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What do you want to know about Cambridge?

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Original post by soempty
For anyone doing economics, whats your typical timetable is like? Do you think cambridge is better than lse for economics? Looking at the course it is less mathy, but is it a good thing? And generally how does the year go and how much hollidays are there?


As lp386 said, there are 12-15 hours of lectures per week, but I wouldn't say you need to attend all of them. It can often be far more productive to go over them yourself at least in first year (I can only speak for first year), especially if the lecturer has written good notes and you are an 'active learner'. For the supervisions it depends but you are probably looking at about 5 hours for each, probably more for economic history, maybe less if you get a nice (and short) problem sheet for micro/macro/maths.

I can also not emphasise enough to go over the material either in the holidays or regularly during term, probably in the holidays due to lack of time in term. I haven't really done this and I'm really regretting it, as I'm sitting here a few days before my exams having to recap first term material instead of directly moving onto past paper.

I would say the course at LSE is likely to be more mathsy, but it depends on the options you pick. You get more choice at LSE, but I think that would create the temptation to go for the easier options. Why get a 2.1 doing the hard stuff if your friend gets a 1st doing easier options? At Cambridge I think there is more of a level playing field. You get a nice grounding in essay writing, as well as an in-depth micro/macro knowledge at Cambridge which I'm sure will be useful for analytical skills whatever you do post Cambridge. E.g. our DoS told us we are the only place in first year to cover dynamic game theory in micro.

You can make the course very mathsy, taking maths in the second year, and some mathsy 3rd year options, although I suspect the EME and M&E courses at LSE will get much more mathematical. It's up to you how much of a good or bad thing this is. If you're set on doing a PhD in the US, the more maths the better, though I suspect you would have to come near the top of your class with research work to even have a chance from undergrad at either institution.

The year goes by quickly, and the holidays even more so. You need to make sure you keep up, though the good thing is that you most likely will due to pressure of weekly supervisions. I imagine LSE would be similar though. They are both great universities to study economics. I would really think about how much you would enjoy student life at each university and base your decision on this, in addition to the course. The course is hard work and it really helps if you are enjoying what you're studying and perhaps more importantly, enjoying university life.
Hi folks, I was wondering if someone could tell me how Freshers' week works? Also I'm going to John's and read somewhere that they have a 'pre-freshers' week, is that true? Many thanks in advance.
Original post by Banishingboredom
Hi folks, I was wondering if someone could tell me how Freshers' week works? Also I'm going to John's and read somewhere that they have a 'pre-freshers' week, is that true? Many thanks in advance.


Hi,

Fresher's week depends on your subject and college. You will definitely have two or three days to settle down before you're starting to get work - medics start rather soon after freshers' week, arts start relatively late. There will (based on my experience at Emma) be people allocated as freshers' reps to help you out, there will be events, nights out organised, things during the day, places to meet your fellow freshers, and so on. Pre-freshers' week occurs for some subjects that start particularly early - maths is the only one I know of - they get work before freshers' week begins, at least at our college. I don't know about John's but I don't imagine it being particularly different.

You should get a communication from your college telling you when you need to come in, and when you can leave (university tradition says you need to spend a certain length of time each term on campus to be eligible to graduate, so it's theoretically strict, but not really), and probably a communication from your college's JCR with a timetable, or some college parent system, or something of the sort. Either way you'll be sorted out. Don't worry about the details, just get your alcohol tolerance WAY up and sort out your tactics to deal with sharkers (one way or the other :wink: )
Original post by Hypocrism
Hi,

Fresher's week depends on your subject and college. You will definitely have two or three days to settle down before you're starting to get work - medics start rather soon after freshers' week, arts start relatively late. There will (based on my experience at Emma) be people allocated as freshers' reps to help you out, there will be events, nights out organised, things during the day, places to meet your fellow freshers, and so on. Pre-freshers' week occurs for some subjects that start particularly early - maths is the only one I know of - they get work before freshers' week begins, at least at our college. I don't know about John's but I don't imagine it being particularly different.

You should get a communication from your college telling you when you need to come in, and when you can leave (university tradition says you need to spend a certain length of time each term on campus to be eligible to graduate, so it's theoretically strict, but not really), and probably a communication from your college's JCR with a timetable, or some college parent system, or something of the sort. Either way you'll be sorted out. Don't worry about the details, just get your alcohol tolerance WAY up and sort out your tactics to deal with sharkers (one way or the other :wink: )


What an excellent post, thank you.
Original post by soempty
For anyone doing economics, whats your typical timetable is like? Do you think cambridge is better than lse for economics? Looking at the course it is less mathy, but is it a good thing? And generally how does the year go and how much hollidays are there?


lp386 and Ray_Han have already covered most of the points, so I'll just add a bit. While it is true you can do more maths in the LSE course, if you take the mathematical option papers (2nd-year Maths, 3rd-year Econometrics, etc.) you will still be able to apply for a more mathematical postgrad course. I was looking at MSc EME at LSE and I don't think I would've been at a significant disadvantage to someone who had gone to LSE for undergrad. Also on working in the holidays, I never really did this and it wasn't a big issue for me. Perhaps I should've spent more time on the essay papers in first year but once I was doing predominately technical papers I didn't find the need to use the holidays to work at all.
Reply 1945
Thanks a lot for replies!
I am really strugling to make my mind which should be my top aim.
The problem is i want to do more maths and this is exactly what LSE offers, but i don't think i will need it in my future career. What is more important LSE lacks prestige that Cambridge has in UK and internationally.
Original post by soempty
Thanks a lot for replies!
I am really strugling to make my mind which should be my top aim.
The problem is i want to do more maths and this is exactly what LSE offers, but i don't think i will need it in my future career. What is more important LSE lacks prestige that Cambridge has in UK and internationally.


At this stage you don't really need to decide - you should try to get offers from both. It may turn out that you only get one of the two then the decision will be made for you. :p:
Reply 1947
Original post by alex_hk90
At this stage you don't really need to decide - you should try to get offers from both. It may turn out that you only get one of the two then the decision will be made for you. :p:


Ha ha this is quite true, but the problem is i am also applying to America next year, so i should be very clear about what i want to do. I think LSE would be quite easy to get in, Cambridge has those interviews and it is somehow luck based imo.
Original post by soempty
Ha ha this is quite true, but the problem is i am also applying to America next year, so i should be very clear about what i want to do. I think LSE would be quite easy to get in, Cambridge has those interviews and it is somehow luck based imo.


I've definetely gotten the impression LSE is not easy to get into for economics. Not that different to Cambridge if my friends applications are anything to go by.
Original post by soempty
Ha ha this is quite true, but the problem is i am also applying to America next year, so i should be very clear about what i want to do. I think LSE would be quite easy to get in, Cambridge has those interviews and it is somehow luck based imo.

I would have to disagree with you here. LSE can be quite unpredictable and really anyone can get rejected by them. Sure, if you have 10A* at GCSE, 4A* predicted at A level (including econ and further maths) and a good personal statement (easier said than done), you can feel hard done by if you get rejected, but no one is guaranteed an offer for such a competitive course.

I would also disagree with Cambridge interviews being luck based, aside from the possibility that you might be better suited to the application process that one college offers than another. There is a lot of objectivity that goes into assessing candidates for Cambridge- they have done regression analysis on the correlation between different factors like GCSEs, AS scores, TSA, e.t.c. to find how they can take the best candidates (albeit not that complex regression analysis so it's easily presentable). They also quantify a candidate's interview performance for comparison with pooled candidates. Of course there will a be value judgments present but they are trying to make the system as objective as possible. In fact, I would say that as the interviews give them more information about candidates, there is less need for guesswork and hence luck.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Good luck with your applications next year, hopefully you can get offers from LSE, Cambridge and elsewhere, but I wouldn't take them for granted.
Original post by alex_hk90
lp386 and Ray_Han have already covered most of the points, so I'll just add a bit. While it is true you can do more maths in the LSE course, if you take the mathematical option papers (2nd-year Maths, 3rd-year Econometrics, etc.) you will still be able to apply for a more mathematical postgrad course. I was looking at MSc EME at LSE and I don't think I would've been at a significant disadvantage to someone who had gone to LSE for undergrad. Also on working in the holidays, I never really did this and it wasn't a big issue for me. Perhaps I should've spent more time on the essay papers in first year but once I was doing predominately technical papers I didn't find the need to use the holidays to work at all.


Are these post-grad courses out if the question if you've done E&M at Ox (even if your chosen as many mathematical options as possible)?
Thanks :smile:
Original post by tooambitious
Are these post-grad courses out if the question if you've done E&M at Ox (even if your chosen as many mathematical options as possible)?
Thanks :smile:


I don't know anything about E&M at Oxford so I can't answer that. You'll probably want to ask in the Oxford forum.
Original post by alex_hk90
I don't know anything about E&M at Oxford so I can't answer that. You'll probably want to ask in the Oxford forum.

Thanks:smile:
Reply 1953
When the term is over, what does everyone do? Do they go to their respective cities or do they stay in Oxford? And how? (Hostel/friend's house etc.?) thanks for this!
Original post by nombo
When the term is over, what does everyone do? Do they go to their respective cities or do they stay in Cambridge? And how? (Hostel/friend's house etc.?) thanks for this!


Fixed for you :P
Reply 1955
when you are going for an interview do you stay at the college overnight if you live faraway?
Original post by bbm100
when you are going for an interview do you stay at the college overnight if you live faraway?


Yep - my college has a policy of letting you stay overnight if you live over 100 miles away and your interview is at a time that travelling will be difficult. I think all colleges have a policy like this.
Original post by nombo
When the term is over, what does everyone do? Do they go to their respective cities or do they stay in Oxford? And how? (Hostel/friend's house etc.?) thanks for this!


Which term? In final term there is May Week so more or less everyone will stay for that. :smile:
Reply 1958
so basically I am thinking of applying to cambridge and was wondering for the TSA- is it necessary to sit it for cambridge? because I was reading that some colleges don't require it? Like for land econ only 4 colleges require the TSA, so if i were to apply to a college, other than those 4, would I need to sit the TSA?
Original post by PRIYESHH
so basically I am thinking of applying to cambridge and was wondering for the TSA- is it necessary to sit it for cambridge? because I was reading that some colleges don't require it? Like for land econ only 4 colleges require the TSA, so if i were to apply to a college, other than those 4, would I need to sit the TSA?


As you've mentioned, it depends on the college and the subject, you have to check specifically. Generally though it is not required, no.

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