The Collegiate system - an explanation - Page 2

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Reply 20

Helenia

shiny

yeah we don't take it seriously, except for the "johns = scum" bit :biggrin:

p.s. i love johns really :wink:

Not really relevant, but at Henley on Saturday, when the Clare posse arrived at our chosen spot, there was one huge crowd of Dark Blue Scum supporters, and one group of John's people (in their red scum stash). So we were faced with the eternal question when it came to where to stand - would we really rather....?

Of course not, for the last two days we had to all stick together, much good that it did :rolleyes:

Reply 21

RxB

Rebecca/Becca

Hey people. I may not go to Cambridge but I do go to Durham, just thought I'd put in my bit about the college system.

I like the college system. It gives me a real sense of belonging, and having all the different college bars to go to is an awesome way to have fun. I also love all the traditions like formals and stiff like that. I'm proud of my college (University! Yay! Go Castle. Plug over.) but at the same time, I'm proud to belong to the university as a whole.

I say, up with collegiate universities! (But not down with non-collegiate ones because they are good too!)

From talking to my friends at Durham, their collegiate system's very different to the Cam/Ox one. Here, how well you're taught is very much going to be down to what college you're at, on account of how good supervisors they can pay for, how many supervisions you get and what size you're taught in... when it's organised by the faculty, it's a lot more equal.

Reply 22

JHutcher

i loved durham... st chads is obviously the best though

Reply 23

priya

do they get the 2/3 on 1 contact at durham though? most people, although their groups are small, are no smaller than 5 or 6 from what i've heard. even though it might not be as fair, there are plenty of ways to sort it at camb- the french students at our college wanted an extra lit supervision, and sorted it. now they have a french literature don helping them with their essays, on top of their regular supervision and lectures, simply because they asked for it and got it. if people take the initiative in such matters, the oxbridge collegiate system can be great

Reply 24

orangemia

musicboy

On these boards there has been a recent speight of posts about which college is best for which subject etc so I thought I should just clear up some of the misunderstandings. In Cambridge the main teaching (through lectures and sometimes seminars) is done through the faculty. Each student then has supervisions. These are organised by the college (through the DoS or visiting DoS) and the supeervisors are either post-grads or members of the faculty or fellows at either your college or other colleges. Often colleges will try and get supervisors from within the college as this is normally about £5 cheaper per supervision.

When people say, for example, Trinity is good for maths. What they are actually saying is that Trinity has a big intake for maths, it has lots off top maths fellows and is highly competitive. The fact that this is the way it is does not protect the trinity maths students from having completely sh*t supervisors. It does, on the other hand, mean that the chances of sh*t supervisors are diminished. Now, on the scale of the entire university most subjects will only have a few fellows in each college at most and you are likely to have supervisors from outside your college anyway. There is really no point in posting about which college is best for which subject as the academic differences are minimal. The differences between colleges are more to do with atmosphere, lebensraum, geographical location. Of course there is a difference between colleges where there is a director of studies or not (just don't apply to colleges where there is not an internal director of studies) but do not worry about the quality of teaching - it is (hopefully) all centrally moderated by the faculty. If you are going to do well on the course it really shouldn't matter where you go as long as you like being there.

MB

hey.
thanks for that, i didn't have the faintest clue as to what the collegiate system was, truth be told i am still somewhat confused. im a lower 6th drama student and was interested in doing drama at cambridge. i called up and was reffered to Hommerton college, where i have been invited to an open day, is it worth going to? if i enrol at Hommerton, will i be goin to Cambridge uni? how is the college connected to Cambridge? im lil confused, actualy very.
if u could help that'd be great.
mia

Reply 25

Willa

www.cam.ac.uk
click around...and you'll get info on the colleges (Its homerton btw...one "m")
System is simple: College = Where you live, eat, and work. University sites = where you get your lectures from and do practical work. All the colleges are members of the university, the college is just like your halls of residence...except with more rivarly between them

Reply 26

The Albatross

shiny

60s architecture :cool:

yay for concrete!

Reply 27

musicbloke

orangemia

as will said the college is part of the university. There is no place in cambridge that "is" the university, The university is ssupeervenient on colleges, faculties and libraries. I'm also unsure as to whether there's a straight drama course - I think the only course incambridge for drama is drama and education studies at homerton which yes, is part of CU.

MB