For all potential Oxbridge Classicists, go to Bryanston!!

Ok, I couldn't resist giving my own impression of Bryanston, which sadly was nowhere near as positive as that of others here. I do, however, suspect that the fact that I've already been at Cambridge for a year and had a gap year before that influenced my opinion. The place seemed full of public school kids who really were a breed apart - I felt 'common' for the first time in my life, despite having gone to private school from the age of 10. The social composition put me in mind of how state school kids fear Oxbridge will be, but which it actually isn't. I was totallly unimpressed with the 11pm curfew and the banning of members of the oposite sex from even the communal areas of the Houses. The food was uninspiring to say the least (someone should really have told the kitchen staff that chicken is not the only meat). I was in the Beginners' class, and whilst my teacher, Antony Bowen, was fantastic, the Reading Greek Course leaves much to be desired. I could scarcely conceive of a more random method of teaching Greek if I tried, with grammar being introduced in a haphazard fashion rather than being presented in its entirety in neat, comprehensive tables. It seems that the experience is more enjoyable if you are studying proper Greek literature. The course was certainly not worth over £500, and I wouldn't chose to go again next year.

How right you are Sam... How could I forget my dear room-mate?! OK - there was one guy who always wore a suit/'proper' attire - but he was eccedingly eccentric and slightly crazy! But even still, at no point did he have a cane!! I must say, however, I was inquestionably dumbfounded when I discovered that he wanted to go to the fancy dress evening (Theme: Mind your Ps and Qs) as '"P"rince Harry in a Nazi Uniform', and then subsequently cried on the phone to his mother when he was forbidden from doing so by his tutor!! He was only comforted by the fact that his gun license had come through, and his dad was equally outraged by this prohibition - all completely true!! But I assure you, I reckon he must have been the only one...

Did he live in a castle or cave or what?

Your country has weird people.

Nope... But he did live on the Channel Islands, and goes to school (I thought he was in his late 30's when I met him, but he's actually just going into his upper sixth) and goes to school at Fettes College, which, apparently where Tony Blair went - very interesting...

Ok, I couldn't resist giving my own impression of Bryanston, which sadly was nowhere near as positive as that of others here. I do, however, suspect that the fact that I've already been at Cambridge for a year and had a gap year before that influenced my opinion. The place seemed full of public school kids who really were a breed apart - I felt 'common' for the first time in my life, despite having gone to private school from the age of 10. The social composition put me in mind of how state school kids fear Oxbridge will be, but which it actually isn't. I was totallly unimpressed with the 11pm curfew and the banning of members of the oposite sex from even the communal areas of the Houses. The food was uninspiring to say the least (someone should really have told the kitchen staff that chicken is not the only meat). I was in the Beginners' class, and whilst my teacher, Antony Bowen, was fantastic, the Reading Greek Course leaves much to be desired. I could scarcely conceive of a more random method of teaching Greek if I tried, with grammar being introduced in a haphazard fashion rather than being presented in its entirety in neat, comprehensive tables. It seems that the experience is more enjoyable if you are studying proper Greek literature. The course was certainly not worth over £500, and I wouldn't chose to go again next year.

Bryanston does seem a bit of a waste of money. I can't imagine you'd get all that much more out of it than you could get from a couple of weeks with the textbook and a pot of coffee.

I was in the Beginners' class, and whilst my teacher, Antony Bowen, was fantastic,

the Reading Greek Course leaves much to be desired. I could scarcely conceive of a more random method of teaching Greek if I tried, with grammar being introduced in a haphazard fashion rather than being presented in its entirety in neat, comprehensive tables.

Bryanston does seem a bit of a waste of money. I can't imagine you'd get all that much more out of it than you could get from a couple of weeks with the textbook and a pot of coffee.

But all the good times... All the friends; you have something in common with everyone... All the memories... But I can't get started again!!

Thank you for repping me and signing for it (you're the first); I have to say though, your post isn't exactly helpful now is it?

You'll get all that when you start at uni, though.