University of Cambridge Freshers Megathread 2017!

Really?! That's bizarre.

We had certain teachers who loved to wear their university gowns. Although none from UPen...

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It's a law school gown so it might be different system but yeah he wasn't allowed to keep the gown. He got to keep the hat though and his Columbia gown so I don't think it's an Ivy league system. It is kinda odd tbh.

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That's lawyers gowns, so different from a regular college/university gowns, I think.
I think they paid for rent, not to buy.

At Cambridge you hire a hood for graduation ceremony which is actually quite expensive for a few hours rent. (You'll have to return it by closing time of the shop on the same day)
You can pay even more to buy it if you want, but nobody does. It's much more expensive than gown itself......

Did normal high school teachers often wear gowns while teaching?

Yup, especially the chemistry teacher. Same gown, every day, for years... and he had a PhD. Although it was just a plain black gown, not his PhD gown.

In fact iirc he was a Cantab.

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Hey, guys, I was talking to someone who works at my college (Medwards) because I'm not a dress person, and a few others aren't either so they were wondering if they had to wear a dress. They said it's fine I can wear a shirt and formal trousers for pretty much everything at Medwards, but is it worth having a dress anyway for formal swaps at stricter colleges?

They had quite a few teachers who had PhD, some from Oxbridge, but none of them wore a gown in lessons. And it's quite old posh-ish private school.......
Was this chemistry teacher known for any other extravagant habit?

He was an excellent teacher although failed to convince me to take Chemistry A-level.

I did have a physics teacher who had a glass eye which he would take out every now and again for comic effect. The story is he lost his eye in a chemistry experiment at the school. I didn't know if the chemistry teacher was also involved

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a lot of people do this or they just keep it for souvenir purposes


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You don't have to wear a skirt/dress for anything, worry not.

Would be nice to meet up tbh

The idea of a get together in early october was bandied about a couple of times in the Offer Holders thread if i recall correctly. Woudlnt be surprised if it was a common thing to be honest.

What do you mean they had phased them out???? Did they try to be like King's, the only gown-free college with rebels???

Unless you're at King's, all undergraduates are required to wear a gown for formal occasions, starting with a matriculation dinner and ceremony.
But you can buy it when you get there. You'll have a few days until matriculation. Some colleges even have a gown sale in the college for their freshers.

Unless homerton has really become gown-free, its definitely worth buying your own. It'll turn out much cheaper (and easier) than having to hire it every time you need it, like formula/swaps/etc.

If you want to save money, you can usually find second-hand ones at the sale at your college, and sell yours when you graduate.

Thank you 😊 hopefully someone will clarify (at least) the Homerton situation !

I

When I was there Homerton was gown free. There was a gown available to buy (probably for formals at other colleges) but nobody that I remember wore a gown for the matriculation photo or matriculation dinner

"It is traditional for incoming students to have a group photo taken to commemorate their new status as college
members. The photograph, which will take place on the afternoon of the 6 th , will be a formal one and it is therefore important that you are dressed correctly. For example, shirts and ties with preferably a jacket or blouses or similar formal tops with smart trousers or skirts and smart shoes. Please ensure that you are dressed in the correct manner."

(Taken from: https://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/imce/admissions/docs/UG_WelcomeBooklet2016.pdf)

..............

Many colleges don't wear gowns for matriculation photo even though it's compulsory for matriculation dinner and ceremony.

I'll bump my old thread from last year with description of what they're wearing at matriculation photo at each college in a few days time.

I'm female, and I've graduated twice from Cambridge, and I wore trousers for both. The world has moved on, the law is quite clear on this, and Athena Swan, gender equality etc are very well established at Cambridge. You do not have to wear a skirt for graduation and it's absolutely no biggie, you aren't making any statement if you don't.

Yes, but Homerton didn't wear gowns for either the photo or the dinner in 2009 (there was no ceremony other than signing a piece of paper in regular clothes). According to the 2016 dinner invitation the dress code was lounge suits and formal dresses (here: https://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/imce/admissions/docs/UG_Matric%20Dinner%20Invitation%202016.pdf) - although obviously I can't say that gowns weren't asked for as I wasn't there and didn't receive the kind of information current students would have received.

Anyone buying gowns ? Hom has said they had phased them out once but the students are slowly bringing them back in. Just wondered how necessary it is to own one (only £35 apparently in the shops in the city centre).

(I'm a current Homerton student)
Gowns aren't mandatory at Homerton, but lots of people have them and wear them at formals. Look back at pictures, I reckon slightly fewer than 1/2 of last year's freshers had them for the matriculation dinner. I got mine for free off a family friend who'd graduated (from Homerton, gowns are college specific) so I don't know how easy they are to get second-hand or whether they're worth buying new. But £35 for something you get years of use out of sounds fairly reasonable.