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For English which is better - Cambridge or Oxford - and why?

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magicalsausage
I'm not really sure where you get the idea about more choice from - at Cambridge, you'll only really pick one out of seven papers in your first two years (although you can opt between dissertation/portfolio/exam for period papers), and in third year you choose three out of five papers. I think level of choice is pretty similar, except that the optional papers seem to be broader at Cambridge and more specialised at Oxford. Tripos system doesn't really allow a 'personalised' degree - I'd say it's pretty inadvisable most of the time to change unless you really hate your subject.


For me (and this would vary between people), I much prefer the Cambridge course because it allows you to do a foreign language within the degree. That's largely it really! :smile: 'Personalised' was a silly word, I just meant that being able to do a paper from another tripos would be a good contrast, particularly as I don't like the idea of taking a combined degree.
Reply 21
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hobnob
14
epitome
I don't quite get the point of those adverts. I feel they should have paid someone with a better imagination, less money (as is the case with the Olympic 2012 Logo)!

Maybe it was originally meant to be a slogan to advertise Cambridge in general: "There is more than just an old university in Cambridge". However, some clever person decided that a) the slogan was too long and b) using it to advertise Anglia Ruskin would confuse people even more?:p:
Reply 22
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megaduck
7
bionic07
With English how can courses be better or not?...English you are all reading the same books and being introduced to similar principles... I would say a degree in English at Anglia Ruskin Cambridge would differ only very slightly in its breadth than English at Cambridge Uni.


I fear you are massively misinformed . I can't speak for Cambridge or Anglia, but I did my English degree at Warwick at the same time as my sister was doing hers at Portsmouth and the difference was enormous: the range of material studied, the difficulty of material studied, the critical approach, the amount and level of essays expected - everything. My sister used to ask me for my reading lists because she found hers so sketchy. Also, the Warwick degree structure was coherent and comprehensive, with plenty of compulsory stuff to make sure you covered core material, while the Portsmouth degree was more pick 'n' mix in style. My sister didn't read anything written before 1750 and her coverage of poetry was minimal. A term was spent on current children's literature but she did no Shakespeare.

As with everything, it's each to their own, but just because a degree is in an arts subject it does not mean that there exists no core of crucial knowledge that anyone who aspires to call themselves educated in that subject should have.
hobnob
Maybe it was originally meant to be a slogan to advertise Cambridge in general: "There is more than just an old university in Cambridge".


Indeed: there is a Vue cinema and a Wetherspoons.

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