Cambridge English Students and Applicants
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Hey guys, sorry to butt in but.........
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
The Good Shepard
Hey guys, sorry to butt in but.........
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
It is different for every student. Really, what you'll actually need depends on your set reading which in turn depends on your supervisor - apart from the obvious things (you must buy your set texts, for example, and a decent dictionary and literary terms dictionary won't go amiss!). But you can minimise your spending quite easily.
As far as buying cheaply goes, there is a page on the English Society website from which you can buy set texts from older students/graduates, and Amazon market place is always good. Likewise the Oxfam bookshop on Sidney Street is very useful. But the libraries are very, very good too, so unless you have to do your reading in the holidays and you have no other option except purchasing, it's always wise to wait and see what you need because the likelihood is that you can find it in your college or the Faculty. Vacation borrowing is normally great: I can take up to twenty books out of my college library alone!
The only times I've ever really not been able to find a book have been either that it's so special it's only in the UL (and then, accessible, if not borrowable), or my supervisor told all 9 of us that we should read it, and there were only, say, three copies, in which case diplomatic discussion was required. I'm also one of those people who likes to buy books, and I reckon I probably spent around £120 last year on what were mostly second-hand books. BUT I could easily have spent a quarter of that had I chosen to; I just like writing in my margins and find photocopies inconvenient and a waste of paper.
Anyway, I got £70 of what I spent back in college book grants (which I think most colleges have, in varying degrees of generosity). So I would say don't worry too much about buying books; so long as you have searched the libraries, and you actually research your buying rather than going into Waterstones/WHSmiths/Borders to buy the first books you're told to read, you don't actually have to spend that much money. And be honest with yourself: how often do you reckon you'll re-read a particular piece of criticism? Will a photocopy of the relevant parts do instead? And remember: make friends in the year above you who need more shelf-space. NJHL
Cool! Thing is, Cambridge must be massive, because Peterhouse really isn't that small. It has a Deer Park, at any rate! I think when they say small they might be meaning in terms of populace, which shows how stupid I am because I thought they meant actual size....
Yeah, I was surprised by how physically large it was - I was expecting the library to be one tiny room filled with books and it turned out to be a giant church-like building!
NJHL
Trinity was amazing. I won't get in, I don't think...even if I were academically good enough, I don't know if I'm choral scholarship material for Trinity (their choir is amazing), so I'd be lucky to get into a choir that wasn't as stellar.
No way, my friend applying for Law at Trinity is also going for a choral scholarship there! Seems there aren't many people that actually go for them, which is surprising seeing as though they can be seen as an 'easier' route in. I keep telling him I'm doing the legit way, whereas he's trying to get in through the back door!
But seriously, if you think you're halfway good enough then it might be worth going for, if not at Trinity, then at one of the slightly smaller colleges. Good luck!NJHL
And RIP Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Seconded. A sad loss to both the literary and political worlds.
Frankly Vulgar
Yeah, I was surprised by how physically large it was - I was expecting the library to be one tiny room filled with books and it turned out to be a giant church-like building!
The bit I liked about Peterhouse was the courtyard that looked like a dinky castle. It was quite surprising- just walking past these buildings and then you've got these battlement thingies!
Frankly Vulgar
No way, my friend applying for Law at Trinity is also going for a choral scholarship there! Seems there aren't many people that actually go for them, which is surprising seeing as though they can be seen as an 'easier' route in. I keep telling him I'm doing the legit way, whereas he's trying to get in through the back door! But seriously, if you think you're halfway good enough then it might be worth going for, if not at Trinity, then at one of the slightly smaller colleges. Good luck!
But seriously, if you think you're halfway good enough then it might be worth going for, if not at Trinity, then at one of the slightly smaller colleges. Good luck!Wow that's insane! What voice is he? Because some voices have more competition (basses have it harder because they're so plentiful, whereas male altos are super rare). No, there aren't that many, but somewhere as good as Trinity is going to be oversubscribed- and it's a rubbish back door in because it's so difficult! Bah. But as in all things, it is worth it- and the joy of Cambridge (compared to Oxford) is that there are about 7 amazing choirs of Trinity standard (or better), so I'm trying at them too. Best of luck to you as well- let's see if we can both get in.
NJHL
Wow that's insane! What voice is he? Because some voices have more competition (basses have it harder because they're so plentiful, whereas male altos are super rare). No, there aren't that many, but somewhere as good as Trinity is going to be oversubscribed- and it's a rubbish back door in because it's so difficult! Bah. But as in all things, it is worth it- and the joy of Cambridge (compared to Oxford) is that there are about 7 amazing choirs of Trinity standard (or better), so I'm trying at them too. Best of luck to you as well- let's see if we can both get in.
He's a tenor, and while I don't want to completely freak you out, he's also principal lay clerk in one of the country's best cathedral choirs! I won't say which for annonymity's sake, though if I say that the cathedral is currently hosting a prestigious choral festival also involving two other county cathedral choirs, I'm sure you can deduce the answer! Bear in mind that people like that are the exception, not the rule, and most applicants - as far as I know - do not have that level of choral experience. If I'd have had the guts to go for it, I probably would have chosen King's - although I hear their choir not what it used to be. I suppose you're madly preparing your application at the moment, since it has to be in so early compared to us 'normal' folk!
Frankly Vulgar
He's a tenor, and while I don't want to completely freak you out, he's also principal lay clerk in one of the country's best cathedral choirs! I won't say which for annonymity's sake, though if I say that the cathedral is currently hosting a prestigious choral festival also involving two other county cathedral choirs, I'm sure you can deduce the answer! Bear in mind that people like that are the exception, not the rule, and most applicants - as far as I know - do not have that level of choral experience. If I'd have had the guts to go for it, I probably would have chosen King's - although I hear their choir not what it used to be. I suppose you're madly preparing your application at the moment, since it has to be in so early compared to us 'normal' folk!
Hahahaha. Yes, I'm a tenor too- and don't have that kind of experience at all! Wow...how awesome for him! Why isn't he applying for King's then? He sounds like he'd be incredible! I mean, King's has one less vacancy than Trinity (which has room for only two tenors) but that wouldn't matter for him surely. Maybe he'd just like to sing with girls- that's got to be a good reason. As for King's, everyone I've spoken to in the know has said that Cleobury their director is a bit of a dick... Ah well- it probably is an easy back door for someone like him
But no, I'm not that good. I sight read so poorly, although my voice is alright. Yeah I just did my personal statement last week, and filled out the choral form. It's a comical read, I've applied to...9 colleges? Hah. Whatever it takes.NJHL
Hahahaha. Yes, I'm a tenor too- and don't have that kind of experience at all! Wow...how awesome for him! Why isn't he applying for King's then? He sounds like he'd be incredible! I mean, King's has one less vacancy than Trinity (which has room for only two tenors) but that wouldn't matter for him surely. Maybe he'd just like to sing with girls- that's got to be a good reason. As for King's, everyone I've spoken to in the know has said that Cleobury their director is a bit of a dick... Ah well- it probably is an easy back door for someone like him But no, I'm not that good. I sight read so poorly, although my voice is alright. Yeah I just did my personal statement last week, and filled out the choral form. It's a comical read, I've applied to...9 colleges? Hah. Whatever it takes.
But no, I'm not that good. I sight read so poorly, although my voice is alright. Yeah I just did my personal statement last week, and filled out the choral form. It's a comical read, I've applied to...9 colleges? Hah. Whatever it takes.I think he considered King's at first, but Trinity is on the up in terms of reputation, whereas King's seems to be heading in the opposite direction. The Cleobury factor also put him off a bit too - he's an old boy of our school, and...well let's just say popular opinion is pretty close to reality. It was the sight reading that put me off to be honest, can't do it to save my life! Plus I'm a bass, so that pretty much drew a line under that idea. Was Peterhouse one of your 9 options? That would be pretty cool, I get the feeling you'd probably be the only choral applicant!
Frankly Vulgar
I think he considered King's at first, but Trinity is on the up in terms of reputation, whereas King's seems to be heading in the opposite direction. The Cleobury factor also put him off a bit too - he's an old boy of our school, and...well let's just say popular opinion is pretty close to reality. It was the sight reading that put me off to be honest, can't do it to save my life! Plus I'm a bass, so that pretty much drew a line under that idea. Was Peterhouse one of your 9 options? That would be pretty cool, I get the feeling you'd probably be the only choral applicant!
Yeah- I never really had any solid and realistic guidance. My singing teacher, who is a tenor Lay Clerk at St Paul's Cathedral, is too nice to say if I'm bad, and frequently says I sound as good as him (and I demonstrably do not...) whereas the director at my school is very mixed, sometimes says I'm very good, and at others says I've no hope. And another choir director I sing with wanted me to try at King's and John's! It's ridiculous. No, I didn't put Peterhouse- I didn't really like the Chapel schedule (a bit light?) but the other places on par with Trinity at which I'd be ridiculously happy to sing are Caius, Clare, Jesus and Christ's. Will you sing if you get in, anyway? One of my mates is at Downing doing engineering and sings Bass with Christ's. I'll definitely keep trying to sing even after they turn me down from all nine choirs!
NJHL
Will you sing if you get in, anyway? One of my mates is at Downing doing engineering and sings Bass with Christ's. I'll definitely keep trying to sing even after they turn me down from all nine choirs!
I'm not sure to be honest. On the one hand, I'd like to carry it on, but on the other, I really want some new experiences. Part of the reason I'm sold on Cambridge is the student drama scene - one of the 'helpers' at the Peterhouse open day told me all about it and I was literally standing there, mouth open at the sheer array of opportunities. So I guess I'll have to wait and see how much time I've got - on the slim chance I get in, of course!
Frankly Vulgar
I'm not sure to be honest. On the one hand, I'd like to carry it on, but on the other, I really want some new experiences. Part of the reason I'm sold on Cambridge is the student drama scene - one of the 'helpers' at the Peterhouse open day told me all about it and I was literally standing there, mouth open at the sheer array of opportunities. So I guess I'll have to wait and see how much time I've got - on the slim chance I get in, of course!
Wow! Any thoughts of Footlights and all that? All the times I've acted, people have cried when they ought to have laughed, and laughed when they ought to have cried. Shocking.
NJHL
Wow! Any thoughts of Footlights and all that? All the times I've acted, people have cried when they ought to have laughed, and laughed when they ought to have cried. Shocking.
I'd absolutely love to join Footlights! I bet the competition for places is really intense though. Because my school's a bit rubbish on drama (loads of musicals - which I HATE!), I used to do a lot in my free time with outside groups. Sadly, when the reality of exams hit, I had to give all that up, so I would just love to be somewhere with so many great opportunities in that field. The guy I was speaking to at Peterhouse said that, comparatively, not that many boys audition for parts in plays, so you never know - might be able to improve your skills!
The Good Shepard
Hey guys, sorry to butt in but.........
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
Ill be an English Fresher next year, and Im trying to do my budgeting, and I just wondered roughly how much you English buffs would spend on books every term????? Or is it different for every student?????
Thanks very much,
The Good Shepard.
Dude, cut out some of the punctuation!
You're using question marks like the Romantics used opium. Enough already. More usefully (ish): Lidka basically answered you with this:
Lidka
It is different for every student. [...] But you can minimise your spending quite easily.
(Though I can't believe she answered you when we were awya -- Lidka, you traitor to the cause! Sneaky loser).
I spend £200-300 a year on books. That is very indulgent, and entirely my choice (I know people who spend about £40). To put this in context, I don't really spend...anything...on anything else. So books are my luxury, extravagance and priority. Like Lidka, I like writing on them, and I also like having an ongoing relationship with them -- revisiting; knowing the feel of the pages; remembering where in the book certain bits are in my own edition; being able to lend them to people; building up my own mini library. There are, though, plenty of English students who survive mostly from the extremely well-stocked and multiple libraries, and there is no reason to own more than the basics if you don't want to.
Like Lidka, I would STRONGLY recommend your own GOOD dictionary and dictionary of literary terms. These are things that you should be flicking to and through lots, and you should consider yourself lost without them, much of the time. Your own copies of the (very, very few) set texts are also probably close to essential. As is your own good copy of the complete works of Shakespeare (Riverside, Oxford or Arden edition).
Please don't feel the need to rush out and buy everything on your reading list: you absolutely needn't. 2nd hand bookshops, though, are a godsend (and fun!), and things cost a fraction of the RRP.
Also, most colleges have various forms of book grants. At Lidka's, she gets £70 a year for books. Caius (last I heard) gave £40. My own college, Newnham, takes all our receipts and, if reasonable, gives us back 1/3 of what we spend on books (this has amounted to over £100 for many people, in each year of their degree).
***TO THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS THREAD: Please keep it to English chat, mostly, rather than random stuff. Either PM each other with the other stuff, or stick it in another thread. Let's keep it tidy and useful.
***
Yeah apparently Caius give half of what you spend, up to a max of £40. Thanks everyone for the advice on reading lists!
(4 days till I know whether I have to pay attention)
(4 days till I know whether I have to pay attention
)Track's just updated and I'm in! Thanks so much for all your help, support and general question answering when I've been an emotional wreck on TSR.
I'd better pay attention to what you say now
Thanks so much for all your help, support and general question answering when I've been an emotional wreck on TSR. I'd better pay attention to what you say now
Thanks! It's awful - I'm now adding the colleges application on facebook and am feeling honour-bound to help out the TSR 'next generation' of applicants. (Despite the fact I really know nothing about Cambridge, as of yet!) I'm too damn keen for my own good! 
It's awful - I'm now adding the colleges application on facebook and am feeling honour-bound to help out the TSR 'next generation' of applicants. (Despite the fact I really know nothing about Cambridge, as of yet!) I'm too damn keen for my own good! Just a quick question, I'm probably going to apply to Cambridge next year, having pulled 4As out of the bag for AS, and was wondering if it was possible for someone to give me a glimpse at the sort of essay titles that are set, not the ones for finals or any of that, just a standard essay title, should help me to make my decision sooner rather than later. Also, for the work that you have to send in with your application, this is just average marked work right?
Should be about it for now, thanks in advance.
Should be about it for now, thanks in advance.
Rorschach
Just a quick question, I'm probably going to apply to Cambridge next year, having pulled 4As out of the bag for AS, and was wondering if it was possible for someone to give me a glimpse at the sort of essay titles that are set, not the ones for finals or any of that, just a standard essay title, should help me to make my decision sooner rather than later. Also, for the work that you have to send in with your application, this is just average marked work right?
Should be about it for now, thanks in advance.
Should be about it for now, thanks in advance.
Average marked work, yup.
The questions we're given as essay titles are no different to the ones set for exams. I'll dig some out for you... Bear in mind some supervisors will let you set your own questions too.
Edit: Right, here we go. These are sample questions that were on the Part I (i.e. second year) Paper 4 (that is, modern: 1830 - now) in 2007.
I'd just like to point out that these questions are probably no different to ones you might get at another university, except that dates - that is, periods covered - might be slightly different. You would write essays like this for English Literature degrees at any university. These are not somehow special "Cambridge" questions.
•
‘Historicism is a keynote of nineteenth-century thought: the tendency to see
societies as evolving, and art as expressing a time-bound consciousness.’ (TIM ARMSTRONG)
How far is this claim borne out by your reading of one or more Victorian writers?
•
‘ “I am trying for once to be natural! ... I have been pretending all my life; I have
been dishonest; it is you that have made me so!” ’
(HENRY JAMES, The Europeans, 1878)
Discuss either the idea of the natural or dishonesty in any literature of the period.
•
 ‘Does not the greatest poetry always require a people to listen to it?’ (W.B. YEATS)
In the light of this question, write about the sense of audience in any poetry of
the period.
•
‘Poetry is the place where we save the earth.’
(JONATHAN BATE) Consider ways in which poets or other writers of this period have responded to environmental crises.
•
Make the case for a literary historical reassessment of any decade in the period
1830-the present.
That's a very small sample of what there was, though: there were 25 questions in all, and you're supposed to pick only three for the exam.
Any questions/comments about those? I have to say there were a lot there I wouldn't have a clue how to start, so don't start panicking. You're not supposed to be able to answer most of them well...
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