Cambridge from the Inside

Stay tuned to hear Laura, 3rd-year Music student, share everything you need to know about studying Music and all the music opportunities here at Cambridge and Trinity Hall ! A full list of discussion points can be found below.

00:00 Introductions

00:50 What made Laura choose to study Music?

01:20 Do Music students often feel they have to choose between a practical decision and one that aligns with their main passion?

02:10 Is it a prerequisite to be a musician or performer in order to study Music?

03:30 Is studying Music at Cambridge solely focused on performance?

04:45 The structure of the Music course at Cambridge

07:20 The Jazz Age in Paris

08:00 Tonal Skills and Music Analysis modules

09:20 Theory and Performance at Cambridge

10:00 Music as a humanities course

10:45 How are Music students taught?

13:10 What are the music facilities like at the Faculty of Music?14:20 What is the Sidgwick Site?

15:20 Should students attend a conservatoire or study Music at university?

18:10 Music opportunities at Trinity Hall

23:30 College Choir at Trinity Hall

25:20 Music opportunities across the university

28:00 Choosing between Oxford and Cambridge for Music

29:00 Any advice for prospective Music students?

30:00 College and university-wide instrumental awards

31:40 Choral and Organ Scholarships

Stay tuned to hear Neve, a first-year Human, Social, and Political Sciences student, discuss how her first year at Cambridge has been. Find Neve's first podcast on her experiences of first term in the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak1rWU6sbjUA list of topic discussions can be found below:00:00 Introductions 02:20 How Neve has been doing since her first term06:50 How Neve plans to change her approach to studying11:10 How long do students stay at Cambridge/Trinity Hall each term? 12:10 Differences between PPE and HSPS studying culture 16:30 Study habits among Cambridge students28:50 Do students do anything outside of studying? 32:30 Intellectual conversations and having fun whilst learning 38:00 What Neve has enjoyed most about her first year42:00 Trinity Hall food46:10 Has Cambridge aligned with Neve’s expectations? 49:00 How do HisPol students approach the politics modules different to the HSPS students? 53:40 What is Sociology and Social Anthropology? 57:10 Social Anthropology and the validity of altruism 59:00 What have the other students been like? 01:05:20 Module choices for 2nd year HSPS01:08:00 Reading and attending lectures outside of your course01:13:00 If you could do first year again — what would you do differently?

Stay tuned as Sam, a third-year student, shares everything you need to know about the poetry scene at Cambridge, how she approaches writing poetry, how she set up the open-mic spoken word society Give Us the Mic, and reads her own poem about life at Trinity Hall. You can find Sam's new book— Naked Pen — in the link below:https://sam-elbahja.squarespace.com/naked-penYou can find Sam's poem — The Wishing Well — in the link below:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nF16rrSp9c90uYcABOVkDk8qh3cyAVa4/viewA full list of discussion topics can be found below.00:00 Sam’s book launch06:30 What kind of things are on offer for students?08:00 What is Give Us the Mic?08:50 What’s the difference between college societies and university societies?11:00 What happens in a poetry society?12:20 What are UniSLAM and Slam poetry?18:50 Should poetry be accessible?20:20 How did you get into spoken word poetry?25:10 Did you ever consider continuing your public speaking by taking part in the Cambridge Union?25:50 What kinds of student positions/committees constitute each student society—like Give Us the Mic?28:30 What inspired you to start the Give Us the Mic society?30:00 Should your creative interests be a side hustle or the main hustle?31:30 Is it possible for students to harness their creative spirit in their academics?49:50 Trinity Hall’s 675th Anniversary Campaign and Sam’s poem about her life at Trinity Hall — The Wishing Well54:30 How did you got about writing your poem — The Wishing Well59:00 Do you think you're at a disadvantage in writing poetry by not studying English?01:01:00 How to work out whether your course is liberating or limiting01:11:00 Using poetry to talk about first- and second-generation immigrants studying at CambridgeYou can find Sam's first podcast on the Architecture course in the link below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqF6-klNb7EMore information on Trinity Hall's 675 Anniversary Campaign can be found in the link below:https://campaign.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/about-the-campaign/

Stay tuned as Marcus and Siam discuss everything you need to know about the Cambridge Open Days.For more information about the Open Days, the link is below:https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-open-daysVirtual tours of the university can be found here: https://www.virtualtour.study.cam.ac.uk/Virtual tour of Trinity Hall and its accommodation can be found here:https://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/study-with-us/next-steps/trinity-hall-virtual-tour/A list of topic discussions can be found below too:00:00 Introductions00:40 What are Open Days?02:20 Do you have to plan which events you want to attend in advance?07:00 Are the colleges open all day?08:40 Should you research the colleges beforehand?14:10 What is off-site accommodation?19:00 Will there be academics available to speak to?23:00 Will there be current students present? Are college tours provided?25:00 College libraries

Stay tuned as Professor Pedro Ramos Pinto, History Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, delves into everything you need to know about studying History at Cambridge.Check out Pedro's other videos below, on History interviews and belonging at Cambridge:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g36BNI5R7sMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChUufEJ9rLYA list of topic discussions can be found below:00:00 Introductions01:00 What is History? What do students learn when studying a History degree at Cambridge?05:50 How has the History course changed since its 2022 renovation?07:40 What is the course structure?12:50 What time period does the course cover?13:40 How global is the course?14:50 What are some of the modules on offer, or that you teach?15:50 Pedro’s course on the history of Western Europe since 1945 through the lens of work and workers19:30 What are the subtopics within the ‘Historical Thinking’ strand of the course?23:20 What are History supervisions like?27:20 What would historians miss out on without supervisions?29:00 Different styles of academic writing31:00 Diverse approaches to academia34:00 Is there an opportunity to do a thesis?35:40 Travel grants at Cambridge37:40 How does History differ from courses like English Literature and Philosophy?43:30 What is intellectual history?45:00 The overlap between History and the Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) course46:30 Opportunities to study Economics within the History degree48:40 The origin story of the History and Modern Languages course53:10 Pedro’s research interests55:20 Pedro’s interest in political welfare and human rights57:30 Studying one’s own personal history58:40 Which modules would Pedro choose if he were to study the degree again?Originally from Portugal, Pedro came to Trinity Hall in 2013, after five years at the University of Manchester. He is an historian of 20th-century Europe, particularly Southern Europe with interests in the histories of inequality, welfare and social movements. His first book, Lisbon Rising (2013) examined the emergence and role of social movements of the urban poor during Portugal’s Carnation Revolution (1974-1976).Since then he has worked on a variety of topics, including histories of Universal Basic Income, of how inequalities have been measured in the past, as well as on authoritarian welfare regimes in Southern Europe and Latin America.At Cambridge Pedro teaches in a range of courses, including The Twentieth Century World, Europe’s Age of Violence, and is starting a new final year course exploring the cultures, debates and politics of work in post-war Europe.

Stay tuned as Professor Fuerst Mathematics delves into what the Land Economy course offers and what sets it apart from other university programs. A list of topic discussions can be found below.Professor Fuerst is Professor of Housing and Real Estate Finance and Cambridge University Land Society Fellow. His research interests include ‘green’ real estate economics, financial analysis of sustainable investments, portfolio and risk management, real estate market forecasting and spatial economics.00:00 Introductions00:30 What is Land Economy?02:30 Is Land Economy a social science?03:00 Who is Land Economy for? / What kind of interests make you well suited to Land Economy?04:00 Is Land Economy an overlap between Law, Economics, and the Environment?08:00 What is the difference between Land Economy and Geography?10:45 What’s the origin story of the Cambridge Land Economy course?13:30 What differences have you noticed between students studying Land Economy and those studying Economics?16:45 How are students taught in Land Economy? What are supervisions like?23:00 What advice do you have for students who are torn between choosing a broad course or a specialised one?26:00 Can you do an Economics or Law undergraduate degree, and then Land Economy for your master’s?27:00 How much opportunity is there to study Maths or Quantitative Economics in Land Economy?30:00 What kind of careers does Land Economy lead to?31:00 How Land Economy can prepare you for public service or work in housing policy.33:30 The Land Economy department’s work on housing policy in Cambridge.35:30 Franz’s research39:00 How Land Economy enables lateral thinking

Stay tuned as Siam interviews Lisa, our Head of Wellbeing, to discuss Trinity Hall's 'Improve Wellbeing to Enhance Learning and Academic Performance project.' A list of topic discussions can be found below:00:00 Introductions01:10 Lisa’s role as Head of Wellbeing 03:10 Wellbeing support provided by the SU04:40 Wellbeing support provided by Trinity Hall06:00 What’s the difference between a Tutor and a Director of Studies? 09:30 What is the Improve Wellbeing to Enhance Learning and Academic Performance project?12:10 What Siam and Lisa thought about Gareths book on wellbeing and academic performance: ‘Be Well, Learn Well’14:40 What have we done so far in the Improve Wellbeing project? 20:40 What are guaranteed points of contact?25:50 What is induction week? 27:00 What positive impacts have we seen so far from the Improve Wellbeing project? 36:00 What’s next for the project? 38:50 What are the main issues you’ve seen students experience? 48:00 Do you have any advice for current and prospective students?

Stay tuned as Marcus and Siam discuss everything you need to know about the new UCAS personal statement, as well as how to use AI for your personal statement and super-curricular activities.00:00 Introductions 01:50 What’s new in the new personal statement? 03:10 What is the structure of the new personal statement? 04:30 The 3 questions you have to answer in the new personal statement05:10 How much/what should you write for each question?15:40 Do we mark the personal statements? 18:40 Using AI for your personal statement26:30 Using AI for super-curricular interests 32:00 What is the MyCambridge Application form? (Video below)35:30 When is the application deadline? Our previous podcast on Personal Statements can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHMWWxkZIDgOur short video on the My Cambridge Application can be found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W2Vml6yvHE

Stay tuned to hear Marcus and Siam explain everything you need to know about how choosing a college at Cambridge!

A list of topic discussions can be found below:

Trinity Hall's virtual tour:

https://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/study-with-us/next-steps/trinity-hall-virtual-tour/

University of Cambridge virtual tour:

https://www.virtualtour.study.cam.ac.uk/?language=undergraduate

00:00 Introductions

02:00 What are colleges? And how do they affect the social life at Cambridge?

08:45 What are Open Days?

09:40 What are virtual tours? (Link to Trinity Hall’s virtual tour can be found below)

11:30 What are the main differences between the colleges?

12:30 Do you have to choose a college when you apply to Cambridge?

14:15 How do the colleges/university assess the applications?

18:30 Are supervisions centralised?

21:30 Will you have time for a social life at Cambridge?

22:10 How Marcus was pooled during his application

26:00 How Siam chose his college

28:20 What college Marcus would choose if he was applying now

30:25 What college Siam would choose if he was applying now

35:00 Marcus’ application journey

Stay tuned to hear Sophie talk about everything you need to know about being queer at Cambridge.

A list of topics discussed can be found in the timestamps below:

00:00 Introductions

01:10 What is the community like at college and at the university as a whole?

04:50 What is the JCR, and who are the Liberation Officers?06:30 What is intersectionality?

08:30 What has it been like being queer in the PBS cohort (Psychological and Behavioural Sciences)?

11:30 How are queerness and intersectionality being researched in academia?

13:30 How have you felt at home in Cambridge compared to where you grew up?

15:20 How has your view of your identity changed since you’ve been at Cambridge?

19:50 Current research in academia and supervision experiences

27:30 What support is there for queer students at Cambridge?

29:40 Would you describe the culture at Cambridge as progressive or socially conservative?

32:30 Does Newnham College allow trans women, trans men, and non-binary people to apply? (The link below explains this really well.)

34:40 Are there many queer events and queer spaces?

42:45 How have you changed since you started university?48:10 Do you have any advice for prospective applicants who are watching?

To find more information for the admissions criteria for Newnham college, please see below:

https://newn.cam.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduates/advice-applications/faqs-applicants