Cambridge Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Students and Applicants

Zoedotdot

If you think of anything else then I'm happy to answer, like I said before there's nothing I love more than talking about my subject, my college and my university :smile:

Sorry to be a pain, but I've got another question; could you divulge what it's like living at Emmanuel?

I noticed the other day that you're an undergrad there and when I've been researching it, I've become really interested in its setting and grounds, its fellows, the mock interview videos for languages and, well... just the general feel I get from it (even though I've never been there, hah).

Reply 781

TheMeister

15

fumblewomble

That sounds like a question for the Emmanuel thread rather than the MML thread.

Perhaps I could PM instead; after all, she did say if I had any questions about what she thinks about her college....

Reply 782

Zoedotdot

18

TheMeister

Perhaps I could PM instead; after all, she did say if I had any questions about what she thinks about her college....

Yeah, go ahead. This should be in the Emma thread rather than the MML thread, but PM is also fine :smile:

The advantage of answering these questions in the threads though is that other people can see the answers too!

Reply 783

bite_of_cake

Is there anyone here who could talk me through doing ab initio Italian, please? I'd like to apply for 2010 entry with French and Italian, but am frightened I don't know enough about the history or culture of Italy, plus need some pointers on extra reading...

Thanks :smile:

Reply 784

bite_of_cake

fumblewomble

http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/italian/courses/ugrad/Part_IA(a).html#bef

I was looking more for works of literature not on the reading list, but thankyou fumblewomble, that's also really helpful :smile:

thank you for responding so quickly as well!

Reply 785

toddy21

1

I was wondering if anyone could tell if I should bring any A level stuff with me? like grammar notes/topic work etc?? Thanx :smile:

Reply 786

elin89

6

bring grammar notes, and maybe if you have lists of vocab for topics that may be useful. you may not use them but you'll have them, and in a way that you will understand, should you need them.
if you dont use them then they're only one more bag in the car

Reply 787

Kypros

I was very pleased to receive great A Level results (AAAA in Modern Greek, French, Sociology, and English Language) and am slightly stuck as to where to go from now.

I didn't hold any offers from the unis I applied to and so am in the process of re-applying for the 2010 courses.

With my grades, I aim on applying to either Oxford or Cambridge University (my application to Cambridge was rejected last year sadly), but am not sure which. I was wondering if they differ in what they place emphasis on when looking at my grade history and in my interview. My GCSE grades weren't outstanding, but I would hope that this really isn't relevant given my A Level results.

Equally, I am stumped as to which college to apply to. I have a state education and am aware that this will be a disadvantage if considering to apply to some of the Oxbridge colleges.

I would really appreciate a bit of guidance from those in the know as to where I can go with this one.

Thanks in advance

*(I was advised to write in the Cambridge and Oxford fora after posting this on another forum)

Reply 788

*Emerlina*

I'd really love to do MML at Cambridge, but I'd prefer to apply next year after I have taken my A2 exams. My AS grades at the moment aren't high enough, so I was wondering if it's common to apply after A2 exams. I'm doing wider reading at the moment, as I'm applying this year to other universities, but I was hoping that I achieved high A2 grades then perhaps I could try and apply to Cambridge then.

My GCSEs are 6A*s, 3As and 3Bs, and I had 2As and 2Bs in my AS levels. I was worried about the whole Cambridge policy with UMS marks as well?!

Thanks very much- any help with this would be fantastic. :smile:

Reply 789

Happiness

1

*Emerlina*

I'd really love to do MML at Cambridge, but I'd prefer to apply next year after I have taken my A2 exams. My AS grades at the moment aren't high enough, so I was wondering if it's common to apply after A2 exams. I'm doing wider reading at the moment, as I'm applying this year to other universities, but I was hoping that I achieved high A2 grades then perhaps I could try and apply to Cambridge then.

My GCSEs are 6A*s, 3As and 3Bs, and I had 2As and 2Bs in my AS levels. I was worried about the whole Cambridge policy with UMS marks as well?!

Thanks very much- any help with this would be fantastic. :smile:

I think you could definitely apply after you get your A2 grades. Having a gap year isn't a problem at all as long as you do something constructive, be it getting work experience or traveling. For MML the experience can only benefit you in my opinion.

Your grades look good so far, as long as you think you can bump those Bs up. As far as UMS is concerned, the standard offer is now A*AA I think, so you're expected to get A* level (over 90% ums?) in one subject.

I think it's reasonably common for people to apply after they get their grades if they did better than expected, you certainly won't be the only one doing it.

Reply 790

prasulee

I am no expert, but I should think that your GCSEs will still be a consideration because everyone applying will have or be expected to have As across the board at A-level, so GCSEs could be used to differentiate, though I do not know to what extent.

I'm not sure different colleges discriminate to a greater or lesser degree regarding your background, sounds like nonsense, though I could be wrong.

Reply 791

Melz0r

16

LECTURE LIST omg.

I completely can't follow it though.

Reply 792

Canned Door

Melz0r

LECTURE LIST omg.
I completely can't follow it though.

Lecture list is from here., looking at Part1A.

*AFAICT* (+massive disclaimer), the important bits are mainly that:
We don't know what groups we're in for Use of French, so we can't know the time for that, but it's either a Thursday or a Friday, with French translation fortnightly and definitely on a Thursday.
Lit lectures in the first term (first column) are on Thursdays 3pm in this order:
Intro
Film
Lettres Persanes
T-Raq
Phèdre
Heptameron
F+Bf
Versification

I don't know what the thing right at the bottom of the list is all about. And we get help with "Early Modern French" in Weeks 5 and 6 on a Wednesday.

So Thursday is French day, amirite?

edit: Monday stuffs look quite important as well. grammar lectures. They'll tell us what to go to anyway, I'm sure :smile:

Reply 793

Canned Door

fumblewomble

Correct.

They've missed the column headings off the lecture list which would make it clear that each column is for a term. I'd download the copy from The Reporter once it's up (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/.)

Thank you lots and lots. :smile:

edit: linkfix

Reply 794

Melz0r

16

Canned Door

Lecture list is from here., looking at Part1A.

*AFAICT* (+massive disclaimer), the important bits are mainly that:
We don't know what groups we're in for Use of French, so we can't know the time for that, but it's either a Thursday or a Friday, with French translation fortnightly and definitely on a Thursday.
Lit lectures in the first term (first column) are on Thursdays 3pm in this order:
Intro
Film
Lettres Persanes
T-Raq
Phèdre
Heptameron
F+Bf
Versification

I don't know what the thing right at the bottom of the list is all about. And we get help with "Early Modern French" in Weeks 5 and 6 on a Wednesday.

So Thursday is French day, amirite?

edit: Monday stuffs look quite important as well. grammar lectures. They'll tell us what to go to anyway, I'm sure :smile:

I am so not worthy of going to Cambridge.

Film night early on in the term? I'm thinking film, I'm thinking wine, I'm thinking snacks, I'm thinking berets.

Reply 795

Canned Door

Melz0r

I am so not worthy of going to Cambridge.

Film night early on in the term? I'm thinking film, I'm thinking wine, I'm thinking snacks, ~~I'm thinking berets~~.

YESSSSS (with minor reservation). Do you think the Varda will be incestuous murderous affair with a bit of sexytime on the side?

Reply 796

Melz0r

16

Canned Door

YESSSSS (with minor reservation). Do you think the Varda will be incestuous murderous affair with a bit of sexytime on the side?

I think the Varda involves Young Woman Walking Round Pareee Thinking About Stuff.

Reply 797

osmith467

Hi everyone I was just wondering as to whether anyone could give me some info regarding a MML application. Do you answer questions in the foreign language(S) as part of the interview? As I'm studying French and German at A2 will they interview me in both languages? What is the general layout of the interview? What should I read in preparation? How best can I prepare for something like this? I have heard innumerable contradictory stories including tales of a fake language that they test you on. I just want some clarification as my school is as clueless as the students in this respect. Sorry for the multitude of questions but I just want to know the truth once and for all.

Many thanks,
Owen

Reply 798

Deutsch_Beth

16

Hiya, they will interview you in your 'target' language, which is the language you have studied at A level and intend to carry on in uni. If that's both French and German for you, and you want to do them equal weighting i.e. not Major/Minor, then the interview would be split between the languages.
General layout I believe is you arrive and sit the test, stay the night in a first year's room and have dinner with them ect, then the next day you sit a general interview, then the one in the target language though it may be the other way around.
And I haven't read up on this in a while, so it might be a bit muddled sorry.

Preparation wise you should be pretty knowledgeable on the countries/languages you intend on studying. If you're taking one ab.initio. they are more interested in how much research you've done than how much you've learnt of the language already, although learning the alphabet (if different to ours) and a few basic conversational phrases certainly won't hurt.
If you don't already know much about it reading a book on the modern history i.e.20th century of Germany, France ect would be very useful.

The thing about a fake language is an utter myth. They may ask you a few awkward questions but the key thing there is to answer as best you can and argue your point as best you can. They won't be very impressed if your point is vague or if you keep on changing your mind.

Reply 799

Canned Door

It doesn't really work like major/minor, afaik. For the first two years, you more or less split your course equally between your two languages, and then in the fourth year people tend to specialise in just one, and spend more time in that country accordingly, but they don't ask about that before you've even got in. Maybe some colleges do just one interview, but it sounds odd to me, as they'd need a specialist for each language as interviewers.

It varies between colleges (and possibly year on year, who knows) as to how it's done. I had a test at 9am and didn't live close by, so I stayed overnight in a room to myself. Room and meals provided free. I had two interviews the day of the test, each with some preparatory reading beforehand, which we discussed during the interview. One for each language. I know someone else who applied at another college for MML had similar, but with a general interview as well. Some of each interview I had was conducted in target language, some in English, seeing as I was applying for Post A Level in both. In my experience, they were fairly friendly about it all. There's information about the test somewhere on the Cambridge website, or at least there was a year ago.

Cambridge Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Students and Applicants

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