[epitome]

*waves to all the philsophers* Congratulations!
I'm not going to thread-hikack for long, but was just going to suggest you pop along to the Newnham thread if you want some answers to the all-female thing, and other questions. And feel free to ask any, of course. (Incidentally, if anyone came for pool interviews, I met you there. )

I think you must probably be the entire Phil cohort for Newnham, actually! (The current 3rd yrs were both TSR-ers too...Geeks, the lotta you!)

For anyone who's not seen Newnham, you are always *extremely* welcome to come and visit at any time, and if you email our Admissions Office, or the JCR (student) Access Officer then you will easily be able to arrange to meet students and have a college tour. You'll be invited to the Pool open day on Feb 13th, of couse -- do come!

Failing that, at least get hold of the official Nenwham prospectus and our funky new Alternative prospectus (written by the students). Either email the Admissions Office or, again, the JCR Access Officer for these.

End of Newnham chat from me now, 'cause this isn't the place...anything else in the Newnham-specific thread!

[Don John]

sorry might be intrusive, but what sort of A levels are you doing?

[The West Wing]

Your subject choice is good. They said at the open day the only subject which would be an advantage is maths, and you have it already.

[Don John]

You got to the root of my question damn you

But seriously, what kind of A-levels are people taking?

[epitome]

You might want to take this question over to the philosophy thread, in the 'courses and colleges' bit of the Cam forum.

[FadedJade]

Just what I was about to suggest! Yes, there's a thread in there, this will probably be merged with it when a mod gets to it. I did English Lit, Philosophy and Theatre Studies (I did AS Maths though and im 2006 entry)

[Jigglypuff]

2006 entry (we're people too!): English Lit, RS, Psychology...with German at AS-level.

Oh and General Studies (LOVED IT)

As for maths, I think it helps to be mathematically minded (being mathematically minded generally entails being good at logic) but a maths qualification itself I don't think would help necessarily! I'd say humanities/English are the most useful, as it'll give you practice in structuring an argument. Granted, your whole essay technique will change once you get here, but it's a start at least.

[solihp]

Hi, can I just ask if there's a thread about philosophy interviews (can't find one.) I'd be interested to hear what kind of things people get asked..
And congratulations to all those who got a place!

[The Solitary Reaper]

(Original post by solihp)
Hi, can I just ask if there's a thread about philosophy interviews (can't find one.) I'd be interested to hear what kind of things people get asked..
And congratulations to all those who got a place!

www.oxbridge-admissions.info has a fair few philo profiles.

[solihp]

Thanks
But I think I saw somewhere there was a TSR thread on the matter - can't seem to find it now though. Perhaps I was mistaken.

[ZoeH]

(Original post by solihp)
Thanks
But I think I saw somewhere there was a TSR thread on the matter - can't seem to find it now though. Perhaps I was mistaken.

There was. It was moved to this thread cos everyone was posting subject and college specific threads so they were organised in the sub-forum 'Cambridge Colleges and Courses'. Anyway, read Amzzzz's post at the beginning of this thread - she asks about Philosophy interviews.

[Jigglypuff]

Well done, Zoe! (Congratulated you in the wrong place so it'll probably get deleted)

[solihp]

(Original post by ZoeH)
There was. It was moved to this thread cos everyone was posting subject and college specific threads so they were organised in the sub-forum 'Cambridge Colleges and Courses'. Anyway, read Amzzzz's post at the beginning of this thread - she asks about Philosophy interviews.

Thanks, helpful

As far as AS level choices go (I'm only in year 11..), do you reckon that history, latin, philosophy and politics would be a good bet?

[ZoeH]

(Original post by Jigglypuff)
Well done, Zoe! (Congratulated you in the wrong place so it'll probably get deleted)

Thanks! Maybe I'll see you there?! (A levels permitting, of course!) Thanks for all your help when I was stressing out and asking a ridiculous number of questions!

[ZoeH]

(Original post by solihp)
Thanks, helpful

As far as AS level choices go (I'm only in year 11..), do you reckon that history, latin, philosophy and politics would be a good bet?

Yeah, they sound good. They really like History and I'm sure Latin would probably go down well! They say in their prospectus that a mix of arts and science subjects is preferable but I did English Lit, Spanish, Politics and R.S. and still got an offer so I don't think they really care that much. The only thing I would say is they like your A2 options to have at least two traditional subjects, i.e. French, History, Latin. I'm not sure whether they class Politics and Philosophy as traditional. You don't need to worry about this now, though.

[solihp]

(Original post by ZoeH)
Yeah, they sound good. They really like History and I'm sure Latin would probably go down well! They say in their prospectus that a mix of arts and science subjects is preferable but I did English Lit, Spanish, Politics and R.S. and still got an offer so I don't think they really care that much. The only thing I would say is they like your A2 options to have at least two traditional subjects, i.e. French, History, Latin. I'm not sure whether they class Politics and Philosophy as traditional. You don't need to worry about this now, though.

Yeah, I'd definitely drop one of politics and philosophy, probably politics, as that's considered easiest. Thanks for the help

[epitome]

*sticks nose in*

Actually, neither Politics nor Philosophy are amongst those subjects that Cambridge does not consider (see the table here for the list: http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/unde...requirements/).

There is nothing wrong at all with those list of subjects. Furthermore, Philosophy is obviously dorectly connected to the degree (and you would absolutely not be penalised for following this interest!), and you can study Political Philosophy here, too. Not that A Level Politics is particularly Philosophical (though if you take the Ideologies option it would be more so), but it's most certainly not irrelevant.
To reiterate: Your list of proposed subjects looks sound, coherent and of much use. Go for it, and enjoy them!

No particular subjects are recommended for Philosophy (and doing Phil A Level "will not confer an advantage [nor disadvantage]"), but a mix of arts and sciences can be helpful. It is NOT, however, necessary nor required. Maths can be handy when you come to do Logic, apparently...But again, is not an essential.

[solihp]

Thanks very much
Actually, I was going to ask about maths. I'm good at it, and I could get an A I think, but I really don't enjoy it at my school (that's not to say I don't like maths itself, just the way it's taught at my school, and all that) and I can't imagine doing another year or two years of it. I should get an A* this year though. Will it come as an advantage in application, or will it just be helpful if I eventually get there? One boy from my school has got into do philosophy at Cambridge and he does maths and further

[FadedJade]

Yeah, bog off epitome heehee

All of those subjects are absolutely fine. Whoever said to drop philosophy clearly isn't reading what thread they are in. If you can do philosophy at Alevel then do so! Not many schools seem to offer it which is why it is not required, but it let you know if you enjoy the subject and want to study it at degree level. Personally I would jump at the chance to take politics, but that is just my preferences. Taking any of those listed will be absolutely fine.

I would certainly consider doing maths, at least to AS, as it does help, although it is by no means essential! If you find it easy it might be worth doing. As long as you can show you can do the logic questions (most colleges have some form of logic question on their entrance exam, although not explicitly) then just do whatever you enjoy! If you really think you're going to hate it then dont bother - although maths is an easy subject to teach yourself if you fancied doing that?

[solihp]

Hehe, cheers for the advice. I think I'll stick with my original 4. Who knows, I might end up applying for law :P