Any Prospective St. John's (Cambridge) student?

Prospective St John's nat. sci. here, in the broadest sense of the word.

Probably not at all what you had in mind, but I will hopefully be starting a PhD in condensed-matter physics in October.

Not exactly what I was thinking of, but that's cool anyway, because I'm planning to specialise in physics at the end of my NatSci course. Are going to be living in St. John's?
I've heard stuffs about it being really stuck up, but I only applied there because the 2nd years get to live in a castle (I think there might be better reasons for choosing a college)

A castle? Really? I didn't know there was a castle in Cambridge. I will be getting accommodation from St. John's, but graduates typically don't live in the main college site itself. St. John's owns a number of graduate hostels, and I have to indicate my preference. I'd probably go for one of the Madingley Road hostels, since they're closest to the Cavendish Lab.

Hey,
I'm Sarah hopefully doing NatSci (grades permitting), starting next October. Do other prospective Johnians want to post here their name, location and subject?Then we can PM eachother, swap email addresses and get to know eachother a bit before October.
Are there any other Natscis who got into St John's?

I've heard stuffs about it being really stuck up, but I only applied there because the 2nd years get to live in a castle (I think there might be better reasons for choosing a college)

I'm at John's myself. We do have a bit of a bad rep but I wouldn't worry yourself about it if you're applying because it's unfounded IMO.

From my experience, John's is a really friendly place (wow, just like the prospectus said!) no one cares what type of school you went to. It also has better facilities than most colleges and a good social scene.

Yay, finally a native!

Could you possibly tell us a bit about the prices at John's (rent food etc.), or is that classified information since it isn't available on the website? What is going to happen in the way of introduction when we get there? Anything that you're willing to share basically.

Hi Sarah, I know I'm a bit late and I'm not sure if this thread is dead, but here is the information for what it's worth:
Name: Jens
Present location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Subject: Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic

Just out of curiosity, what subjects are you planning to take? All the Scandinavian ones, I suppose, since you're from Scandinavia yourself.

Well yes, I am rather inclined do do Ancient Norse etc., but I've actually found Old English to be similar to Danish (and German) to some extent, and I'm very interested in English culture, so I'll probably end up spreading myself over a fairly wide range... I'm not sure that English students necessarily limit themselves to their own native culture, and I'm not going to. With the number of available subjects I suppose it's more at question of choosing a couple that you won't take. I think I'm going to cut out the Latin subjects (because I've never had Latin at school), and concentrate most heavily on the Germanic side of things. Love those old poems about quaffing and fighting!

I'm not from Cambridge, so I'm not offering any course-specific advice, but I come from a background in historical and comparative philology, so I may be able to offer some advice on subject choice.

You've settled on Old English, which is an obvious choice, and, to match it, I would recommend Insular Latin. Here, I am assuming that you don't already have a background in Classical Latin. If you do, it would be fairly easy to pick up on Insular Latin, so choose another subject instead. I cannot emphasise too much the importance of Latin in this field. It is absolutely essential if you wish to pursue further studies or research in the field, for there are many mediaeval documents written in Latin that are relevant to ASNC. If at all possible, I would strongly advise you to learn Modern German, at least to a rudimentary level, perhaps through the Cambridge Language Centre.

Note that the above advice is given without knowing which particular field of ASNC you wish to specialise in. If it is Anglo-Saxon studies, give more weight to Scandinavian topics (i.e., Scandinavian history, Old Norse) over Celtic topics. Clearly, if you wish to specialise in Celtic studies, then Mediaeval Welsh and Irish would most be useful, as well as Britonnic and Gaelic history. Here, the acquisition of Latin is less important, but still recommended.

Palaeography is less important than Latin, but no less essential if you plan to undertake research in the area. Any non-trivial study of the field would most likely require you to be able to read mediaeval manuscripts, and studying palaeography would help immensely. Note tha palaeography isn't simply the study of old handwriting: it is a broad field covering many topics like manuscript conventions, textual authenticity, etc.

I wouldn't worry too much about the languages going pear-shaped too much. Latin is taxing on the memory, but, in many ways, Insular and Mediaeval Latin are more straightforward than classical Latin, and shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Old English is quite easy to learn, although the syntax can be quirky.

The main problem you're going to encounter is variation: variation through time and space, i.e., regional variation in Old English and its evolution through time, as well as internal variation, i.e., arbitrary and non-significant differences in spelling and grammar, etc., that may be present in a single document, often due to lack of standardisation. These variations can be most frustrating when trying to decipher a document, especially if it is a manuscript text in illegible handwriting. At the beginning, though, you would most likely be reading redacted texts where spelling has been regularised, etc.

My recommendation, then, or rather, the subjects I would choose in your position, are:

Old English
Insular Latin
palaeography
Anglo-Saxon history
Scandinavian history
Old Norse

If you feel you won't be able to cope with a third language, then perhaps substitute another history (I would go for Brittonic over Gaelic here, though the latter is perhaps more relevant to-day) for Old Norse.

Keep in mind that I am not from an ASNC background, but rather one of philology (historical and comparative) and history (late antiquities and early middle ages), so my advice may be a little biased.

Hmm... not knowing anything about your interests, I would strongly recommend Latin, especially since you said you did not do Latin at school. Below is something I posted before, in another thread, which you may be interested in having a look at. It's probably doesn't directly apply to your situation, but still has some relevance, I think.

Thanks for the advice...

The reason I thought that I would stay away from Latin is that I think I read somewhere that previous knowledge of Latin would be more or less required. If this isn't true then I might go for it.