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Alaric

Failling seems to be pretty hard though outright, some people fail on the part of the tripos they wanted to do and so go and do it elsewhere though.

I know of someone who got an Ordinary in their Engineering Part I. It was a real shock (she'd even been accepted to go to MIT), but when she contacted her college to say that she didn't want to come back they were really rude and essentially said, "Oh, we weren't going to allow you to come back anyway.". That's not very supportive!!! Fortunately this tale has a happy ending as she's now at Birmingham and having a brilliant time, but I'm still really shocked at the way her college behaved. I don't think they're all like that though. At least, I hope not!

Reply 41

Helenia

polthegael

Yeah, but the whole being able to take the 2nd MB ones twice.. I thought we could take them all twice.. :eek:

Nope, just the 2nd MB. :p:

I did much worse in my tripos than my MCQs etc, my essays are the reason I didn't get a First!

Two of our engineers had to leave at the end of last year because they didn't do very well in their exams. They're very happy elsewhere now though :smile:

Reply 42

brunswick

this may seem like a dumb question, but what is a college bill? what exactly is included in it?

Reply 43

Alaric

brunswick

this may seem like a dumb question, but what is a college bill? what exactly is included in it?

Err, it's a bill, given to you by college.

On it Clare includes, internet charges, accommodation, tuition fee, heating, electricity, kitchen fixed charge, food consumption.

A.

Reply 44

fishpaste

Helenia

Nope, just the 2nd MB. :p:

where'd they go?

Reply 45

Helenia

fishpaste

where'd they go?

One to Birmingham, one to Southampton. A couple of my medic friends from other colleges failed bits of the 2nd MB first time, some retook and passed; others have since switched course and degraded or just totally disappeared!

Reply 46

Alaric

Ticki

It's never nice to be rude, but if you fail, you fail I don't see how they'd take her back :confused:

Which is a lesson to all you first years, don't go getting a fail, it's not clever to spend all your time having fun and drinking and ending up with a fail! Take your work to the bar with you!

Are you and Helen talking about the same person btw?

A.

Reply 47

Helenia

Alaric

Are you and Helen talking about the same person btw?

Dunno. The two I was thinking of were both at Clare.

Reply 48

fishpaste

If you get a 2.2/3rd I take it they wouldn't kick you out, but would they be supportive of a degrade/subject change?

Don't worry I'm not aiming to do this lol, I think if I pull myself together I can do it, and I do quite like maths. Just curious.

Reply 49

Alaric

fishpaste

Nope, my DoS just told me I should be getting a 2.1 when I got a 2.2 and that was the end of the matter.
I get the impression that if you get two 2.2s in a row in Maths then you're somewhat encouraged to go elsewhere, in fact this seems to be what part II(G) of compsci is actually for! They're generally pretty supportive if you want to change, but some colleges are more pushy about it than others. I heard in my year we almost lost most of the christs' compscis because they were getting better supervision reports from physics the pressure was being put on. I don't think any switched in the end though.

The problem is that most courses to switch require a 2.2 in the one you want to switch out, so a 3rded candidate can get stuck but I know it's somewhat flexible though. To switch to new courses, like management thingy then you need a 2.1.

To transfer from maths to phys after the first year you need a 2.1 and to learn stuff over the summer then take a test. Though given you weren't doing a phys a-level when I first talked to you then I doubt you're considering that.

A.

Reply 50

MadNatSci

Alaric

It's never nice to be rude, but if you fail, you fail I don't see how they'd take her back :confused:

Nah, different colleges. An ordinary isn't a fail though is it? And given that she'd been accepted to go to MIT surely the college ought to examine its teaching and environment before placing all the blame on her...

Reply 51

MadNatSci

platinumki

you all make it sound so fun! :frown:

Muahahaha; this is where the rosy image gets destroyed :wink:

You end up with a love-hate relationship with this place. The workload can be a total pain in the proverbial and it IS a shock at first to find you're average by Cambridge standards (distinctly average, for some of us!), but at the same time we love the place to bits (I find it hard to think of anyone who doesn't). Hence I got back yesterday when term doesn't start 'til the 18th :smile:

Reply 52

Alaric

MadNatSci

I think an ordinary is a fail in Cam, don't think it is at other unis (except maybe Oxenland). In compsci they have divisions for 1,2.i,2.2,3 on the class list, nothing else.

I think they ought to always examine where they've gone wrong if they lose a student, I'm sure they must be at Clare having lost two female engineers in a year.

A.

Reply 53

musicbloke

MadNatSci

but at the same time we love the place to bits (I find it hard to think of anyone who doesn't).

me?

MB

Reply 54

Alaric

musicboy

me?

MB

Do you like anywhere?

Reply 55

musicbloke

Alaric

Do you like anywhere?

London.

MB

Reply 56

Alaric

musicboy

London.

MB

Fair enough.

A.

Reply 57

Camford

Alaric

Could you stop going through the list? It's giving me nightmares.

Reply 58

Camford

MadNatSci

Muahahaha; this is where the rosy image gets destroyed :wink:

Workload increases according to exponential growth. Apparently, snails understand how it works better than I do. I am totally below par at the moment. You start your term with not so much to do and you sit in your room thinking "am I too lazy?" and "why is everyone else seems so busy?" Especially the BioNatScis, they get set essays upon essays. Someone doing economics got set 6 essays during her freshers' week. That's tough on her you may say. But, all of these is making me nervous because I had tons of free time in my hand. Natually, you think you should be doing more work with those free time you have, but I couldn't find anything better to do than playing silly flash games on the internet or sleeping. One of my neighbour had a paranoia experience at the end of the term, so I've been told by another neighbour. They had an argument because she ("another neighbourr") left the window open in the kitchen when she was cooking. He ("neighbour") was "angry" because he thinks she's letting people climbing into our building. Problem is, the window is well over 2 metres above the ground. This place breaks people.

I personally don't recommand you taking your notes to the bar, it might get ruined and then you'll be in trouble. Instead, take them to the computer room if you don't have a pc in your room, like me. Discuss your supervision work on msn with a fellow subjectee.