The Cambridge Chat Thread

You have multiple Christmas Formals?
Which reminds me, I need to book into ours when the tickets are released.

okay wtf is going on. i applied to be a PS helper at the beginning of october. was i rejected?

Interesting. I don't have so many views on that, really. Its just a cultural preference. One of the things I found absolutely stifling about South Africa was homogeneity. One culture. One fashion. One outlook to life, and a complete intolerance and incomprehension of any abberation from the norm. America felt exactly like that. If you say anything slightly ironic, sarcastic, analytic or challenging to anything implied or taken for granted in a person's casual utterances you get either angry looks, confused anxious looks, or nervous smiles. Scary stuff!

Sheez, I hope that's true. Would give me some leeway. Bear in mind I've not 'heard' anything about the process. My DoS isn't really in the know. She gives great advice from an academic standpoint but isn't really too aware of the admissions process within the department (even if she were, she's Psychology and I'm Sociology) - and I'm not really part of a student grapevine. I haven't met many people in my year and on my papers who are applying. So I'm really just going on my own assumptions. And I did a paper based on research methods and design last year, so obviously that structures how I interpreted the requirements.

I don't actually feel so bad about writing about skills or interests. I think I'm more confident about that than I have been about the precise details of the research idea I have and its design. My course has prepared me quite well, I think, so I can get mileage waxing lyrical about that. I'll just need to take care not to slip over onto 4pages which would probably irritate them.

I imagine it depends on the company you keep; I have met some very intelligent, sharply interesting people from America, though I've not experienced enough of America to identify one culture. Of course, whether or not the Americans that I know, and am good friends with, represent a fair sample of attitudes I don't know. To be fair, I've had many occasions in the UK where sarcasm or 'wit' have fallen dead. But I don't see the EU as anything like a monoculture; this is precisely the myth that makes many people militate against it.

I too have little direction, but you seem to be putting a serious amount of effort into it, which is never a bad thing. Perhaps we're supposed to work on assumptions, this time. Luckily, too, I have a clear trajectory for what and where I want to research.*

*It's just a shame Afghanistan and Pakistan are out of bounds for now

I've also met open minded Americans, but the funny thing is they were all outside of America OR they were people who had travelled and spent a decent amount of time living somewhere other than America. All those I'd met who had never been out of the country, were quite the opposite. So it left me fairly pessimistic.

I guess that's more because I'm really anxious to optimise any chances of funding available, and from everything I've read the message is always strongly 'its down to how good your research proposal is, how well it matches the interests of your department, and how well it meets the priorities of a research council'. So while my project is broad and overlaps on lots of things, I'm taking every effort to try and subtley stress how hugely relevant it is to loads of things, which is quite tricky.

Hmm well I have a Pakistani SPS friend if you want a contact She tries to convince us that the bombs never really happen in her side of Karachi, and not to overexaggerate everything

Haha. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for going, but research bodies are not so keen. I talked to Lord Renfrew recently, the Emeritus professor of archaeology at Cambridge, who said, "well, we can't have you being shot can we? That would not be very good for you".

Actually, I cannot afford to get to America this winter, I've just discovered. This is troubling. Now how do I break this to my friend ...

I agree, it is stupidly expensive even just to travel internationally, let alone live once there. In fairness, this will give me the opportunity to focus on my dissertation research more thoroughly ...

I got the impression that going to America (for academic stuff, anyway) is a good idea because there are lots of people who are good at what they do there (since their universities have lots of money).

Also, isn't it sort of a good thing that it's expensive to travel internationally, since it discourages people from doing it unnecessarily?

Also, isn't it sort of a good thing that it's expensive to travel internationally, since it discourages people from doing it unnecessarily?

Hahah, yes. My entire Christmas holiday is going to be dissertation. But I'm much more behind than you have. I've collected books to be read but have barely read anything let alone write

I'm casting a mental veil over what my supervisor may have written about me in the reference, given that he hasn't seen the smallest indication of any work from me after agreeing to supervise the diss