The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

I heard that Saint johns college is Christianity based? And people


Posted from TSR Mobile

I am offer holder at Saint John and I was little worried.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Ah ok, I wouldn't be too worried. Lots of the colleges have what they variously describe as a Christian ethos or character for historical reasons, but realistically it has very little impact on students who don't want it to be a part of their experience! Most of the time it has no impact at all, and there are alternatives if you want them (other religious/ non religious groups as I have mentioned). Basically lots of the colleges have reputations associated with them, often for historical reasons (some have reputations for being posh, others full of party animals, others where only religious people go, others where only girls go - pretty much all of which are largely untrue now). Because of changes in admissions these reputations are even less true than they were a few years ago, so basically anyone will be happy in any college - there are great opportunities and people in all of them!

Hopefully that has made you less worried!

I read with interest all your posts
May I ask which are the reputations of St.Cuthbert's?I was allocated there.My course is MChem,I intend to go to Japanese classes in year 1 and 2,I prefer catered/ensuite Bailey and I want to go to swimming pool at least twice a week.Not a big party fan, sociable but not drinker
Thanks a lot

Cuths (as far as I know) doesn't have that much of a 'reputation' as such which is probably a good thing! Most of the 'reputations' are based on negative aspects of colleges that people used to make jokes of. Cuths is a lovely college though and is very friendly by all accounts! As you've seen they do have a separate accommodation site which is part catered, but that is also in a nice location and you get to express a preference when accommodation is sorted! From what I've heard people still feel like one big community though no matter what site they're on. It's a really nice college from what I gather - but to be honest pretty much everyone loves their college anyway no matter where they go!

Japanese classes shouldn't be a problem - depending on timetabling and module choices you may even be able to do it as part of your degree (ie. so it counts) - this is almost certainly possible in year 1 and very likely in year 2 although timetable constraints tend to be a little more important in year 2. Even if not though, the language school offers optional language classes during spare time where you can get language qualifications so you should be sorted whatever! Durham has a pool at Freeman's Quay that offers a swim for around £2-3 a time from what I remember, but also has the options of pretty well priced student memberships if you want to go frequently. And as for being social etc. Durham student population is diverse and living in college means you can make friends with like minded people really quickly, so it's very easy to find someone who enjoys the same level of partying/ drinking which is great!

Hi all! I originally received an offer to study English Literature but managed to change my course to Combined Hons in Arts as I wanted to study Spanish alongside English Lit. I was just wondering whether there is anyone who could tell me of their experiences studying Combined Hons, pros and cons?

Also my allocated college (first choice St Chads) is Collingwood which by the look of things is pretty much almost the opposite of St Chads! Just wondering if anyone was perhaps in the same position as me? And what it's like being at a bigger college? I'm also very interested in knowing if there are any literary related societies?

Last question I promise! What's it like being a Durham uni student? And what is Durham's international reputation? It's probably too early to be thinking but if in the future I decided to do a postgrad say in America, is an undergraduate degree from Durham highly regarded? Obviously one from Oxbridge would be but where does Durham stand in this regard?

Thanks for any answers anyone can give me and sorry for the 20Qs!!

I'm doing Combined Honours (History, French and Italian) and it's a good course but the organisation is a nightmare. The departments don't talk to each other and the head of Combined Honours doesn't want to know. I didn't have a timetable for the first week of Michaelmas Term, and lots of people are having issues registering for second year modules because the timetable hasn't been released yet, so they can't tell whether their modules in departments which require early registration are going to class with the rest of their modules. You also have the standard problem of trying to divide your time between different subjects, which means you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin (although with only two subjects you'd probably be ok).

English has specific compulsory modules which you'll need to take in 1st year to be able to continue into second and third year, so make sure you start planning well in advance so that you don't accidentally block yourself out of something you're really interested in.

Pros, of course, are the flexibility and the link between departments. Just be aware that you might spend most of freshers' jumping through organisational hoops.

Lots of people are allocated to bigger colleges from the bailey, and the vast majority end up loving their allocated college. Have you had a look at the college allocation thread? You can find out a bit more about Collingwood over there.

There's an English society and probably others- I'm not interested in literature so I can't help you much there, but have a google and see what you can find.

'What's it like being a Durham uni student' is a very broad question. Can you narrow it down a bit? What do you want to know? Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's great, sometimes it's stressful (my exams start on Tuesday and I'm woefully unprepared), sometimes you never want to leave and sometimes you find yourself counting down the days until you can go home. It's a great university.

Internationally Durham has a decent reputation, but it depends which subject you'd be looking at. It certainly won't hinder your chances of doing postgrad abroad though- lots of our students go on to do a masters after they graduate.

Thank you so much for such an in depth answer! That's some really good advice, I will definitely make sure to be aware of the organisation etc. Yes, as of yet I'm only interested in English and Spanish and perhaps Catalan but I'd rather stick to the two. I was just wondering, how does it work with your year abroad? Since you study Italian and French I assume you'll spend time in both countries? And I hope you don't mind me asking, but had you previously studied both languages or were you allowed to take Italian/French ab initio? Also what sort of things can you do on the year abroad, is it quite varied?

I'll definitely take a look at the college allocation thread. I suppose what I mean is what's it like studying there. I decided not to opt Oxford so I suppose I'm just wondering how it compares stress/workload? Is it a very demanding uni to be at? Good luck with your exams by the way!

No problem!

Catalan I think you pick up in year 2 so you don't need to make a decision on that yet. I'd love to learn though, my cousins are Catalonian and I always feel awful that they have to speak English with us.

Yep, I'm spending time in both Italy and a Francophone country (probably France). For Spanish you might have less flexibility- I don't know whether English would want you to study at a university instead of allowing you to have free reign. That's complete speculation though and with a whole year you'll have time to do everything you want to do. Some people study at a university, some work (teaching English is popular), some people volunteer... it's really varied and the university has a Year Abroad Office which helps you get everything sorted in year 2.

I'm doing French post-A level (it's not offered ab initio) and Italian from scratch (but I cheated a bit and spent my gap year there so the only new thing I've learnt this year is vocab and the imperfect subjunctive, although obviously my grammar has still improved). You can only take a language ab initio if you're already studying one post-A level though.

I turned down a Cambridge offer to come here so obviously I think it's a good university! Workload is variable, honestly, especially for your subjects. You'll only have about 10 hours of contact time a week but you'll have reading and essays. The worst thing for me is that we only have 2 hours a week of contact time for languages (1 hour grammar and 1 hour oral), which was down from 7 hours a week in sixth form for me, and honestly I'm pushing for more contact time because you can't learn a language on two hours a week, even with independent work. Next year I'm going to work harder right from the start to consolidate my French- this year I got myself so worked up over the fact that my French was getting worse that I ended up unable to speak French at all because it made me so anxious, which obviously isn't ideal! So I suppose that's a long way of saying that the amount of work depends on the amount you want to put in. And, of course, the more you do during the year the less you'll have to cram for exams!

I probably worked the hardest out of all my friends this year- first year doesn't count towards your degree so most people are happy just to feel comfortable and enjoy themselves a bit. It'll step up a bit next year though. It is still a demanding university- it wouldn't be fifth in the country if it wasn't- and although my Oxbridge friends work harder than I do there also isn't a huge gap between our work loads, considering that they only have 8-week terms.

Same, I can't wait for the opportunity to learn! My dad's Spanish and I was born near Barcelona. I'm pretty fluent in Spanish having lived there until I was 6 and I was as fluent as a 6 year old can be in Catalan! Alas I've completely forgotten Catalan apart from a few words, I'm hoping there'll be some trigger when learning it again!

Your year abroad sounds amazing

Aaaah I'm so glad I'm in a similar position as someone else, I was getting a bit worried that I'd made a mistake but my gut tells me no. It's also good to have some confirmation of it haha! I just love the sound of combined honours so much! At Oxford it was single honours English. Which is great just not 100% me. Yeah, those contact hours sound pretty grim. I don't have too many contact hours in sixth form now (3 hours a week) but I can't really complain because I have my family to practice on! Thanks for all your help, I honestly feel a lot more at ease! So many huge decisions at the moment that you can't help having existential crises and questioning everything Thanks

Wow, I'm jealous, you must have a huge advantage over everyone else! Your Catalan should come back fairly quickly, and you've been speaking Spanish for so long that you won't get too mixed up between them either.

The Combined course was what made the decision for me, honestly. I didn't want all the literature of the Cambridge MML course and I would have missed being able to do history. This is a much more flexible programme, which I prefer. I do sometimes wonder whether I made the right decision, but only because it was such a huge choice to make.

Glad I could help feel free to ask if you have any more questions, this thread was a lifesaver for me before I got here