History dons!

Can anyone whose currently at Cambrige (probably a history student) tell me which of the colleges have the best director of studies for history or best set of history teaching fellows? ...(or even know anything about some of them?)...I am in the process of choosing a college to apply to and figured that the quality of those who would be in charge of my course is a good start. I quite like eccentric teachers. and humourous ones. e.g proffessor crawford for law at jesus, but for history. mainly out of
1. Pembroke
2. Emma
selwyn, queens, corpus christi, Jesus, Downing, Caius or any other reaonably central college.

P.s. any positive or negative comments on any of those colleges? and should I pick a college with a better JCR than pembroke? does it matter?
Anyway, enough, Thanks!

Reply 1

lskdgjsj

10

Cambridge doesn't have dons.

You might start here: a list of history faculty members; beside each name you'll find his field of interest, and very often you can click on the name of the faculty member you're interested in and read his biography. Or you can start from this page, which is organized by subject matter, and from there see which colleges have concentrations of fellows in the field you're most interested in. I'd say it's better to choose a college to apply to on this basis, rather than on the putative friendliness or eccentricity of this or that fellow. It's hard to gauge precisely how you'll interact with a person based on other people's views of him, so it's best to get in contact with a few directors of studies once you've narrowed it down by these or other means.

Reply 2

Summary Speaker

Pembroke rocks.....!! :wink:

Reply 3

Ticki

8

I'm reading History at Sidney Sussex. We came top for History last year and have a pretty good reputation for the subject. Our DoS is Martin Ruehl, if you want to look him up. He says that Caius, Emma and Peterhouse are particularly strong for History too. I also went on open days at Selwyn, Newnham and Pembroke if you want to know more about those colleges. On the whole I wouldn't worry too much about the fellows at each college as you will receive tuition from all different colleges. My supervisors have come from Sidney, Peterhouse, Homerton, King's, Christ's and Tit Hall. The Director of Studies is someone you will have more contact with, however, so I can see why you would want to look them up in particular. Here's what I can tell you.

SIDNEY: Martin Ruehl (intellectual thought/Europe). An excellent teacher and very helpful. Always tries his best for his students. We also have Richard Partington (medievalist), the Admissions Director, who is very willing to answer questions and is actively involved in the GHP sessions run in college. Both are quite young.

SELWYN: David Smith (Stuart expert). Supremely nice. Ooh, or it could be John Morrill. He's good too.

KING'S: Stephen Alford (Tudor guru). The loveliest man in the faculty, really friendly and helpful. Young.

PEMBROKE: Paul Warde (EM Europeanist). The best lecturer in the faculty. Seems very nice, quite young.

TIT HALL: Clare Jackson (Tudors). She is very helpful and generally very nice. Really good at helping you with any problems. Will push you hard and you'll be VERY grateful.

PETERHOUSE: can't remember her name either. She's young and nice.

NEW HALL: again, can't remember her name. Has been very good.

NEWNHAM: Gill Sutherland. Will push you hard but is excellent.

Hmmm, I seem to think all the DoSes are nice. I guess that's their job! But anyway, if you have any other questions about History at Cambridge PM me. I'll get back to you ASAP, but my exams are 3-13 June so bear with me if I don't respond immediately. :smile:

In terms of colleges themselves, they're more alike than not usually. The easiest way to narrow them down is to consider size, age and location. I wanted a reasonably old, small, central college - Sidney fitted the bill! Open days are also a good idea. Pembroke, Selwyn and Newnham were very similar to Sidney (with the obvious exception that Newnham is women only) but Sidney had a different atmosphere that I could only pick up from the open day. Lots of people talk about colleges clicking, and that was true for me. Again, if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Reply 4

d750

8

svidrigailov

Cambridge doesn't have dons.

It did last time I checked. Students don't teach themselves.

(Unless, of course, you want to be incredibly pedantic)

Reply 5

lskdgjsj

10

d750

It did last time I checked. Students don't teach themselves.

(Unless, of course, you want to be incredibly pedantic)

I clearly did want to be pedantic.

Reply 6

d750

8

svidrigailov

I clearly did want to be pedantic.

Well, admitting it is the first step to recovery. :wink:

Reply 7

lskdgjsj

10

d750

Well, admitting it is the first step to recovery. :wink:

Is it also the last step? I dislike complicated processes.

Reply 8

d750

8

svidrigailov

Is it also the last step? I dislike complicated processes.

It is if it involves a sufficient amount of soul-searching, which you've surely done.

Reply 9

Michelle2

3

d750

It did last time I checked. Students don't teach themselves.

I think the idea is that they're not actually called dons, although last time I checked, both Oxford and Cambridge do have dons, it's just that the term has fallen out of use somewhat.

Reply 10

d750

8

Michelle2

I think the idea is that they're not actually called dons, although last time I checked, both Oxford and Cambridge do have dons, it's just that the term has fallen out of use somewhat.

Yup - I did get that. :rolleyes:

'Dons' can be used for any university.

Reply 11

yeep

As a term it usually refers to Oxford's rather than Cambridge's professors.

Reply 12

Jess1269

OP

really! aren`t we pedantic..but it would seem i picked up the term from somewhere - as i was browsing through the sidney prospectus i ran into this nifty paragraph:
Finally, what you should remember throughout is that very good candidates (and, indeed, very good dons) do occasionally make a mess of an interview; when this happens allowances are made. Don't forget that it is our responsibility too that the interview goes well, not just yours!

ahh well..spose some people must use it in refernce to cambridge as well. but what do i know :smile:

Reply 13

xx_ambellina_xx

14

Ticki

I'm reading History at Sidney Sussex. We came top for History last year and have a pretty good reputation for the subject. Our DoS is Martin Ruehl, if you want to look him up. He says that Caius, Emma and Peterhouse are particularly strong for History too. I also went on open days at Selwyn, Newnham and Pembroke if you want to know more about those colleges. On the whole I wouldn't worry too much about the fellows at each college as you will receive tuition from all different colleges. My supervisors have come from Sidney, Peterhouse, Homerton, King's, Christ's and Tit Hall. The Director of Studies is someone you will have more contact with, however, so I can see why you would want to look them up in particular. Here's what I can tell you.

SIDNEY: Martin Ruehl (intellectual thought/Europe). An excellent teacher and very helpful. Always tries his best for his students. We also have Richard Partington (medievalist), the Admissions Director, who is very willing to answer questions and is actively involved in the GHP sessions run in college. Both are quite young.

SELWYN: David Smith (Stuart expert). Supremely nice. Ooh, or it could be John Morrill. He's good too.

KING'S: Stephen Alford (Tudor guru). The loveliest man in the faculty, really friendly and helpful. Young.

PEMBROKE: Paul Warde (EM Europeanist). The best lecturer in the faculty. Seems very nice, quite young.

TIT HALL: can't remember her name, but she is very helpful and generally very nice. Will push you hard.

PETERHOUSE: can't remember her name either. She's young and nice.

NEW HALL: again, can't remember her name. Has been very good.

NEWNHAM: Gill Sutherland. Will push you hard but is excellent.

Hmmm, I seem to think all the DoSes are nice. I guess that's their job! But anyway, if you have any other questions about History at Cambridge PM me. I'll get back to you ASAP, but my exams are 3-13 June so bear with me if I don't respond immediately. :smile:

In terms of colleges themselves, they're more alike than not usually. The easiest way to narrow them down is to consider size, age and location. I wanted a reasonably old, small, central college - Sidney fitted the bill! Open days are also a good idea. Pembroke, Selwyn and Newnham were very similar to Sidney (with the obvious exception that Newnham is women only) but Sidney had a different atmosphere that I could only pick up from the open day. Lots of people talk about colleges clicking, and that was true for me. Again, if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Tit Hall = Clare Jackson

Reply 14

White_redrose

1

Ooh, and if you are into the Tudor/Stuart periods, Pembroke also has Dr Lauren Kassell, 'a specialist in Tudor and Stuart social and intellectual history who also contributes to classes in general historical problems.'
http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/history.html

Reply 15

Jess1269

OP

Thanks all of you that is very helpful :smile:

Reply 16

Ticki

8

White_redrose

Ooh, and if you are into the Tudor/Stuart periods, Pembroke also has Dr Lauren Kassell, 'a specialist in Tudor and Stuart social and intellectual history who also contributes to classes in general historical problems.'
http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/history.html

She'll take students from outside Pembroke though. The historians at a given college shouldn't really sway your decision because you will have the opportunity to be taught by them whether you're at their college or not. Considering whether you'll get on with the DoS (very hard to predict, in all fairness) is slightly more useful.

I was revising last night and came across Clare Jackson's lecture notes. It reminded me to tell you that she is a big cheese for Tudor politics - she and Stephen Alford wrote the paper. My friend and I have had them for supervisors and were rather pleased with the questions that came up! :biggrin:

DoSes are usually quite keen to supervise people from their college so if they're amazing at a paper you want to do (Jackson or Alford for Paper 4, Ruehl for Papers 17-20) that could be an advantage.

Reply 17

Ticki

8

xx_ambellina_xx

Tit Hall = Clare Jackson

Merci - mind was a bit numb from all the revision. Should have remembered as I went to her lectures on Kingship only last term! (That and my friend is Tit Hall's History Society President. And had her as a supervisor. And has mentioned her on more than one occasion. I'm losing it!)

Reply 18

xx_ambellina_xx

14

Ticki

Merci - mind was a bit numb from all the revision. Should have remembered as I went to her lectures on Kingship only last term! (That and my friend is Tit Hall's History Society President. And had her as a supervisor. And has mentioned her on more than one occasion. I'm losing it!)