clare english 2021

hey guys, I've been lurking for a while and there seem to be quite a few english applicants for clare, so I thought it could be nice to have our own forum!
just the typical questions:
gcses?
a levels?
why cambridge and/or clare?
favourite author/text/genre? (we are english students after all!)
how are you feeling about the process?
best of luck everyone x

Hey I'm applying for English at Clare too!

I take English, History and Chinese A-Level (I'm probs not going to share my grades just because I think that I'll stress myself out by comparing myself with others hahaha).
I chose Clare because it was the only college I had the chance to see pre-Covid and I thought that the students were so friendly. Also, it's just so beautiful and I really liked the English fellow I met!!!
My favourite author is Steinbeck (I absolutely love 20th-Century American literature e.g. Morrison, Miller etc...), and my favourite text is probably East of Eden, or maybe Cyrano de Bergerac if I was to choose a play.
The process has honestly been crazy. It was alright until ELAT, which I thought I had completely failed, so it's nice to see that I didn't mess up too much.

Good luck!

hello!
chinese a level?! that sounds so cool, I wish my school offered more interesting languages than just french and spanish (or do you speak chinese at home?), I also take history and I love seeing how it ties in with literature. fair enough about grades, although I'm sure they're great x
I also chose clare because it seemed friendly - and it's nice to find someone else who likes 20th c literature, I really like the beat generation personally.
as you say you can't have failed the elat to have gotten this far, so well done!! I did think the theme was a bit odd haha
I hope to see you next year, good luck x

My family is British-Hungarian, so I don't speak at home. I've been learning for 6 years and still can barely speak it hahaha. I love History sm too - I wrote a bunch about the crossroads between the two subjects in my PS. My EPQ looked a lot at the historical/political climate of Steinbeck's novels too!
What's your favourite text out of interest?
It's so nice to speak to someone in the same boat as me - there's only one other girl at my school applying to do English at Cambridge.
Hope to see you next year!

oh that's cool, it does seem like a very beautiful language if a difficult one so hopefully the work will pay off haha
so do I - I find the political context to texts really interesting (especially banned/suppressed texts, that made up a lot of my statement haha). I also did an epq but I compared two nabokov texts and looking at the politics of power which was fun (got a bad mark because I didnt evidence the process very well, but I think the essay itself was good haha)
thats a difficult one because I honestly really enjoy medieval texts as well as modern equally, so I might cheat and choose a couple haha - I really like the dream of the rood (old english epic, more fun than it sounds) and a 20th c favourite would be henry james' the golden bowl.
I'm one of two from my school so it does get a bit lonely, but at least there seems to be a few clare applicants on here! I hope we find interview dates/times soon

What a coincidence - I almost wrote my EPQ on the censorship of books! Very cool to finally meet someone with the same interests as me.

hey guys, I've been lurking for a while and there seem to be quite a few english applicants for clare, so I thought it could be nice to have our own forum!
just the typical questions:
gcses?
a levels?
why cambridge and/or clare?
favourite author/text/genre? (we are english students after all!)
how are you feeling about the process?
best of luck everyone x

hey guys, I've been lurking for a while and there seem to be quite a few english applicants for clare, so I thought it could be nice to have our own forum!
just the typical questions:
gcses?
a levels?
why cambridge and/or clare?
favourite author/text/genre? (we are english students after all!)
how are you feeling about the process?
best of luck everyone x

Hey has anyone heard anything about the date for their interview - I'm worried as they said it could be as early as the 7th and it's already the 2nd and they haven't informed me when it is yet!

Nope - I'm still waiting too! I really hope they tell us soon because they said they would tell us early this week and I don't think Thursday counts in that! Come on Clare!!

I was talking to someone on the main Clare forum who said it seems that they are sending out invites exactly a week before. So I guess that would mean that ours are just the 9th onwards? Fingers crossed that's the case!!

I've got my interview later today, I'm feeling quite nervous but also excited as I feel like regardless of the outcome it's such a valuable experience

Hi just to hop on here and introduce myself.
I'm studying English Literature, English Language and History.

I have a love of Shakespeare but who doesn't, lol. At the moment though I'm really enjoying Victorian literature.

Just to let people know who haven't received dates for their interview. I found out on the 3rd that my interview is on the 9th. I have two separate interviews at different times as well just to let people know.