The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

thanks for the link, that does look interesting.

But does anyone know what course code I should enter in ucas? Surely it would be a little silly to just all apply for "Modern Languages"?

Reply 1841

*River

15

afua12

thanks for the link, that does look interesting.

But does anyone know what course code I should enter in ucas? Surely it would be a little silly to just all apply for "Modern Languages"?

From Durham's website:
Courses in each of the languages are available as follows:
Arabic Beginners only
French Post-A Level only German Post-A Level only Italian Post-A Level and Beginners Russian Post-A Level and Beginners Spanish Post-A Level and Beginners How the degree is constructed

The degree course lasts four years, with the third year spent abroad. The programme structure is extremely flexible. You can study one, two or three languages from the six main languages offered by the School: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. At least one language must be studied post-A Level. You may also study one or even two new languages in beginners' courses, although you cannot begin two of the main languages at beginners’ level in the same year.
All Durham degrees are made up of eighteen modules, six taken in each year in Durham. For the Modern Languages degree:

•

You must take at least two modules in each main language that you study.

•

You must take the 'core language module' in each main language that you study.

•

At the end of the first year you must pass an examination or other form of prescribed assessment in each module that you have taken.

If you wish to study only one language, you will take 4 modules in it in each of your first and second years, and all 6 modules in your final year. In your first and second years, you will study a subsidiary subject chosen from outside the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. NB: it may be possible to begin a second language in your second year in place of an outside subsidiary subject.
If you wish to study two languages, you can, depending on which languages you choose, study them in equal proportions (3 modules in each), or in the proportion 4+2. These proportions may in most cases be varied from year to year of your course and in some cases you can decide to drop one of your two languages in the final year. If you study two of the main languages of the School you may not take a subsidiary subject from outside Modern Languages and Cultures; such a combination is possible only within the Combined Studies programme.
If you wish to study three languages, you must study them in the proportion 2+2+2. If you study three languages in your first year, you may reduce the number in later years of your course. It is also possible to move from two languages in your first year to three in your second by taking up a new language as a beginner in the second year.
Please note that we regard three-language courses as very demanding.
---

So yes, I would have thought you need to enter the MFL undergraduate code into UCAS. Becca graduated last year with a degree in MFL, and I'm sure she'd be happy to help you if you have any queries about the course.

Reply 1842

tommy.789

1

Just wondering about the uni exams in the summer. Do we need to remember facts and figures and cite info that we may have read elsewhere with the old bracket and date thing or is it ok to make general statements unlike in coursework essays?

Reply 1843

*River

15

tommy.789

Just wondering about the uni exams in the summer. Do we need to remember facts and figures and cite info that we may have read elsewhere with the old bracket and date thing or is it ok to make general statements unlike in coursework essays?

Which subject?

Exam essays are a completely different beast to coursework ones. They're much more about being flexible with your knowledge and using what you already know to answer the question than doing lots of research a well thought out conclusion.

Facts and figures will help you will your answer, but as I'm sure you've worked out by now you don't get credit for citing them in coursework essays, only the way that you analyze them or fit them into your argument. You'll probably get away with some more general statements, as long as your entire essay isn't built on generalizations.

Reply 1844

Foxius

Where the hell has the General Chat thread gone?!

Reply 1845

Aula

18

Foxius

Where the hell has the General Chat thread gone?!

Current students bit.
in here

Reply 1846

Tallulah G

How do people find sharing a room? I can see the advantages in terms of a ready made friend for freshers week, and someone to kick you out of bed each morning, plus bigger rooms (and a higher chance of getting into the castle!) but does it not get annoying to not have any privacy? Also what happens when you need to pull an all nighter to get a piece of work done (I know from my experience at LSE that this is a very frequent occurence!!!)? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep if my room mate was up with the light on tapping away at their laptop, and I'd feel really guilty if I had to do it to them! Is this a genuine problem or am I just being paranoid?

Reply 1847

River85

17

Tallulah G

Also what happens when you need to pull an all nighter to get a piece of work done (I know from my experience at LSE that this is a very frequent occurence!!!)? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep if my room mate was up with the light on tapping away at their laptop, and I'd feel really guilty if I had to do it to them! Is this a genuine problem or am I just being paranoid?

I've never lived in any college accomodation, let alone shared, but when it comes to a roomate doing an all nighter than can always go to the ITS suitey thing (that's open 24 hours, isn't it? It used be be anyway)

Reply 1848

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

River85

I've never lived in any college accomodation, let alone shared, but when it comes to a roomate doing an all nighter than can always go to the ITS suitey thing (that's open 24 hours, isn't it? It used be be anyway)

The college libraries are - so no real need to go to the ITS thing (not sure if it is 24/7 any more)

Reply 1849

Wez

14

Tallulah G

How do people find sharing a room? I can see the advantages in terms of a ready made friend for freshers week, and someone to kick you out of bed each morning, plus bigger rooms (and a higher chance of getting into the castle!) but does it not get annoying to not have any privacy?

I didn't really find that. Most people spend a lot of time outside of their rooms (or at least should) so you'll have lots of time alone then and you can always just lock you door. It's not much different from a single room where everyone constantly knocks on your door anyway!

Also what happens when you need to pull an all nighter to get a piece of work done (I know from my experience at LSE that this is a very frequent occurence!!!)? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep if my room mate was up with the light on tapping away at their laptop, and I'd feel really guilty if I had to do it to them! Is this a genuine problem or am I just being paranoid?

This is never a problem really. All colleges have libraries. It's standard to do all nighters in the library if you have a room mate. There's usually 3-4 people doing them there + the nocturnal kids (you know the type...).

Reply 1850

River85

17

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

The college libraries are - so no real need to go to the ITS thing (not sure if it is 24/7 any more)

I forgot about the college libraries actually :laugh:

Never really used mine (as it isn't too good).

So the ITS suite isn't open 24/7 anymore? If not that's a shame. It was always my backup in case I missed the last bus home. Get the train to Durham and hide in there the rest of the night.

Reply 1851

Tallulah G

Thank you for all your answers :smile:

Next question lol! I've heard people talking about not going to formals - Castle have them twice a week (I think?) so if sometimes you can't be bothered with dressing up, do the colleges provide other food those evenings?

Reply 1852

Tallulah G

Wez

This is never a problem really. All colleges have libraries. It's standard to do all nighters in the library if you have a room mate. There's usually 3-4 people doing them there + the nocturnal kids (you know the type...).

How safe is it to wander around Durham at night? As in, if an all nighter turned out not to be a full all nighter and you wanted to go to get some sleep, would there be people around or porters to walk you back to your room or something? Just cause I know at Castle there's a very strong chance of living outside of the Castle away from things like the library and don't want to go wandering around a dark city on my own at 4am!

Reply 1853

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

Tallulah G

How safe is it to wander around Durham at night? As in, if an all nighter turned out not to be a full all nighter and you wanted to go to get some sleep, would there be people around or porters to walk you back to your room or something? Just cause I know at Castle there's a very strong chance of living outside of the Castle away from things like the library and don't want to go wandering around a dark city on my own at 4am!

Its perfectly safe pretty much, there are a few places to avoid if you are paranoid (not that you would need to go there anyway), but asides that then you are very safe.

Reply 1854

Wez

14

Tallulah G

How safe is it to wander around Durham at night? As in, if an all nighter turned out not to be a full all nighter and you wanted to go to get some sleep, would there be people around or porters to walk you back to your room or something? Just cause I know at Castle there's a very strong chance of living outside of the Castle away from things like the library and don't want to go wandering around a dark city on my own at 4am!

For a start most college libraries are very close to your accomodation (otherwise they would be pointless - why not go to the main library?)

Even if you live far away Durham is incredibly safe at night. There are loads of stories about students getting fed to lions by locals etc. but if you compare the rowdiest place in Durham (North Road - which incidentally is no-where near any college library) to a normal city centre it's really not that bad. I don't think there are any porters to walk you back (I'm sure if you're really worried though they would) but there is a night bus. But in all honesty, you should be fine walking around at night. The route between Castle accomodation and the Castle library is really very safe.

Reply 1855

generic hybrid

17

I think there was an incident last year where they thought a student had been mugged but it turned out he'd actually fallen over while drunk or something.

Durham is very safe.

Reply 1856

LastGrape

1

I know a local who did actually go out looking for students to throw off Prebends Bridge etc.
He did that ~20 years ago, annd it's all changed very much (The Wear is also no longer black from collapsed under-river coal mines).

Ignore stupid mis-informed comments and go into The Fighting Cocks for a drink (or even 2 for £6 brilliant pub lunch), student nights are Wednesday and Monday.
I wouldn't go to that pub (or any Durham club) on Friday/Saturday nights, it's too busy with drunk locals and students will stick to college ents at the weekend anyway. North Road to the Market Square can be a place to avoid Friday/Saturday night, but I do walk through there when I'm going to someone's house. I wouldn't plan to hang about, but it nothing too bad should happen, normally a police van is present on Framwell Gate Bridge. Loveshack area can also be bad.

I really didn't like the look of Gilesgate(out of town, so cheap studeent houses), but it's a look and much safer than other cities.

Reply 1857

Herbie198

afua12

thanks for the link, that does look interesting.

But does anyone know what course code I should enter in ucas? Surely it would be a little silly to just all apply for "Modern Languages"?

This is a little late but i'm a Modern languages student at Durham. I think the course code is R000, and yes, you do apply for "Modern Languages" because you're applying to the Modern Languages department, not to German for example because at Durham you can study up to 3 languages. If you're doing single honours or joint honours in languages it's all "Modern Languages and Cultures".

You should apply for that even if you only want to study one language. However, the large majority of people study 2/3 languages. The problem arises in that most departments will not have the modules available for you to study at single honours level in first year - you need 6 modules and only one will be grammar.

Durham do give you great flexibility in what you study though. You could study german and italian for beignners (if you've not studied it before) in first year, then in second year do german and spanish (if you've not studied it before) and then either continue with german and second year spanish or soley german in your final year. If that makes sense!

Reply 1858

River85

17

generic hybrid

I think there was an incident last year where they thought a student had been mugged but it turned out he'd actually fallen over while drunk or something.

Was that the guy who fell down some steps and was found at the bottom, unconscious? He was in a serious condition for a few months and the police and university kept sending out emails asking for witness'. There was also CCTV footage on DUO? Is he OK? I haven't heard anything in ages.

Or was that another guy?

Reply 1859

Hopping Mad Kangaroo

15

River85

Was that the guy who fell down some steps and was found at the bottom, unconscious? He was in a serious condition for a few months and the police and university kept sending out emails asking for witness'. There was also CCTV footage on DUO? Is he OK? I haven't heard anything in ages.

Or was that another guy?

Same guy - basically they want the witnesses to save him the embarrassment...

The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

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