Christ&#x27;s College (Cambridge) Students and Applicants

Original post by kpatb

I loved the room that I was staying at for interview, BUT I disliked the fact that my room was on King's Street. As a person who lives in a very quiet part of town, it was difficult having a car drive by every 2 minutes and then putting up with rather amusing but drunk people outside my window at 3am :P

Yay! It sounds amazing :smile:

A random, arbitrary choice? Well lucky you, seems like you made the right choice.
I know someone at Corpus, they find it a bit small. I also vaguely know someone at Trinity, but it's huge. But he likes that kind of buzzing atmosphere - I don't think I could handle being in a large college.

:biggrin:

Wheee 6 and a half months to go!

A fair few rooms do face either Hobson Street or King Street but you get used to the noise after a week or so. I had a room facing Hobson last year and after a week, i slept through the night noise.

My choice was based on the fact i went to a wedding reception in Christ's when i was 10 and wanted to see if it looked the same as i remembered :smile:

Reply 902

Scade

Original post by kpatb

Oh, well, I was speaking hypothetically, because I really doubt I'd get a first anyway xD
Congratulations on receiving a First!

That's what I thought. :cool:

I loved the room that I was staying at for interview, BUT I disliked the fact that my room was on King's Street. As a person who lives in a very quiet part of town, it was difficult having a car drive by every 2 minutes and then putting up with rather amusing but drunk people outside my window at 3am :P

Yay! It sounds amazing :smile:

A random, arbitrary choice? Well lucky you, seems like you made the right choice.
I know someone at Corpus, they find it a bit small. I also vaguely know someone at Trinity, but it's huge. But he likes that kind of buzzing atmosphere - I don't think I could handle being in a large college.

:biggrin:

Wheee 6 and a half months to go!

As said, after a while the noise isn't really troubling at all. My room is facing Hobson street (where the smoking area/back exit of one of the main clubs is) and hardly find it a problem. It is only slightly annoying when I'm working at 2 or 3 am and hear the distracting noises from drunken people having fun and me working instead, but that isn't really a problem.

However, there are plenty of rooms which don't face either of the streets and should be rather quiet (obviously unless someone of your neighbours is having a party).

Reply 903

If you live in that very modern building (I think it´s called New Court), do you still get that "cambridge "feeling? (I mean the feeling of a lot of history around you etc.)

Reply 904

SimonM

18

Original post by Welsh Lady

If you live in that very modern building (I think it´s called New Court), do you still get that "cambridge "feeling? (I mean the feeling of a lot of history around you etc.)

Yes. You still spend a huge amount of time seeing historical parts of Cambridge, but tbh most students get over it pretty quick

Reply 905

Do you know anything about the interview/admission tests for Music at Christ`s ?
If I have unterstood the information sheet correctly, there are no written tests.
Do you know if this is right?
It would be too good to be true :biggrin:

Or the interview might compensate that of course :tongue:

Reply 906

Original post by Welsh Lady

Do you know anything about the interview/admission tests for Music at Christ`s ?
If I have unterstood the information sheet correctly, there are no written tests.
Do you know if this is right?
It would be too good to be true :biggrin:

Or the interview might compensate that of course :tongue:

I'm not a music student so can't help from experience of any sort but what does the sheet say? It's quite possible that there is no written test - admissions don't tend to have one set outline throughout the Cambridge colleges.

Reply 907

Original post by Welsh Lady

Do you know anything about the interview/admission tests for Music at Christ`s ?
If I have unterstood the information sheet correctly, there are no written tests.
Do you know if this is right?
It would be too good to be true :biggrin:

Or the interview might compensate that of course :tongue:

I would have thought that every college makes you do some harmony/coutnerpoint/Bach Chorale-ish stuff, but that might not be the case at Christ's.
The Undergraduate Website does say that you do need to submit a school or college essay - it doesn't say anything about entrance tests, so you probably don't need to do one :smile:

(But I'm not a music student, so I'm not a 100% sure)

Reply 908

Thanks for answering my question!

It would be great not having to do a written test :biggrin:

The problem is that we don´t do counterpoint or harmony-stuff at school. :s-smilie:

I do some self-teaching but as I don´t have anyone to correct my exercises I´m not sure if I have understood everything correctly what is told in the books :frown:

Reply 909

Original post by Welsh Lady

Thanks for answering my question!

It would be great not having to do a written test :biggrin:

The problem is that we don´t do counterpoint or harmony-stuff at school. :s-smilie:

I do some self-teaching but as I don´t have anyone to correct my exercises I´m not sure if I have understood everything correctly what is told in the books :frown:

Do you do A level music? If you do A level music, you will definitely have to do some basic harmony work for your AS exam in any case...
Trying some grade 6 and 7 ABRSSM theory would also be quite helpful too :smile:

I would definitely try some harmony/counterpoint stuff before you go for an interview though.
When I was thinking about doing Music at university my piano teacher said that I would have to be comfortable with grade 6 theory as well as some other harmony/counterpoint work :smile:

You should ask some teachers in your school if they can check your work - or how about if you have an instrumental teacher, ask that person if they can go through your work?

By essay/written work, check what the college would like you to send in though. It would be terrible if you had to send something in on short notice. This year, the college wanted the following from Applicants for Music:

" two recent marked pieces of work; a piece of harmony and/or one of your own compositions, AND an essay"

This may change from year to year but hopefully that will provide you a good idea of the kind of work you will be expected to submit.

But yes, no written tests ftw! :biggrin:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 910

Original post by kpatb

Do you do A level music? If you do A level music, you will definitely have to do some basic harmony work for your AS exam in any case...
Trying some grade 6 and 7 ABRSSM theory would also be quite helpful too :smile:

I would definitely try some harmony/counterpoint stuff before you go for an interview though.
When I was thinking about doing Music at university my piano teacher said that I would have to be comfortable with grade 6 theory as well as some other harmony/counterpoint work :smile:

You should ask some teachers in your school if they can check your work - or how about if you have an instrumental teacher, ask that person if they can go through your work?

By essay/written work, check what the college would like you to send in though. It would be terrible if you had to send something in on short notice. This year, the college wanted the following from Applicants for Music:

" two recent marked pieces of work; a piece of harmony and/or one of your own compositions, AND an essay"

This may change from year to year but hopefully that will provide you a good idea of the kind of work you will be expected to submit.

But yes, no written tests ftw! :biggrin:

Thanks so much :^_^:

Well, I do continue with Music for my final two years at school, but as I´m from Germany (my nickname is slightly confusing, I know) it´s a bit different here.
We have to take about 10 subjects, so we can´t specialize at all. I do only have two music lessons each week, and we do basic stuff only. REALLY basic stuff.
We will definitely do no counterpoint /harmony at all :banghead:

And I am a bit reluctant to ask my violin or piano teacher correct my stuff.
Concerning playing my instruments I´m not much of a pro, so they might think I´m manic to dream of studying music.
It would be so embarassing. :frown:

I know, this might not be understandable for an "outsider" :colondollar:

It´s a bit complicated. I admire my violin teacher, who is my music teacher at the same time, so much. but he is quite unapprochable sometimes.
And my piano teacher is like my second father, so I don´t want to put in the situtaion of having to tell me that he thinks that my chances are rather low.
It´s hard for people here to understand all the Cambridge-stuff.
But in the end I will have to talk with them I suppose....

Maybe I should just take French instead of Music. It would definitely be a lot easier to get all that essay stuff sorted out.
But I ´d really rather do Music. :musicus:

Sry for troubeling you with my personal worries !

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 911

Original post by Welsh Lady

Maybe you should pose your question to students on the music thread? There are probably more people there who could answer your question better than I could :P

But here's what I think anyway:

I think if you are doing some harmony work, you NEED someone to correct it - get one of your either your violin or piano teachers to do it. The way you speak of them, you should probably ask your piano teacher. But since your violin teacher is also your music teacher, it's really his/her job to look after you :P

I REALLY doubt that they're going to tell you that you don't have a chance. Pluck up the courage and go talk to them :smile:

Do they not know yet that you're applying for music? They should :P They're probably the two key people in your musical life, so they should definitely know and you should ask them to support you and do it soon! :smile:

AlSO, You don't have to be an uber awesome performer because all the performance modules are optional at Cambridge (or so I hear) . So don't let the fact that you aren't 'pro' put you off :smile:

Applying to Christ's might be a good thing in that there are no admissions tests, so if any questions come up about harmony or counterpoint during an interview and you're struggling you could just spend 30 seconds explaining that you do very little of this stuff at school.

Finally, do not apply for French just because it's easier to get in for or something like that. People always talk about Cambridge looking for passion in a subject, and if music is where your heart is at, it will show at interview. So don't apply for a subject that you don't truly love :smile:

No problem.

Reply 912

You have been incredible helpful, thank you so much!

And you´re absolutely right, I´ll talk to my music teacher soon.
As he is the conductor of my choir , too, and our choir is travelling to Hungary next week, I might get a good chance to discuss my plans with him :wink:

Unfortunately, there seems no one to be around on TSR who is studying Music at Cam, but I guess I´ll contact the people of the "Ask a student section" of the Students`Union or however it´s called.
They might be able to answer any specific questions more easily :wink:

Reply 913

Original post by Welsh Lady

Maybe I should just take French instead of Music. It would definitely be a lot easier to get all that essay stuff sorted out.
But I ´d really rather do Music. :musicus:

Sry for troubbeling you with my personal worries !

If you'd prefer music, do music. For one thing, as kpatb said, you have to be passionate about the subject you apply for. For the other, if you were planning to then switch, it's not as easy as people make out. The individual DoS has to let you swap and they may set some kind of test or re-interview you: for example, I know at Newnham that anyone who wishes to switch to Law has to undergo an interview with the Newnham DoS and she's, apparently, quite fussy. If you wanted to switch after a year, you have to get a 2.1 in your first year (at least) and still undergo potential tests.

Reply 914

Original post by gethsemane342

If you'd prefer music, do music. For one thing, as kpatb said, you have to be passionate about the subject you apply for. For the other, if you were planning to then switch, it's not as easy as people make out. The individual DoS has to let you swap and they may set some kind of test or re-interview you: for example, I know at Newnham that anyone who wishes to switch to Law has to undergo an interview with the Newnham DoS and she's, apparently, quite fussy. If you wanted to switch after a year, you have to get a 2.1 in your first year (at least) and still undergo potential tests.

Ok, I´ll definitely try to cram all that harmony and counterpoint stuff in my head so I have a chance to get into the Music course :tongue:

Do you think it might be sensible to contact the admissions office and explain my situation? Maybe they can give me some advice on how to prepare? :K:

Reply 915

Original post by Welsh Lady

Do you think it might be sensible to contact the admissions office and explain my situation? Maybe they can give me some advice on how to prepare? :K:

Actually in my previous post I forgot to say this, but yes. If your situation is a bit awkward just explain to them what's going on and maybe they could give you advice?
There's so much information on the web nowadays that some extreme-googling should give you lots of information on what sort of preparation you should be looking to do :smile:

Reply 916

Original post by Welsh Lady

Ok, I´ll definitely try to cram all that harmony and counterpoint stuff in my head so I have a chance to get into the Music course :tongue:

Do you think it might be sensible to contact the admissions office and explain my situation? Maybe they can give me some advice on how to prepare? :K:

That could be an idea. Chances are, they know how the German system works (in fact, almost certainly) but possibly not the specific details. Worst comes to the worst, they'll just say they can't give you advice.

Reply 917

Hey there,

I think I need your help once more :tongue:

Do you think it might be possible to get accomodation at Christ´s for 17th-18th June?
And which e-mail adress should I use to contact them and ask? I´m slightly confused :confused:

Thanks a lot :biggrin:

Reply 918

Ray_Han