of space to back-up files. More importantly, think a proper laptop might be out of my price range for now! But having either a netbook or a laptop would be useful?

Yeah, sorry - my reference to the laptop was for when you replace your desktop, rather than to address the issue of whether or not to get a netbook. I had a very old desktop PC (about 8 years old!) at home and my dad let me take his netbook to Cambridge. That packed in after a term, so I got my own laptop to replace my desktop and the netbook.

If you can access everything on your desktop, I don't really see the need to have a netbook as well. I know it's time-consuming, but I'd be inclined to take notes by hand in lectures and type them up as soon as you get back. It'll help you consolidate everything, and you can probably do most of your work "at home" rather than needing to be in the Faculty Library.

[Aesc]

(Original post by Tortious)
Yeah, sorry - my reference to the laptop was for when you replace your desktop, rather than to address the issue of whether or not to get a netbook. I had a very old desktop PC (about 8 years old!) at home and my dad let me take his netbook to Cambridge. That packed in after a term, so I got my own laptop to replace my desktop and the netbook.

If you can access everything on your desktop, I don't really see the need to have a netbook as well. I know it's time-consuming, but I'd be inclined to take notes by hand in lectures and type them up as soon as you get back. It'll help you consolidate everything, and you can probably do most of your work "at home" rather than needing to be in the Faculty Library.

OK, thank you very much; I guess if I get desperate I'll always have the option to buy a netbook/laptop further down the line

[Tortious]

(Original post by Aesc)
OK, thank you very much; I guess if I get desperate I'll always have the option to buy a netbook/laptop further down the line

Yeah, there's a PC World "in" Cambridge (near the Beehive Centre), which is where I got mine from because it was no more expensive than buying online. Be careful if you go there though - the cheeky bastards tried to sell me a warranty and all sorts of other extras even when I stated explicitly that I just wanted the laptop...

[generalebriety]

(Original post by RechtsDerIsar)
I'm a 2012 fresher and on a gap year at the moment and just wondered whether they would allow to attend some lectures, not necessarily related to my subject, before October. Common sense says no, but on the other hand it's Cambridge

You are not allowed, but nobody is ever going to check, and if they did, so many students would forget their university cards to prove their ID that you'd manage to get in anyway. You're not allowed in dissections and things like that, but neither am I.

(Original post by Alice...:))
I've been so excited about going to uni and being able to do my own food shopping but I got the impression that most people just but meals in the college (Selwyn). Is this true? If I do want to buy my wn food would i have anywhere to cook it?
Also, what's Selwyn like socially? I'm slightly worried because it's renowned for being academic (according to my mum ) :s.
I wish Selwyn had a bit more of a reputation so I'd no what to expect

Selwyn has hobs, toasters, microwaves and kettles just about everywhere, including the freshers' accommodation. And yeah, no one socialises, they all just go around being massively unhappy all the time. It's important to realise that most people's impression of what a university is like is influenced by the people they spend their time around. Your own friendship groups, and the societies you join, are completely up to you. Almost all of the student body turns over completely within 3 years, too, so you can't expect Selwyn now to be anything like Selwyn ten years ago or Selwyn in ten years, at least socially. But how sociable you are depends entirely on you. I really really can't imagine a university full of 20,000 unsociable students.

(Original post by Aesc)
To answer which, of course, requires some knowledge of how much time is spent in libraries rather than taking out books, how much time is available to waste on typing up notes, and whether or not typing notes in lectures is acceptible.

Typing notes in lectures is fine, though will get you some funny looks, and good luck typesetting equations or diagrams at any speed. You may spend as much or as little time in libraries as you want, and take out most books required for your course, I imagine. As for time available to waste on typing up notes: I find typing and handwriting notes again a good way to learn.

[generalebriety]

(Original post by Canned Door)
I didn't notice which subject the other poster has an offer for, but, big if, if it's a fairly well populated lecture, how is anyone going to know? I mean, if you look 15 you'd probably get a few funny looks, but more than that? How many people do you have in law lectures? I think it'd be odd in MML, because there are so few of us in lectures beyond first year.

I've attended courses in which there were very few students before. I thought it was polite (and socially sensible) to ask the lecturer first, but as a student, you're allowed to. Your comment about 15-year-olds is right, but hey, some of my peers still look 15 now.

[ViennaWaits]

(Original post by Helenia)
Each year is marked separately, and generally people refer to the grade they got in their final year (part II) as their grade for the degree. The degree certificate has no grade on it though, so for employers etc you have to get an official transcript which will show your marks in each year.

This doesn't mean you can slack off in the first two years though, for a variety of reasons: -
1) If you fail/do very badly in 1st/2nd year, they can and do kick people out.
2) For certain subjects, especially medicine and natural sciences, your marks for the first two years play a part in whether you are allowed to do your preferred subject for part II or not.
3) If you're applying for vac schemes/internships etc (though I admit this is an area I know relatively little about) then they can also be looked at.
4) For medics, your performance in the first two years plays a big part in your clinical school application.

Thanks

So, how does the funny Cambridge MA work?