Oxford 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

I'm exactly the same I will be convinced until I graduate that I got in by accident I'm going to (hopefully) be at Christ Church What about you? I'm going to go on the open day in a couple of weeks and ask which ones we'll definitely need to get, meanwhile I'm just reading some of the interesting looking ones. My favourite so far has been The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes

I can't wait to stop having to say 'hopefully' whenever people ask me where I'm going - either way I want to know for certain what I am doing That sounds a good plan with the open day - the Sykes one looks good. I've read the Genome one by Matt Ridley, and The Selfish Gene. The Ben Goldacre Bad Science on is quite good as well. Should probably enjoy reading the more general 'popular science' one before we get deluged with heavy textbooks next year...

Christ Church is very nice, Magdalen for me (hopefully...) I expect all the medics will get to know each other anyway :P

Just out of interest, why did you do ES if you're reading Classics and French?

I had originally wanted to do L, but the administration at my school wouldn't open a section although there were 5 of us who wanted to do it, so I was sort of forced to do ES, which definitely wasn't an over-all bad thing.

I just started La Châtelaine de Vergy and panicked because it's in old French - until I realised the translation is on the other page...

Do you think that they want us to get a version like that, with old french and modern french, or do you think just modern french will do? Also, how is it so far?

I think you have to quote in Old French but I think reading the modern one is fine. Luckily it's short and really easy to read in modern french so plot/themes/characters won't be too hard to analyse.

How in the world have you managed to get through so much of the reading already?!?! I only got me reading list on Sunday.... I feel very behind compared to you :/ AND, I've got Classics reading to do!

I think you have to quote in Old French but I think reading the modern one is fine. Luckily it's short and really easy to read in modern french so plot/themes/characters won't be too hard to analyse.

Not true - you can quote in modern French in the exam if you want.

I've been reading a book a day, but admittedly my notes are quite shoddy

I heard horror stories of people reading nothing and then really struggling in the first term.

Also, I reckon the rate at which I finish books will slow down considerably when I get to the literary theory/Philosophy texts - they're a bit more abstract.

This is likely to vary by college so it'd be helpful to know which one. I had a yellow financial guarantee form that I had to fill in and attach a letter from the SLC and a representative of a bank to certify that I had enough funds for living expenses but this might be different for UK students. It's probably something to that effect though.

EDIT: got my IB results - met my offer!

I had mine too, missed it by quite a way. Both my TOK and EE are being remarked though, and I think a few of my subjects are going to be remarked too. I came out with 35 and need 40, with 7,6,6 in my highers (I had 6,6,6, but apparently a couple of marks off a 7 for French). I had 0 for my TOK/EE when I was predicted at least two Bs and came out with a C & D. Went on a revision course for Economics and did worse in that than anything else. So I'm going to ring St. John's tomorrow, and see what happens. I feel like I'm even more in limbo than I was before I had the results.

Anybody who hasn't received their reading lists yet..?

A book a day?

1)That's it. I'm done for. It took me two months to read Effi Briest (German equivalent of Madame Bovary)... AND I AM GERMAN.

XP


2) On a less morose note, I read so little of the Briest because I was lazy and don't like Victorian literature; when I hit philosohpy & thought, I read so little because my brain was melting. Melty-melting. Into grey goopy puddles.

After Marx and halfway through Freud, I gave up and switched to English because no amount of pride is worth doing that to yourself. I recommend read them quickly in English, then in French because the concepts won't confuse you -- only the terms. Now all I have left is a Kant and a Nietzsche but I'm hating it to be honest, as someone with a very very shaky grounding in philosophy, and Wikipedia (Simple English version, bien sur) is my lifeline. Good luck!

3) You don't need to worry about reading the whole list. From friends I have at Oxbridge, they all say that reading the works for the following term in the holidays previous and then again during term is enough, and if you do more the good stuff will filter out. If you do want to read all your reading list, I'd recommend reading it in backwards order of your year - start with your trinity texts and finish with the Michaelmas ones, so they're fresh in your mind at the end of the summer. What is the extra stuff of French Sole? Am curioos...

Anybody who hasn't received their reading lists yet..?

Anybody who hasn't received their reading lists yet..?

other than storming through your reading lists (still haven't received one ) what are you guys doing to occupy your time this summer?

other than storming through your reading lists (still haven't received one ) what are you guys doing to occupy your time this summer?