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Thucydides
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Post by Thucydides »

For anyone who is interested, I would just like to declare that I will be applying to Oxford University this December to read Classics (Classics course I - Literae Humaniores).

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benissimus
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Post by benissimus »

Congratulations
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

Thucydides
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Post by Thucydides »

Lol. Applying is the easy part.

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Post by Geoff »

Now there are only 999,000 flaming hoops left to jump through. :wink:

Thucydides
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Post by Thucydides »

One big hoop actually, commonly called "the interview"

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Post by Emma_85 »

I'll be applying to uni too after the summer break... but I've got an even bigger hoop to jump through. Never mind the interview... I need the good marks first :P .
Hope the professor who interviews you is the nice one, not the awful one :wink: .

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Post by Bert »

I think your marks will be just fine :wink:

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Post by whiteoctave »

magdalen eh?
oxon. eh?

sic transit...etc. !

~D

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Post by Emma_85 »

hehehe... Oxford vs. Cambridge

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Post by Episcopus »

whiteoctave wrote:magdalen eh?
oxon. eh?


Can you feel the tension?

You will not be able to get drunk with the legendary octave if you do not go to Cambridge! Think about that!

Enjoy your life there :D
Last edited by Episcopus on Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Big John
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Good Luck

Post by Big John »

Wow! This sounds like the greatest opportunity. I wish you well. I knew a laid back and wonderful person who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When I asked how he managed to stay ahead of the game, he simply responded, " I never let myself fall behind because I did a little each and every day." Sounds like a plan to me.
Again, I wish you luck.

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Post by Keesa »

Many congratulations. I envy you. :)

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Post by Fair Terentia »

For anyone who's interested, I'll be applying to Oxford for Classics this year too. :P I can't decide between Magdalen and Corpus Christi colleges though...

Anyway, see you at the interview! *knaws fingernails nervously*

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Post by annis »

Fair Terentia wrote:For anyone who's interested, I'll be applying to Oxford for Classics this year too. :P I can't decide between Magdalen and Corpus Christi colleges though...
Can someone please explain to me how this works? What exactly is "Magdalen" within Oxford? Sometimes I get the idea that Oxford is actually a federation of Universities, not a single institution at all. But that can't be right...
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Thucydides
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Post by Thucydides »

It's complicated. Students and academics are all attached to colleges. Colleges are essentially communities, a bit like halls of residence at other universities. Students are mostly (but not exclusively) taught by the academics attached to their college. However things such as lectures are done on a university wide basis.

Most of the colleges have long and presitigious histories, not to mention beautiful old buildings.

Have a look at http://www.ox.ac.uk[/url][/i]

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Post by Fair Terentia »

Oxford (like Cambridge) is a single university. Within it, however, are many colleges, such as Magdalen (pronounced Maudlin by the way!). Students live in colleges mostly for the entirety of their degree. They eat there, and have most of their tutorials there. Their social lives generally revolve round their college and choosing a college is a very important part of an application. For example, it can make a great difference if you go to an old or a new college, or if you want a college that's strong in music or sport. The university, however, is like an umbrella over all the colleges, setting syllabuses and examinations and awarding degrees.

I hope this helps! Go to http://www.ox.ac.uk or http://www.cam.ac.uk for further information.

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Post by whiteoctave »

cambridge and oxford are collegiate universities, meaning that they each comprise of about 30 colleges which have been founded independently at various points over the last 800 years or so. subjects are centralised throughout each university and lectures are generally in 'faculty' buildings of the specific discipline. each college, however, controls its own admission, and can take as many or as few of each subject as it pleases.
in classics, for instance, there are some 130 undergrads at oxford, but these are divided up with anything from 2-8 people in a college each year. each college provides one-on-one tuition, termed 'supervisions' at cambridge and 'tutorials' at oxon., and often carries out teaching independent of the university.
colleges vary very much in style, academic quality and character. thucy-d is planning on applying to magdalen college (there is a magdalene at cam. but it has an 'e') at 'the other place', which is generally strong (typically 4th or 5th). why he chose oxford, no one can say. the red mists of madness must, in truth, have descended heavily upon him.

~d

Thucydides
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Post by Thucydides »

Thucy-D is no longer so keen on magdalen.

Oxford is clearly better btw. It's a bigger Classics department; a longer course; a better course (i.e. lots of Virgil and Homer) and none of this Classics in the modern world rubbish. I've also heard of more oxford academics than Cambridge ones for Classics.

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Post by whiteoctave »

indeed delusion has sunk deep! ;)
classics at cambridge is a course that actually allows you to read classics, not be ordered to tread the much-trodden path of homer and virgil for the first year, and at such break-neck pace that you can do little more than translate it then move on. i have been in conversation with a guy at merton who has just finished his first year at oxon and he confirmed this allegation of mine, having read very narrowly and still translated less than at cam. i've had the pleasure of doing some 11 authors this year, along with heavy language work and verse comp. with the tripos system in effect here, i have done a considerable amount of linguistics and philosophy, having already been able to make the choice to specialise in these.
i have also been examined this year, as i will be for the next two, whereas over there all rides on greats, and you don't have mods till two-thirds into the second year. thus this merton fellow was rather confused as to his standing in the year.
you don't have a faculty building (incidentally, were you at the joint open day, because i spoke there and made this point?) and your college libraries are generally deficient in comparison with the better cam. colleges (although the corpus, all souls and merton libraries are superb). the bodleian won't allow book loans for first or second years.
finally, in terms of figures, oxon accepts some 55 more people yet 100 more apply to cambridge (c.330 for c.75 at cam. vs. c.230 for c.130 at oxon.)

what colleges are you interested in instead of magdalen?

~D

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Post by annis »

whiteoctave wrote:i've had the pleasure of doing some 11 authors this year, along with heavy language work and verse comp.
I've been trading epigrams with someone who's had a full verse comp. class? :shock: I shall have to spend more time on my own offerings in the future.
and your college libraries are generally deficient in comparison with the better cam. colleges (although the corpus, all souls and merton libraries are superb). the bodleian won't allow book loans for first or second years.
Each college has its own library? Publishers must love that.

Are students allowed among the shelves? On several occasions I've encountered students of French literature, one American, one French, who always come back to the States to do their research. Evidently our college libraries are amazing: the books are organized, and you actually get to wander among them rather than have to abase yourself before the Almighty Librarian who may or may not go get you what you want.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

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Post by whiteoctave »

people from either university are allowed access to other college libraries in both universitites. overseas students too are of course allowed this access. visiting scholars, however, must obtain permission from a given college to use the libraries, yes. a lot of visiting scholars study at the University Library in cam.
as regards verse comp, there is no class, rather it occurs in the supervision system. the verse of mine you have seen falls under the rather shameful aegis of 'levissima', in that i am just doing silly things for the sake of, such as the elision couplet. my interest in things in versiculi graviori is there, though i have yet to seriously heed it. i have, for instance, just finished a poem with my girlfriend that loops through four tounges - eng, grk, french, lat - in blank/pentameter/blank/pentameter verse.
i look forward to receiving more of yours, in whatever style.

~d

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Post by Fair Terentia »

Both Oxford and Cambridge are great universities for Classics. I myself have been debating for all year between the two of them. At the Oxbridge Classics Open Day this May I thought the tutors from both universities were exceptionally impressive. Obviously, though, since it was held in Cambridge, that university was better represented. My Latin teacher and my old Latin teacher (who retired) both went to Cambridge and they are very, very intelligent, lovely people.

However, for me, Oxford seems to be favoured at the moment (though I may certainly change my mind again before September). The course is longer, and would therefore incorporate more work. In the second half of the course, you can take 8 options as opposed, I believe, to Cambridge where you take 4. Because of the course being 4 years, there are 3 summers where you don't have exams- plenty of punting time! :D And yes, loads of nice Homer and Virgil, though I'm disappointed that it's the Iliad and not Odyssey, as I love the Odyssey very much.

I also felt that Oxford was somehow more traditional than Cambridge, and I liked that very much.

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Post by Thucydides »

Delusion, eh? :o

Homer is a cornerstone of the greek world. Start with the basics I say. It's also deeply cool.

4 years also means that I can avoid getting a job and doing some real work for longer.

Colleges on the short list are Balliol, New College, Oriel and Worcester.

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Post by Thucydides »

Incidentally, the Iliad is better than the Odyssey.

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Post by whiteoctave »

b
nc
w
o

~D

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Post by Emma_85 »

:D :D :D
I will be getting the grade I need in Physics!

Now all I need to decide is which universities to apply to. My mum and dad want me to try for Cambridge, but ...uh... I'm not sure I want to go there. I suppose that's why so many of their students are from private schools, those from state schools just think: 'urgh, Oxbridge! Full of snobs.' That's what my cousinthought/thinks (she had three As but didn't apply to either). Just wondering if anyone (whiteoctave? seeing as you are studying at Cambridge...) can pursuade me that it's actually a nice uni. My mum and dad fail miserably, hehehe, the more they try to get me to appy there the more I dislike the idea. Of course I don't know if they'd be happy with my grades :wink: ...
I do understand the college system, but it's a terrible system I think. I'd rather just apply to the university of Cambridge itself, I don't know which collge to apply to, which has a good reputation, which has a bad :? .

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Post by Bert »

Emma_85 wrote: My mum and dad fail miserably, hehehe, the more they try to get me to appy there the more I dislike the idea.
:idea: Maybe your mum and dad are smarter than you think. Maybe they want you to go to the university of Leiden or something, so they figure that the surest way for you NOT to go to Cambridge is for them to push you in that direction.

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