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arch and anth
Hi,
I am debating about applying to cmabridge for arch and anth. In my AS levels i got A,A,B,C and in my GCSE's i got 1A*, 4A's and 5B's. Coming from a state school i feel really daunted by going to cambridge- espeically about the work load i will be expected to do.
I went to a summer school in july at st catherines college and thought this was a really cool place, i also liked magdelene too. I would like to go to a smaller college i think but im not sure which one is gd for arch and anth, rowing, music (i play piano) and other sports as well. I thought the DoS at St Catherines and at Magdelene were both really cool, but i really dont know which college to apply for. Pembroke looks okay too, as too does corpus christi. I have been reading the prosepctus and college prospectuses and looking on the web pages for ages and still do not know where to apply to.
I really want to go to somewhere quite quiet so i can work and somewhere with a good libray - i know they are all good, but i suspect some may be more specilaisde for different subjects. I think i prefer the older colleges with all the period features but im totally clue out as to where to apply to and whether i will actually like it at cambridge should i get a place.
I really like durham and me bro goes ther and st andrews, edinburgh and bristol r my other choices and. Im jst apprehensive about the amouunt of work expected at cambridge an really dont know whether i would cope - because i want to row/ cox too and have fun.
If you can help me out that would be really cool, ty very much!!
I am debating about applying to cmabridge for arch and anth. In my AS levels i got A,A,B,C and in my GCSE's i got 1A*, 4A's and 5B's. Coming from a state school i feel really daunted by going to cambridge- espeically about the work load i will be expected to do.
I went to a summer school in july at st catherines college and thought this was a really cool place, i also liked magdelene too. I would like to go to a smaller college i think but im not sure which one is gd for arch and anth, rowing, music (i play piano) and other sports as well. I thought the DoS at St Catherines and at Magdelene were both really cool, but i really dont know which college to apply for. Pembroke looks okay too, as too does corpus christi. I have been reading the prosepctus and college prospectuses and looking on the web pages for ages and still do not know where to apply to.
I really want to go to somewhere quite quiet so i can work and somewhere with a good libray - i know they are all good, but i suspect some may be more specilaisde for different subjects. I think i prefer the older colleges with all the period features but im totally clue out as to where to apply to and whether i will actually like it at cambridge should i get a place.
I really like durham and me bro goes ther and st andrews, edinburgh and bristol r my other choices and. Im jst apprehensive about the amouunt of work expected at cambridge an really dont know whether i would cope - because i want to row/ cox too and have fun.
If you can help me out that would be really cool, ty very much!!
Scroll to see replies
Hey there and welcome to the forums 
Don't feel too daunted about being a state school applicant, there's plenty of us out there
.
As to where is good for arch and anth, teaching is centralised so aside from a few exceptions (Trinity for Maths, Downing for law), most colleges are good at most subjects. I think arch and anth is quite a small subject, so check that your college of choice takes somebody in it most years (probably harder with smaller colleges).
What else would you want in a college? There are several small colleges so you've got a choice. If you can, visiting them is a good idea to get a feel of the place.
Remember that all you've got to lose is one out of six places on your UCAS form, and you'll almost certainly get a night's free B&B out of it. And there isn't anywhere better to be a rower.
Don't feel too daunted about being a state school applicant, there's plenty of us out there
.As to where is good for arch and anth, teaching is centralised so aside from a few exceptions (Trinity for Maths, Downing for law), most colleges are good at most subjects. I think arch and anth is quite a small subject, so check that your college of choice takes somebody in it most years (probably harder with smaller colleges).
What else would you want in a college? There are several small colleges so you've got a choice. If you can, visiting them is a good idea to get a feel of the place.
Remember that all you've got to lose is one out of six places on your UCAS form, and you'll almost certainly get a night's free B&B out of it. And there isn't anywhere better to be a rower
.
hiya i'm just about to go into my second year of arch & anth and i'm really enjoying it so far, so i'd say go for it. out of your choices i'd say magdalene is really good for arch & anth - the DoS basically co-ordinates the whole of part I for the whole university - but all the colleges that teach it are pretty similar in terms of how 'good' they are for it. as it's quite a small subject, you'd probably find yourself going to lots of other colleges for supervisions anyway! and honestly, the workload isn't that bad - most arch & anthers i know seem to do lots of other things than work and the vast majority of the classlist each year seem to get 2.1s!
i'm just about to go into my second year of arch & anth and i'm really enjoying it so far, so i'd say go for it. out of your choices i'd say magdalene is really good for arch & anth - the DoS basically co-ordinates the whole of part I for the whole university - but all the colleges that teach it are pretty similar in terms of how 'good' they are for it. as it's quite a small subject, you'd probably find yourself going to lots of other colleges for supervisions anyway! and honestly, the workload isn't that bad - most arch & anthers i know seem to do lots of other things than work and the vast majority of the classlist each year seem to get 2.1s! Acaila
I knew there was an arch and anther on here but I couldn't remember who it was 
Sorry amatuerish (
Sorry amatuerish (hehe, no problem. i think there's a few of us around here actually...
siobhan86
hey, ty for the reply. Magdelene did some rather cool and so too did the DoS- really enthusiastic about the course when i spoke to him!! What about Pembroke? that any good?
Did you PM me about reading lists, I know a potential arch & anther did recently? I've spent most of today in bed feeling yucky, I have green tonsils (
) but I promise I'll get round to it! I still have no idea about colleges, and I didn't when I applied really! I think the bloke that did the open day talk in 2003 was from Magdelene and I was really impressed! (stupid story attatched which involved me going home looking for a 'Maudlin' college and being all confused because I couldn't find it in the prospectus! I really was clueless about it all! In a way I still am!)
My college choosing wasn't in any way detailed or well thought out, I wanted a bigish intake for arch, an arch tutor/DoS, a big college library, and more than one arch/anth teacher...again proving the subject was always the key factor and actual colleges being irrelevant!
I shouldn't worry about being state educated, I am, it wasn't ever mentioned by any interviewers except a question about if I found doing 4 A-levels a problem in a school that discouraged it. (How they found that out I have no idea, and also how they found out the head of Sciences name when he had nothing to do with my reference or forms?! Must have spies...
) As a subject, we rule!! Glad you're planning on joining the crew! (Technically I haven't joined it myself yet, but a month from now & I will have!
)
amateurish
hiya i'm just about to go into my second year of arch & anth and i'm really enjoying it so far, so i'd say go for it. out of your choices i'd say magdalene is really good for arch & anth - the DoS basically co-ordinates the whole of part I for the whole university - but all the colleges that teach it are pretty similar in terms of how 'good' they are for it. as it's quite a small subject, you'd probably find yourself going to lots of other colleges for supervisions anyway! and honestly, the workload isn't that bad - most arch & anthers i know seem to do lots of other things than work and the vast majority of the classlist each year seem to get 2.1s!
i'm just about to go into my second year of arch & anth and i'm really enjoying it so far, so i'd say go for it. out of your choices i'd say magdalene is really good for arch & anth - the DoS basically co-ordinates the whole of part I for the whole university - but all the colleges that teach it are pretty similar in terms of how 'good' they are for it. as it's quite a small subject, you'd probably find yourself going to lots of other colleges for supervisions anyway! and honestly, the workload isn't that bad - most arch & anthers i know seem to do lots of other things than work and the vast majority of the classlist each year seem to get 2.1s! Hi, I'm also about to go into 2nd year Arch n Anth, had no idea anyone from my year posted here - er who are you, out of interest?! Love your pic by the way, I heard a rumour that there was some guy hiding in a bin freaking out passers by last year, didn't believe it until now! (what will the freshers think...)
P.S Siobhan, I went to a (bad) state school, am lazy as hell and I love it. We have a fair amount of control over our workloads and time management will get you everywhere. As for colleges the easiest way to decide is to visit the ones you like the look of from the prospectus - you will get a much better feel for each college and the place as a whole that way.
siobhan86
hey, ty for the reply. Magdelene did some rather cool and so too did the DoS- really enthusiastic about the course when i spoke to him!! What about Pembroke? that any good?
no problem. about pembroke, it's nice, although it's a lot bigger than magdalene. all the people i know there seem to like it! really, just go with whichever you felt most at home in when you visited
Haz
er who are you, out of interest?!
ellie. i'm at christ's
oh, & the man in a bin is a busker with a guitar - he sits outside john's in the summer!
hey again,
i went to a summer school at st catherines which was rather cool and looked round loads of colleges and was still none the wise as to where to go. I know nobody can tell me where to go as it is a personal decision at the end of the day, but i went a gd Dos, and other teachers too, a gd big library, nice ppl, gd for sport (espeically rowing -although coxing may b more appropriate cos im not as big as some ppl of my age - not that im a migit, but compared 2 some ppl who row i am rather less muscley), and nice buildings and surroundings in gerneral - so any ideas will be greatly helpeful!!
I kind of like the older buildings and at st catherines the rooms were absoutely huge, although the one i stayed in was right near corpus christi and the road - so it was quite overlooked.
I dont think i asked about any reading lists!! I am going to order, 'Small Places Large Issues' as a girl at magelene - claire anholt i think said this was a good thing to read!
If i think of anything else i will ask u guys cos ure really helpful!!
ty very much!
i went to a summer school at st catherines which was rather cool and looked round loads of colleges and was still none the wise as to where to go. I know nobody can tell me where to go as it is a personal decision at the end of the day, but i went a gd Dos, and other teachers too, a gd big library, nice ppl, gd for sport (espeically rowing -although coxing may b more appropriate cos im not as big as some ppl of my age - not that im a migit, but compared 2 some ppl who row i am rather less muscley), and nice buildings and surroundings in gerneral - so any ideas will be greatly helpeful!!
I kind of like the older buildings and at st catherines the rooms were absoutely huge, although the one i stayed in was right near corpus christi and the road - so it was quite overlooked.
I dont think i asked about any reading lists!! I am going to order, 'Small Places Large Issues' as a girl at magelene - claire anholt i think said this was a good thing to read!
If i think of anything else i will ask u guys cos ure really helpful!!
ty very much!
gringalet
Dunno if it's any good for Arch and Anth, but it definitely seems a cute little college, with lots of cheesy bonuses (if you like that sort of thing – I certainly do!). Go Pembroke, woo!
What are these 'cheesy bonuses then' the idea of christopher wren designing the chapel/ library- sorry dont know which one is quite a cool prospect!! - not something to base choosing a library on though i guess.
p.s. wher did u other arch and anthers apply? im gona go for durham, edinburgh, bristol, and st andrews. Started trying to do the UCAS form today - its gd im using a sample copy atm!!
siobhan86
What are these 'cheesy bonuses then' the idea of christopher wren designing the chapel/ library- sorry dont know which one is quite a cool prospect!! - not something to base choosing a library on though i guess.
p.s. wher did u other arch and anthers apply? im gona go for durham, edinburgh, bristol, and st andrews. Started trying to do the UCAS form today - its gd im using a sample copy atm!!
p.s. wher did u other arch and anthers apply? im gona go for durham, edinburgh, bristol, and st andrews. Started trying to do the UCAS form today - its gd im using a sample copy atm!!
pembroke still has quite a few old traditions, eg signing the matriculation register with a quill, in your gown - very harry potter!
my other choices were ucl, durham, glasgow, sussex & goldsmiths, although i only really wanted cambridge or the first two because none of the others teach bioanth! unless you've got reservations about london, have a look at ucl - their anthropology dept is really good. as for the other stuff you mention, tbh most colleges have good dos's, and arch & anth is so small that most of your supervisions will be with fellows of other colleges anyway. library-wise, the faculty library is really good & very nice to work in (although if you really want a good college library, have a look at newnham, theirs is huge apparently). jesus is really good for sports and has a lovely new library and a very nice (archaeologist) dos. small places, large issues is really good! funnily enough the same person told me to get a copy, too.
hope that helped - i see you added me to msn so if you have anymore questions you can msg me, if you like
amateurish
(although if you really want a good college library, have a look at newnham, theirs is huge apparently)
I applied to Newnham mainly for that reason!!
It has two tutor people as well so looked like the best one for an archaeologist, and I was told they had nice kitchens! It's a shame I now feel I have to justify my choice so people don't start making assumptions about me...grrsiobhan86: If it wasn't you who asked about reading lists, that means there's another would be arch & anther lurking around...
always good!Amateurish: How long will I have to decide which of the two papers to sit? Could you give me any info on those and which would be most usefulll for archaeology?
I think we should take over here; obviously the best subject so should be easy enough!
Katie J
Amateurish: How long will I have to decide which of the two papers to sit? Could you give me any info on those and which would be most usefulll for archaeology?
I think we should take over here; obviously the best subject so should be easy enough!
I think we should take over here; obviously the best subject so should be easy enough!
you'll have to decide by about halfway through fresher's week, when you have to sign up at the faculty (they make you specify which paper you're going to take then). de waal will want you to take sociology because she hates 4a with a passion
but hills didn't seem to mind either way last year, lol.4a - you have 5 lecture series (each lasts half a term) with a seminar and a supervision (& therefore an essay) for each. each series covers a topic (eg time, sex & gender, what makes us human/origins of culture, and a couple of others i can't actually remember - you can see how much revision i did) and you usually get 2 lectures covering bio, 2 for soc anth, 2 for arch, in each one. which is what makes it hard to write interdisciplinary essays for - it's not really interdisciplinary as a course!
4a is very interesting in parts but doesn't really work as a paper, imo. supposedly it's less work than sociology as you have half the number of essays but the stress of organising the thing (and then panicking when it comes to revision) makes it more work anyway. i think sociology is much more straightforward in terms of revision etc because you can select specific topics - i found that 4a was so open-ended it was really hard to learn anything and i had to make up most of what i wrote in the exam!
i don't know that much about sociology, i wonder whether haz took it or not, but sps friends have told me it's quite interesting. i think there were quite a lot of newnham 1st year arch & anthers last year, so i think there should be people in the year above who took sociology who could help you with choosing
as for which is better for arch, i wouldn't really worry about that because you might change your mind between now and part II anyway, even if you think you won't. i think archaeology has a lot of theory in part II, so sociology might be handy for that, but then again 4A has quite a bit of direct archaeological content, so it's really a case of choosing whichever you think you'd enjoy more.
phew, essay! msn/pm me if you want any more info
- address is on my profile.amateurish
you'll have to decide by about halfway through fresher's week, when you have to sign up at the faculty (they make you specify which paper you're going to take then). de waal will want you to take sociology because she hates 4a with a passion but hills didn't seem to mind either way last year, lol.
4a - you have 5 lecture series (each lasts half a term) with a seminar and a supervision (& therefore an essay) for each. each series covers a topic (eg time, sex & gender, what makes us human/origins of culture, and a couple of others i can't actually remember - you can see how much revision i did) and you usually get 2 lectures covering bio, 2 for soc anth, 2 for arch, in each one. which is what makes it hard to write interdisciplinary essays for - it's not really interdisciplinary as a course!
4a is very interesting in parts but doesn't really work as a paper, imo. supposedly it's less work than sociology as you have half the number of essays but the stress of organising the thing (and then panicking when it comes to revision) makes it more work anyway. i think sociology is much more straightforward in terms of revision etc because you can select specific topics - i found that 4a was so open-ended it was really hard to learn anything and i had to make up most of what i wrote in the exam!
i don't know that much about sociology, i wonder whether haz took it or not, but sps friends have told me it's quite interesting. i think there were quite a lot of newnham 1st year arch & anthers last year, so i think there should be people in the year above who took sociology who could help you with choosing
as for which is better for arch, i wouldn't really worry about that because you might change your mind between now and part II anyway, even if you think you won't. i think archaeology has a lot of theory in part II, so sociology might be handy for that, but then again 4A has quite a bit of direct archaeological content, so it's really a case of choosing whichever you think you'd enjoy more.
phew, essay! msn/pm me if you want any more info - address is on my profile.
but hills didn't seem to mind either way last year, lol.4a - you have 5 lecture series (each lasts half a term) with a seminar and a supervision (& therefore an essay) for each. each series covers a topic (eg time, sex & gender, what makes us human/origins of culture, and a couple of others i can't actually remember - you can see how much revision i did) and you usually get 2 lectures covering bio, 2 for soc anth, 2 for arch, in each one. which is what makes it hard to write interdisciplinary essays for - it's not really interdisciplinary as a course!
4a is very interesting in parts but doesn't really work as a paper, imo. supposedly it's less work than sociology as you have half the number of essays but the stress of organising the thing (and then panicking when it comes to revision) makes it more work anyway. i think sociology is much more straightforward in terms of revision etc because you can select specific topics - i found that 4a was so open-ended it was really hard to learn anything and i had to make up most of what i wrote in the exam!
i don't know that much about sociology, i wonder whether haz took it or not, but sps friends have told me it's quite interesting. i think there were quite a lot of newnham 1st year arch & anthers last year, so i think there should be people in the year above who took sociology who could help you with choosing
as for which is better for arch, i wouldn't really worry about that because you might change your mind between now and part II anyway, even if you think you won't. i think archaeology has a lot of theory in part II, so sociology might be handy for that, but then again 4A has quite a bit of direct archaeological content, so it's really a case of choosing whichever you think you'd enjoy more.
phew, essay! msn/pm me if you want any more info
- address is on my profile.Thanks, I'm going to find all the stuff I used when I applied & see if that helps anymore with the decision, but I think I'll go for 4a. I think they may have changed who's teaching, the soc anth lady that interviewed me was called Dr Yael Navro Yashin, I don't know if she's a Newnham person or not though! De Waal is a name I remember reading though, so not sure who I have!!
I'm definitly an archaeologist, no question about that, anthroplogy is just the technical bit that is like an add on!! (I called soc anth modern day archaeology in my interview, she seemed offended that I only saw it as an extension rather than a subject in it's own right!!) I could be persuaded into liking bio anth maybe, I'm quite sciencey really, not into all this arty stuff! Dr Hills seemed as keen as me to go into the archaeological science as much as possible, we had a lovely chat about geography and soil as I remember!! I only applied for two BA courses! (& that was only because York's rubbish for the science bits of archaeology!)
Siobhan86, I also applied to Bradford (field school in Pompei, ace for archaeological sciences, even if not so good for everything else it had what I liked and has a great reputation in the archaeology world!), Durham (the castle college, obvious choice for me really!) York, Sheffield (my insurance), UCL (great for field & museum work opportunities!) and Cambridge obviously. I could never really see myself living in London, but they do a lovely BSc! Sheffield was just brilliant in every sense, Bradford was too scary a city for me, York was too arty & too much British archaeology for my liking and Durham is too far away!! Beware of Bristol...too many Time Team links!! :P St. Andrew's is meant to be really good, but very much Scottish archaeology.
Katie J
Thanks, I'm going to find all the stuff I used when I applied & see if that helps anymore with the decision, but I think I'll go for 4a. I think they may have changed who's teaching, the soc anth lady that interviewed me was called Dr Yael Navro Yashin, I don't know if she's a Newnham person or not though! De Waal is a name I remember reading though, so not sure who I have!!
i think yael might be on leave...if not, i don't think she teaches part I. i know she was the part II dos last year for my college, but de waal did all the part I socanth. she's a very good teacher
Katie J
I'm definitly an archaeologist, no question about that, anthroplogy is just the technical bit that is like an add on!! (I called soc anth modern day archaeology in my interview, she seemed offended that I only saw it as an extension rather than a subject in it's own right!!) I could be persuaded into liking bio anth maybe, I'm quite sciencey really, not into all this arty stuff! Dr Hills seemed as keen as me to go into the archaeological science as much as possible, we had a lovely chat about geography and soil as I remember!! I only applied for two BA courses!
if you have that strong an idea of what you want to do when you start, then you''ll probably end up doing that for part II - i just said about changing because i know people who've gone in thinking they'll take one subject and then taking another! bio anth is really good - but then i would say that
there's lots of opportunity for sciency bits of arch in part II, i think. if you're really sciency the more wishy-washy bits of socanth might get annoying towards the end. or perhaps that was just the case with me Related discussions
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