The Cambridge Chat Thread

generalebriety

If you'll forgive me a somewhat tangential rant: I realise that I'm in the minority here, but I love Cambridge because it challenges and stretches me and because I find the material fascinating, and for no other reason; I'd never want to have gone anywhere else. Job prospects were never even vaguely in the back of my mind (and, worryingly enough, still aren't). Cheesy but true. Had I just wanted a job and not cared about this stuff, I'd have gone to Warwick or Bristol, or another excellent university which is almost as prestigious but where the workload is half the intensity. I don't understand why anyone would put themselves through the pressure of Cambridge otherwise.

Have you graduated now?

Most of this stuff is true for me as well, but I find I'm less keen on some bits of maths now than I was at school, just because it's at such a pace it seems less fun than it used to, so sometimes I feel somewhere going a slower pace might've kept my enthusiasm more.
Also I could do without feeling inadequate constantly :p:

Reply 1482

Chewwy

17

mwiko

Oo er.. what have I started..
Don't get me wrong, I love cambridge! I like being challenged and stretched and so on and appreciate all the opportunities available [and have tried to take as many of them as possible].. and I never considered career prospects when I applied/accepted. Not one bit.. but as the three years seem to be going past very quickly [Craggy is right, I'm going into 3rd year - law firms recruit 2 years in advance] I've been forced to think about the whole job thing.
And, whilst it would be lovely to live off the satisfaction that I get from being pushed and pulled and torn to shreds at cambridge, it isn't really going to pay off the debt.. especially when I will have to pay another couple of thousand to do a course to qualify as anything useful in the legal sector. Hence why getting a job lined up is kind of necessary.. And that's where all the 'why did I bother' come in.. when I can't even get an invite to an assessment centre.. never mind being given an interview.. I do wonder if 'Cantab', and the extra effort that goes into studying here, holds any weight with the recruiters. I feel especially ashamed when everyone tells me how easily I will land a training contract/pupillage/whatever, going to cambridge and all, and it just isn't true for me [although it seems to be for everyone else in the history of cambridge, ever].

But like I said earlier, I know it's all my own fault. And I'm clearly doing something very wrong.

as the resident career obsessed person of this thread, i thought i would comment....

it's really easy to get a job. the cambridge thing holds a lot of weight for getting your foot in the door. if you can't get AC invites, there is something wrong with your CV. have you not done any internship-type things? if not, you should have, it's not like they don't advertise enough.

anyway, like i said, it's really easy to get some job - there are thousands of firms aside from those big famous names with established grad programmes. you just have to let them know you exist.

Reply 1483

mwiko

law firms recruit 2 years in advance

Ah, that explains it. :s-smilie:

mwiko

But like I said earlier, I know it's all my own fault. And I'm clearly doing something very wrong.

It might well be your own fault - but that doesn't mean it can't be easily corrected. Perhaps you've just not written your CV correctly or something, who knows. (Have you tried the CV help section of TSR? I don't know anything about it, but I can vouch for the corresponding personal statement help section...) Maybe you're not applying to the right places, or to enough places, or maybe you've just been unlucky.

If it really is down to getting a 2.ii, hopefully you can bump it up next year or something - do you know how close to the borderline you were?

Reply 1484

Slumpy

Most of this stuff is true for me as well, but I find I'm less keen on some bits of maths now than I was at school, just because it's at such a pace it seems less fun than it used to, so sometimes I feel somewhere going a slower pace might've kept my enthusiasm more.
Also I could do without feeling inadequate constantly :p:

Feelings of inadequacy are part of the fun, though! :p:

Reply 1485

fumblewomble

2

Craghyrax

blah

Oriental Direct - mainly chinese - couldn't seen any japanese tea

Al Amin - have japanese green tea - it's sencha green

Reply 1486

Craghyrax

I'm very busy at the mo, and not online much, so I'll just have my belated 'word' at this Fresher nonsense :rolleyes:

1:Grow up!!!! Just think about this for 2 seconds. Either you're going to be meeting the rest of us shortly, for occasional TSR meets/formals and the like (or maybe not, perhaps you'll just disappear once you matriculate and no longer have time for TSR)
2: Who are you kidding with this 'freedom of speech' crap? :eyeball:

You guys are 17/18, right? Old enough to drop the melodrama. Obviously the warning for spamming and the like was because you broke TSR rules not because you challenged the "almighty sovereignty of Camchat" :rolleyes:

3: I don't really get this whole 'us' versus 'them' nonsense. We only discourage other people posting in here if they come and post a long list of their A level grades and ask for our advice. You're effectively students here too now, so you are us. Why you've just gone out of your way to annoy when you might be interested in using this thread, I really do not know.

Anyway, that's all.

Mm

Reply 1487

Mustardseed

1

Slumpy

Most of this stuff is true for me as well, but I find I'm less keen on some bits of maths now than I was at school, just because it's at such a pace it seems less fun than it used to, so sometimes I feel somewhere going a slower pace might've kept my enthusiasm more.
Also I could do without feeling inadequate constantly :p:

Ach, tell me about it! Maths turns out to make me go :eek3:

when I always thought I was good at it before.

Reply 1488

This talk has scared me :sad:

I've just convinced myself that Education is the right degree for me despite all the criticism I get on here for it and now I'm not so sure. I love the idea of Education but no matter how much I respect it, if employers in the ''real world'' have the same attitude to it as people I've met (or heard from on here :rolleyes:

) I could be in trouble :frown:

Reply 1489

The West Wing

18

leala4628

This talk has scared me :sad:

I've just convinced myself that Education is the right degree for me despite all the criticism I get on here for it and now I'm not so sure. I love the idea of Education but no matter how much I respect it, if employers in the ''real world'' have the same attitude to it as people I've met (or heard from on here :rolleyes:

) I could be in trouble :frown:

Do you want to be a teacher?

Reply 1490

Anyone here read Mandelson's article in the Times?

Reply 1491

Scipio90

abstraction98

Anyone here read Mandelson's article in the Times?

If by "read", you mean "noticed", then yes :tongue:

Reply 1492

Craghyrax

I'm very busy at the mo, and not online much, so I'll just have my belated 'word' at this Fresher nonsense :rolleyes:

1:Grow up!!!! Just think about this for 2 seconds. Either you're going to be meeting the rest of us shortly, for occasional TSR meets/formals and the like (or maybe not, perhaps you'll just disappear once you matriculate and no longer have time for TSR)
2: Who are you kidding with this 'freedom of speech' crap? :eyeball:

You guys are 17/18, right? Old enough to drop the melodrama. Obviously the warning for spamming and the like was because you broke TSR rules not because you challenged the "almighty sovereignty of Camchat" :rolleyes:

3: I don't really get this whole 'us' versus 'them' nonsense. We only discourage other people posting in here if they come and post a long list of their A level grades and ask for our advice. You're effectively students here too now, so you are us. Why you've just gone out of your way to annoy when you might be interested in using this thread, I really do not know.

Anyway, that's all.

I wasn't really part of this as I've posted on here for a while now in bits and bats (as some of you will no doubt be aware and sick of :wink:

). I know Melz0r has too without a problem so I never saw it as ''us vs them''. What happened was immature but it wasn't helped by this kind of thing:

''You can come in when you're actually IN Cambridge. I have special permissing because a. I'm a postgrad and b. I actually know (as in, IRL...) some of the CamChatters :proud:

''

I'm only singling out this post as it's the closest one I can find but we have been told things like this previously which can only a) encourage those who are trolls at heart (Dave) and b) make those of us who only ever peeked in to make friends feel a bit like intruders and excluded. I don't want to be an intruder :no:

Reply 1493

leala4628

This talk has scared me :sad:

I've just convinced myself that Education is the right degree for me despite all the criticism I get on here for it and now I'm not so sure. I love the idea of Education but no matter how much I respect it, if employers in the ''real world'' have the same attitude to it as people I've met (or heard from on here :rolleyes:

) I could be in trouble :frown:

What makes you think that? :s-smilie:

Reply 1494

Scipio90

If by "read", you mean "noticed", then yes :tongue:

. I actually thought it was very well written, eye opening and well researched. The fact he took the piss out of himself made it far more indearing too.

I only read The Times for the comment section and the quick crossword..

Reply 1495

fumblewomble

2

abstraction98

Anyone here read Mandelson's article in the Times?

link?

Reply 1496

The West Wing

Do you want to be a teacher?

No

I took it as I was interested in Education and thought it would be a good subject to do with all the disciplines. However, I'm under the impression that another subject may have been more useful :frown:

Reply 1497

leala4628

''You can come in when you're actually IN Cambridge. I have special permissing because a. I'm a postgrad and b. I actually know (as in, IRL...) some of the CamChatters :proud:

''

Who said that? :s-smilie:

I can't say I support that attitude.

Reply 1498

generalebriety

What makes you think that? :s-smilie:

Just people have been calling it an ''easy'' subject which is pointless (as in you might as well just do the full degree in the subject you're studying with education) and they seem to think you can only be a teacher with it...

Reply 1499