Cambridge 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

Haha fair enough, Cripps definitely isn't the best looking place of all, but from what I've seen/heard, it is pretty nice nonetheless...just from the outside it looks a bit bad...

And everyone has the option to be self catered, just a lot of people find it's hassle to cook a meal every night etc, so often they just go to Hall instead - it's fairly cheap, the food's good, and most of your friends will be going so it's a good way to socialise as well. But rest assured you can self-cater all you want!

There's never a problem about bringing people over to stay/visit, a lot of colleges do have rules about guests etc, but no-one ever really listens or bothers. And I seriously doubt you'll be travelling either, there's really just not a huge amount of time to do it! What sort of travelling were you planning?

In terms of schedule, you'll have about 8 hours of lectures a week, probably only about 2 nine o'clocks a week. You'll have supervisions most likely every 2/3 weeks per paper, so it works about roughly about doing 2 essays per week.

Each essay you can read as much as you want/don't want to, but you'll probably have to read the set text for each essay, as well as a range of chapters from other sources.

If you do extracurricular stuff to a decent level - you'll likely find yourself constantly busy (but in a good way). Either way, pretty much everyone in Cambridge uses their weekends to catch up on work they should've done in the week itself.

Socially we go out on the weekdays, then Fri/Sat night there's nothing to do so people tend to buckle down and do their work then. Late night essays aren't uncommon, especially the night before the essay's due.

I know you seem quite set on living out and you have your reasons, but I really would advise you to reconsider. I think you could feel quite isolated from college life if you choose to live out, and you miss out on the benefits of cheaper accommodation and proximity to the library and so on. A lot of people worry about self catering and independence and things before arriving, but you'll find that once you're here it actually becomes more important to be in college and have that community and all the facilities around you. If you're in the middle of an essay crisis it's great to be able to run down to hall for a quick meal and then back to your room, and you may find that you don't want to cook so much when you start because eating is a social occasion, and when people are working that hard and aren't always around outside of meal times it's not one to pass up.

I'm also a fussy eater and I survive on hall food and with only a microwave for self-catering (I don't eat fish, rice or anything with too much sauce on, for example, and that isn't nearly the extent of my fussiness). You just adapt. It's the same with the meal times - before I arrived at Cambridge I ate pretty early because I have younger siblings who had early bedtimes. At Cam I usually eat around 6/7ish, but on my year abroad in Moscow I don't get home until 6pm at the earliest so usually won't eat until about 9. I think you'll find that your body will adjust to whenever food is available!

Having family over won't be a problem, although you'll find that you won't have time for too many visitors or too much travelling during term time. You have the long holidays for that, but term is usually a case of sitting down with your first essay in week 1 and then just blundering through day after day until you suddenly look up and realise it's week 7. I wouldn't make that your main consideration for living out tbh. I also find that most colleges allow you a decent amount of independence. I've had guests come and go as they pleased, and I've never had a porter question me about my whereabouts or why I'm leaving college at 1am or anything like that. Unless something seems to be affecting your work you are generally left alone.

I think you should try living in college for a term, so that you can make friends and see if it's workable. Then if it's not working for you make a decision based on that. I think it would be much wiser to give it a go first so that you are making an informed choice

well i think i have officially been convinced....but so can you cook OCCASIONALLY and then eat in the hall if you dont feel like it? or like heat something in the microwave one night, and then eat in the hall the other, or do you pay a fixed fee for eating in?

thanks

wow thanks for the advice, really helpful. i actually think you've convinced me....anyway, now im getting curious about schedules and stuff...so 2 essays a week...how long should they be usually? and how much in advance are they set from when the deadline is? also, so 8 hrs a week, would you say these are ESSENTIAL to attend? and do you usually have a day of and one day thats more full or are they evenly spread between the 5 days? sorry about all the question...
and you said the "set text" and then some others...? when are these texts "set"? and are they online anytime soon so i can get ahead?

thanks again!

Btw are there many internationals on this thread?
I always forget...

ALSO do any of you internationals know what your college fee is going to be yet?
My college has said that they haven't set the college fee for 2011-12 yet, which is somewhat hindering my plans to plan a year ahead financially :/
Grrrr.

I am an international student

I don't know what my college fee is going to be. I guess it will be about 4-5k for all colleges

Helloo
it's just a bit frustrating because the Cam website says 4,400 - 5,200
Yet on the Cambridge Overseas Trusts Form the college had said 4,237.

When I emailed them, the admissions office said that they "don't know what the college fee will be for the academic year 2011/12 but it is subject to inflation and increases in following years"

/end rant about fees.
Sorry :P
I just felt the need to vent a bit xD

Well aside from the superficial reason that cripps court isn't exactly charming...I cant be self-catered, which for me is a bit of a challenge as im rather fussy and i eat around 9.30-10pm...and then i will be travelling etc and i would like to just have more independence, like having family over etc....

i mean what a typical 1st year schedule for a week...could you give me an idea?

to sleep off-site is just an idea...i do see how difficult and inconvenient it is btw. but anyway

Anyone worrying about not meeting the grades?
I'm
very worried................................S:

Anyone worrying about not meeting the grades?
I'm
very worried................................S:

I know a chap that claimed he had some sort of special dietary requirement that the college couldn't cater for, so he was allowed to go self-catering (inasmuch as he didn't have to purchase the compulsory meal tickets, although I am sure that different systems are probably used at different colleges).

He said that he knew a couple of people who did this and they don't really check.

The risk, however, is that they may actually cater for your 'requirement' and you may be forced to eat all maner of bizzare and undesirable dishes .

The thought horrifies me. I am quietly confident about the exams which I only need an A in but that A* is just so unpredictable.

I'm confident about getting two A*s but I'm terrified that I'll miss out on the A in Economics.

Probably Caius - we have a very unusual hall system unlike any other college.

I'm confident about getting two A*s but I'm terrified that I'll miss out on the A in Economics.

I'm confident about getting two A*s but I'm terrified that I'll miss out on the A in Economics.

I was in a similar position last year - fairly certain of an A* in Maths, hoping for an A/A* in Further and Physics, but very much worried I'd get a B in Chemistry. (My offer was A*AA in Maths, Physics and Chemistry, annoyingly.)

Moral of the story - I got my A, and I bet you will too! If you get an extra A* they might be lenient anyway (:

The guy went to Homerton actually but the point still stands I guess.

When's your econ exam?

I'm not sure if this will help you at all, but it really helped me with my AS Economics (I got 100 in Unit 1, but I'm not sure for the second one) and evaluating in the essay question.

Here.

I was in a similar position last year - fairly certain of an A* in Maths, hoping for an A/A* in Further and Physics, but very much worried I'd get a B in Chemistry. (My offer was A*AA in Maths, Physics and Chemistry, annoyingly.)

Moral of the story - I got my A, and I bet you will too! If you get an extra A* they might be lenient anyway (:

See, I worked out that I need 54/120 and 130/200 to get A's in History and Politics, the latter of which is giving me real revision headaches due to the ridiculous amount of information which needs to be memorised for my course, but I need 85% in English Lit to get that A*, despite achieving 100% UMS at AS and A2 coursework. Bah, the A* is flawed I say, flawed!

I'm not paying much attention to English Language at the moment, it being my last exam and I only need a B in it (plus it's bloody boring).

Make Economics your b*tch Charles .