AMES, MML, HML, and ASNC at Cambridge: Webinar with St Catharine's College

Teaching Fellows, admissions staff, and students answer questions about applying for and studying Modern and Medieval Languages (MML), History and Modern Languages (HML), Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC) or Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at the University of Cambridge.

This Q&A session was part of the St Catharine's (Catz) Virtual Open Days. If you have any further questions about St Catharine’s and the admissions process, you can email us at [email protected].

You can use the time stamps at the bottom of this description to jump straight to the questions and answers most relevant to you.

Our panel consists of:
Kathryn Singleton, Schools Liaison Officer
Ivan Scales, Admissions Tutor
Abigail Brundin, Director of Studies (MML, HML)
Sura Qadiri, Director of Studies (MML, HML, AMES)
Richard Dance, Director of Studies (ASNC)
Catz students in HML, MML, AMES and ASNC

Useful links:

Information on these subjects at St Catharine's: https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/study-us/...

Super-Curricular Activity Suggestions by the University of Cambridge: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.a...

Catz Alternative Prospectus (Cambridge life from a student perspective): https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/sites/def...

Cambridge Student Union’s Guide to Personal Statements: https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/resourc...

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03:03 – How do you choose a Cambridge College if you can’t visit in-person?
03:50 – How do you fit in socialising? How do you balance your academic workload?
05:38 – What does a typical week look like? (05:54 - MML, 06:49 - HML, 08:06 - AMES, 09:10 - ASNC)
10:55 – What do interviewers look for and what kinds of questions are asked?
15:15 – How did the students find their admissions interviews?
19:26 – Do you have any advice for preparing for admissions assessments?
23:32 – Questions about ab initio languages (learning a language from scratch as part of the course)
27:57 – How does it work if there isn’t a Director of Studies or Teaching Fellow at the College in one of the languages you want to take?
30:14 – How much of the interview will be conducted in the foreign language?
32:20 – For ASNC, does a knowledge of related modern languages help or does it make it more confusing?
34:53 –What do Cambridge look for in a Personal Statement?
39:00 – If you’re applying for a language at Cambridge that you’re not applying for at other universities, how would this work on a personal statement that goes to all universities?
40:14 – What kinds of reasons could you mention for wanting to study a language from scratch at Cambridge?
41:05 – How do you talk about ASNC on a personal statement as the course doesn’t exist at any other uni?
42:38 – Is there a College that’s better for a certain subject?
44:33 - Why did you choose Catz?
46:44 – Could you tell me more about combining a modern language with a classical language (e.g. Latin)?
48:42 – Can you borrow papers from ASNC if you study another course?
50:12 – Can you do an MML and AMES combined degree at all the Cambridge Colleges?

This presentation was recorded by on 09.07.20 and all information is accurate at the time of recording.