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Cambridge 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

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Original post by Bumbl
Considering the workload (I will be doing Economics):
How much time does one have for sport, societies , improving language skills (the Cambridge language centre),...


The workload for first year is very heavy, unless you can read very quickly (for Politics and History). You should still be able to do some sport (if for college then multiple teams is possible, if university probably stick to one), some societies (depending on how involved you get) and maybe a language course. Though I would recommend not trying to do all of the above in first year. Of course you could sign up for all of it and see which ones you manage (and want) to maintain.
Reply 1121
Original post by TheUnbeliever
I think most people would struggle to do all of the above, although it is perfectly doable if you limited the amount of time you spent, say, just sitting on Facebook.


Original post by alex_hk90
The workload for first year is very heavy, unless you can read very quickly (for Politics and History). You should still be able to do some sport (if for college then multiple teams is possible, if university probably stick to one), some societies (depending on how involved you get) and maybe a language course. Though I would recommend not trying to do all of the above in first year. Of course you could sign up for all of it and see which ones you manage (and want) to maintain.


Thank you for answering so quickly.

What I have feared...
On the bright side: I still have more than 7 months to decide what to do (and to improve my Spanish skills to at least B2).
Reply 1122
Original post by Bumbl
Thank you for answering so quickly.

What I have feared...
On the bright side: I still have more than 7 months to decide what to do (and to improve my Spanish skills to at least B2).


No fair, I was still only B2 in Spanish by the end of my first year at Cambridge, at which point I'd been studying it for 8 years! And seeing as I did basically no Spanish in second year, I'd guess I'm still at a rather rusty B2/C1 :frown:
Original post by zhu8pi
It might be a dumb question, but my condition says:

"You must obtain a final overall GPA of at least 3.85 in your BSBA in 2011"

does it mean I need a final overal GPA of 3.85 of my four years college, or a GPA of 3.85 of year 2011?

Thank you all!


I'd guess for the year 2011 but it's best to e-mail and check :smile:
Reply 1124
Gosh haven't been on here in a while- how is everyone??

Anyone else getting ridiculously impatient for October?
Reply 1125
Original post by Zoedotdot
No fair, I was still only B2 in Spanish by the end of my first year at Cambridge, at which point I'd been studying it for 8 years! And seeing as I did basically no Spanish in second year, I'd guess I'm still at a rather rusty B2/C1 :frown:

At the moment I can only dream of C1 (although it is my long term goal).

Well I hope to spend at least a month at a language school in Latin America to mejorar mi espanol . That way my forced gap year would be useful after all (apart from having plenty of time to prepare for Cambridge).
Original post by EffDee
Anyone else getting ridiculously impatient for October?


... for next year? :lolwut: I don't think I've got quite that far yet :p:
Reply 1127
Original post by EffDee
Gosh haven't been on here in a while- how is everyone??

Anyone else getting ridiculously impatient for October?


This is the current students thread, so largely you will find that people are too swamped to even be thinking about October... However, I am on my year abroad so I too am looking forward to it :p:
Original post by Jacke02
Any PPSers on here? :smile:


Aha! Hello there! I've literally joined for this very reason - to see who I may be joining next year :tongue: I'm down for Corpus also :biggrin:
Reply 1129
Original post by *~Timshel~*
Aha! Hello there! I've literally joined for this very reason - to see who I may be joining next year :tongue: I'm down for Corpus also :biggrin:


Omg really!! Which subject have you applied for? (pps?, i wasn't sure if that's what you meant...)
(edited 13 years ago)
Yer! PPS indeed!! :biggrin:
Reply 1131
Ooh cool.... i was an an open day for pooled people to corpus (which consisted of only 5 of us lol) and i was pretty chuffed to see how close it is to some lecture rooms :smile: Which papers are you taking out of PPS?
Original post by Jacke02
Ooh cool.... i was an an open day for pooled people to corpus (which consisted of only 5 of us lol) and i was pretty chuffed to see how close it is to some lecture rooms :smile: Which papers are you taking out of PPS?



LOL 5 of you! Looks like you ended up with a pretty exclusive open day :tongue: :tongue: Yeah I visited last year for an open day and this year for interview and was also pleasantly surprised by the handy proximity! Lazy mornings for us heheh! It's also really central in terms of the town itself which is a nice wee bonus! Ehmm right now I'm all for the International Studies paper I reckon (though Arch. and Anth. looks really interesting too!) and then specialisng in Politics the following year...I'm open to being swayed however! I'll see how it goes I suppose! :u: Et toi?
Reply 1133
Original post by *~Timshel~*
LOL 5 of you! Looks like you ended up with a pretty exclusive open day :tongue: :tongue: Yeah I visited last year for an open day and this year for interview and was also pleasantly surprised by the handy proximity! Lazy mornings for us heheh! It's also really central in terms of the town itself which is a nice wee bonus! Ehmm right now I'm all for the International Studies paper I reckon (though Arch. and Anth. looks really interesting too!) and then specialisng in Politics the following year...I'm open to being swayed however! I'll see how it goes I suppose! :u: Et toi?



Haha yeh, pretty exclusive... slightly akward aswell tbh lol
I'm thinking about taking psychology in year 2, so yeh i think i'll go for bio anth or education or maybe even both :smile: (or maybe socio anth, there's too much too choose from!) Apparently we're getting letters sent to us this week about accommodation too, did you see what the rooms where like? We couldn't see...
Original post by Jacke02
Haha yeh, pretty exclusive... slightly akward aswell tbh lol
I'm thinking about taking psychology in year 2, so yeh i think i'll go for bio anth or education or maybe even both :smile: (or maybe socio anth, there's too much too choose from!) Apparently we're getting letters sent to us this week about accommodation too, did you see what the rooms where like? We couldn't see...


Ah well, at least you might recognise a few familiar faces! :wink: Ohh really?! I haven't firmed yet as I'm still awaiting some responses but I want an accommodation letter too!!! :frown: Yeah I've stayed in the college twice. First time I'm not sure where it was, but it was en suite and lovely and pretty modern! Second time at interview it was in the Old Court rooms I believe which were so lovely with all their antiquated character :smile: It wasn't en suite though so it was a bit strange/ amusing everyone running across the hall in pjs to get to the bathroom:tongue:

Have a wee peek here if you haven't already!:rolleyes: http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/conferences/accommodation
Reply 1135
Original post by *~Timshel~*
Ah well, at least you might recognise a few familiar faces! :wink: Ohh really?! I haven't firmed yet as I'm still awaiting some responses but I want an accommodation letter too!!! :frown: Yeah I've stayed in the college twice. First time I'm not sure where it was, but it was en suite and lovely and pretty modern! Second time at interview it was in the Old Court rooms I believe which were so lovely with all their antiquated character :smile: It wasn't en suite though so it was a bit strange/ amusing everyone running across the hall in pjs to get to the bathroom:tongue:

Have a wee peek here if you haven't already!:rolleyes: http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/conferences/accommodation


I firmed straight away :P The only offer i was waiting for in January was UCL, but i didn't fancy going to an open day anyway so i withdrew...
ahaha yeh we were told there are only 20 ensuite rooms :s-smilie: Not sure how much i'll like going out in the snow in winter to go to the toilet.
Original post by EffDee
Gosh haven't been on here in a while- how is everyone??

Anyone else getting ridiculously impatient for October?


YES. Also a sense of impending doom. DOOOM. But joyous doom. Also it's not really real yet! Still!
Original post by Zoedotdot
Haha yes, I do remember venturing on here as an offer-holder and posting something along the lines of ":eek2: omg what am I in forrrrrrr?" and then I got to Cambridge and it was actually worse than I'd anticipated but somehow more bearable because you just get caught up in the misery of permanently feeling like you are behind in everything and forget that there was ever a time when you weren't experiencing a constant looming dread and it just becomes sort of normal :p:

Should probably clarify - I MISS the constant looming dread. Seriously. Real life doesn't have enough deadlines to miss.


THIS IS GOOD. Bizarrely! I'm glad to hear this!


Original post by Zoedotdot
Another thing that I should say is that while being at Cambridge is extremely hard work, it's also sort of addictive hard work. I'd never found anything really THAT hard before I went to university, and working full time on my year abroad has plunged me back into a world where nothing is really quite so challenging. I mean, having to speak Russian all the time is pretty difficult, but it's still not quite the same amount of pressure. My brain feels like it's rotting a little bit actually, I'm having to bury myself in dissertation work to feel like I'm really pushing myself. So look forward to the challenge :smile:



Original post by jjarvis
This is so, so, true. It's incredibly hard work, but it's brilliant because for the first time in your life you might be really pushed. And it is addictive. (Not sure it's a good thing that Cambridge can turn you into a workaholic, but if you love the work then maybe it's not so bad?)


{...} Everyone else will be in the same boat, and most people manage fine.


I hadn't considered that aspect - that as well as being full of people who know how to work hard, the place'll also be full of people who've coasted till 18 and will be walloped upside the head with that really meeting-your-limits environment. I'd only been thinking about the former group and was sh!tting bricks. So I still need to work on my just-get-it-the-hell-done skills as much as I can before Oct, but I won't be alone if I feel like I'm flailing madly :biggrin:

wahoooo. And on that note I'll go and do some bloody work.
Original post by Jacke02
I firmed straight away :P The only offer i was waiting for in January was UCL, but i didn't fancy going to an open day anyway so i withdrew...
ahaha yeh we were told there are only 20 ensuite rooms :s-smilie: Not sure how much i'll like going out in the snow in winter to go to the toilet.


Yeah I think I just wanted to wait and see how everything else played out...out of pure curiosity :tongue: Hehheh as for the potential icy trek, let's aim for somewhere with a landing bathroom!!:rolleyes:
Original post by chai wallah
THIS IS GOOD. Bizarrely! I'm glad to hear this!







I hadn't considered that aspect - that as well as being full of people who know how to work hard, the place'll also be full of people who've coasted till 18 and will be walloped upside the head with that really meeting-your-limits environment. I'd only been thinking about the former group and was sh!tting bricks. So I still need to work on my just-get-it-the-hell-done skills as much as I can before Oct, but I won't be alone if I feel like I'm flailing madly :biggrin:

wahoooo. And on that note I'll go and do some bloody work.


Welcome to my sister's world!! She can't believe how much she has to work - and there is always another essay to do!! She said that she really understands how people can become suicidal at Cambridge. Also she knows several very depressed people who just burst into tears during lectures.
She does love it but sometimes she compares her workload with someone at Imperial (she's a medic) and wishes she had a bit less pressure.
I'm really looking forward to it (FM A*permitting) but then I'm crazy :smile:

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