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University of Cambridge Freshers Megathread 2016

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Original post by Zacken
Haha, yeaaaah. :tongue:

I don't think so - they used to have one set up by the old JCR from years ago, from what I gather on TSR but not anymore. The link is dead, at least.



Ah, I don't suppose the bed linen you receive are new ones, are they? :tongue:

I'll update you once I get my final allocation. :smile:


What, brand new bed linen every two weeks?
Dream on.....:tongue:
Hello everybody. I am going to be a fresher in October studying History. This is the first time I am posting on this forum :smile:

I was wondering if there are any other History students and if they are doing anything to prepare (academically) for their arrival?
Hi. Currently, I'm trying to budget and I'm just wondering how much money I should set aside for course costs (books etc). I'm doing medicine by the way.

Thanks in advance for any replies.
Original post by Addie16
Hi. Currently, I'm trying to budget and I'm just wondering how much money I should set aside for course costs (books etc). I'm doing medicine by the way.

Thanks in advance for any replies.


I don't think you'll have to buy so many books yourself.
You'll have 3 options for borrowing books from : 1) your department's library, 2) your college's library and 3) UL.
All of them should have very good stocks of books students regularly use (often multiple copies). If your college don't have a book you need, you can request them to buy it for you. As long as they think it's useful book to add to their catalogue for other students as well, they'll buy it for you.
Also, you can access to many books digitally as well.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by vincrows
I don't think you'll have to buy so many books yourself.
You'll have 3 options for borrowing books from : 1) your department's library, 2) your college's library and 3) UL.
All of them should have very good stocks of books students regularly use (often multiple copies). If your college don't have a book you need, you can request them to buy it for you. As long as they think it's useful book to add to their catalogue for other students as well, they'll buy it for you.
Also, you can access to many books digitally as well.


Ok cool. Thanks for the quick reply.
Original post by Addie16
Hi. Currently, I'm trying to budget and I'm just wondering how much money I should set aside for course costs (books etc). I'm doing medicine by the way.

Thanks in advance for any replies.


Depends how much you want to have your own copies of things. All the medical textbooks are expensive (£50+ each), but your college will have multiple copies of the core texts in the library, so you can use them until you've got a feel for which ones you really want to buy - or just keep using them all year! Your college may also organise a second hand book sale early on so you can pick up some more cheaply from students in older years. There'll be a few extra costs like lab coats for dissection etc, no idea what they're charging for that these days but it won't be a huge amount. I don't think I spent more than £200 on books in any year, and in hindsight some of them were not necessary.

Once you get to clinical, you'll need a stethoscope, which is about £45-60 for the most commonly used one (Littman Classic II SE) and will need enough smart outfits to keep you going through placements, but you don't need to worry about that for a while yet!
Original post by Addie16
Ok cool. Thanks for the quick reply.


You're welcome. :smile:

Digitalisation of books is an ongoing programme at UL, so just keep on checking their catalogue to see if a book you need became digital.
Original post by niamhscarlett
Well, looks like we have a little group going! What are you all studying? :smile: I'm studying PBS. :biggrin:


That's cool, economics myself :smile:
Original post by Addie16
Ok cool. Thanks for the quick reply.


To add on to what Helenia said, most colleges have some sort of fund set aside especially for medics, for their textbooks and clinical equipment - so you might want to have a chat to your tutor about that.
It's the same at girton and so expensive (152.50/week) which is £5795 per year -.-

Original post by jneill
Slightly old data - but this might be interesting:

Screen Shot 2016-09-10 at 18.56.58.jpg

It still surprises me how much variation there is between colleges. And note the rent is "average" and again there's a range of rents above and below each college average (except Homerton and Newnham where everyone pays the same).
Original post by RThornton
It's the same at girton and so expensive (152.50/week) which is £5795 per year -.-


Hmm, yes Girton is missing from that chart - perhaps they didn't reply to the FOI request.
Original post by jneill
Slightly old data - but this might be interesting:

Screen Shot 2016-09-10 at 18.56.58.jpg

It still surprises me how much variation there is between colleges. And note the rent is "average" and again there's a range of rents above and below each college average (except Homerton and Newnham where everyone pays the same).


That feel when Caius is so expensive it doesn't even deserve to be a data point
Original post by Protoxylic
That's actually the fourth floor and that is where fellows live (as well as some teaching rooms), no students have balconies
That makes sense, I was sort of guessing that they might be Band A rooms, but even then I thought a balcony was a bit much! What's the cool looking cylindrical thing with windows which comes out of the roof?

Original post by niamhscarlett
Well, looks like we have a little group going! What are you all studying? I'm studying PBS.
Original post by JJarosz98
That's cool, economics myself
I'll be studying CompSci. How much work have you been given in preparation? I feel like there's a lot already!
Reply 1313
Avatar for alow
alow
19
Original post by vincrows
You're welcome. :smile:

Digitalisation of books is an ongoing programme at UL, so just keep on checking their catalogue to see if a book you need became digital.


Honestly most of the books I've needed (even some very niche ones) have been available as eBooks from the UL. It's pretty great.
Original post by jneill
Slightly old data - but this might be interesting:

Screen Shot 2016-09-10 at 18.56.58.jpg

It still surprises me how much variation there is between colleges. And note the rent is "average" and again there's a range of rents above and below each college average (except Homerton and Newnham where everyone pays the same).


Homerton and pembroke next to each other.
Pembroke has 0 ensuites and homerton is guaranteed it.
Life is great


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by alow
Honestly most of the books I've needed (even some very niche ones) have been available as eBooks from the UL. It's pretty great.


Is that so?
Obviously they've been really working hard then. Sounds better than when my daughter was there.
It's really good if it's digitalised as you can even access it from home.
(edited 7 years ago)
Thought these were quite good and relevant
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR8WxgTq4tDh9ei0c8TCnZw/videos
Reply 1317
Avatar for alow
alow
19
Original post by vincrows
Is that so?
Obviously they've been really working hard then. Sounds better than when my daughter was there.
It's really good if it's digitalised as you can even access it from home.


Yeah for most modern books you can go to the publishers website and login using your Cambridge ID to get a PDF. Exactly. Very useful for outside term time.
I also found out that I been allocated a room in my first preference price band (although I wont know which building until I arrive) so I can start budgeting now. The email arrived around 10 last night, does nobody get a weekend at Cambridge? :tongue:
Original post by alow
Yeah for most modern books you can go to the publishers website and login using your Cambridge ID to get a PDF. Exactly. Very useful for outside term time.


Come to think of it, it makes sense they have access to a publisher's digital archive as UL is a legal deposit library.
All the books she needed for her supervisions/lectures were available from one of the libraries (UL, department, college), mostly in digital as well, but it wasn't necessarily the case for books she wanted to read for her dissertation, even in printed form.
So a few trips to British Library was needed for dissertation.

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