Freshers
(Offer holders, join the facebook group pages here and here)
Welcome to Murray Edwards! We are so excited to have you here and have been busily preparing all sorts of things for you when you come up! Here are a few bits of useful info from the freshers guide, which you can download here:
Freshers Guide.pdf
Do check out the Alternative Prospectus as well.
Also, you might be wondering how to get around Cambridge, Click the link below!
Gateway Programme
This year we are keen to promote the newly expanded and revised Gateway Programme!
The full programme goes further than internships and includes scholarships and the opportunity to apply for funding to support accommodation costs etc.
Check out the Academic & Welfare page for an overview or visit the Murray Edwards College website for full information:
www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/aboutthecollege/gateway/
All things technical and super important can be found here, on the main college site: www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/students/newstudents/freshers/new_ugrad_info/
Checklist:
What to do on your first day...
Arrive!!
Sign accommodation forms and agreements
Get to know your neighbours (do the rounds with some biscuits/tea??)
Say hello to the porters, you wont regret it!
Unpack and decorate
And the few days after...
Set up your email account
Go to your tutor meeting
Attend Freshers’ fair and get as many free things as possible!
Register with a GP
Register with a dentist
Make your College Mum cook for you/buy you a drink
Get registered and take a tour round the University Library (UL)
Go on a Murray Edwards Library Tour
Get to know the JCR!!
Go food shopping
Open up a bank account
Go on a University tour
Get your bike sorted with helmet, lights etc.
Visit the other hill colleges, they are our friends...
Buy a gown
Things to bring:
A list of things we wish we'd remembered to bring!
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
Some form of ID (Passport, Driving License)
NHS Card
Student Loan Information, notifications about grants/scholarships, etc.
Passport photos
FOR YOUR ROOM
Posters
Photos
White Tack
Bedding
Cushions, Throws, Rugs
Favourite Books
Desk Lamp
Computer
Important software
Hi-Fi/Stereo
(Alarm) Clocks
Plug socket extension leads
Hangers
COOKING STUFF
Pans & Microwaveable dish
Kitchen Utensils inc. can opener, corkscrew
Plates, Glasses, Mugs, Bowls
Cutlery
Kitchen Towels, Dishcloth
OTHER
Bike
Wash Kit
Towels
Basic First Aid/Medical Kit
Clothes rack
Formal wear
Equipment for hobbies etc
£1 and 20ps
OPTIONAL
Kettle
YOU DO NOT NEED...
Gown
Cycle Helmet
TV
Cambridge Glossary:
At Cambridge we like to use lots and lots of silly words that no-one else but Cambridge students will understand. This makes us feel special. So that you will feel special too, a list of the most important words is provided below.
ASNAC: Anglo-Saxon and Celtic, a very rare breed!
Blue: Someone who has represented Cambridge against Oxford at certain sports. Refers to the person and to the award itself: you are a Blue if you have a Blue. They get to wear a, er, nice shade of pale blue.
Boatie: Rower
Bubble, the: Cambridge in term time; lack of knowledge of affairs outside of Cambridge or even the Dome. You’ll see.
Bumps: A race that boatie people do at various times of the year—the aim being to ‘bump’ into the boat in front. And break it. I still don’t get it.
Buttery: Name other Colleges use for their canteen.
Come up / Go down: To arrive at Cambridge and to leave it, respectively.
CompSci: Pronounced ‘Comp-Skee’. Someone who studies Computer Science.
Cuppers: intercollegiate sports tournament
CUSU: Cambridge University Student Union
Desmond: Another way of saying Lower Second Class Honours (Desmond Tutu= 2:2)
Desmond the Dolphin: our College mascot!!
The Dome: our amazing dining and entertainment space
Ents: the name for college based evenings of music, dancing etc. (also known as bops).
Fellow: The older members of the college. Often engaged in research or teaching.
Formal Hall: A dinner where you wear a suit and gown, bring your own bottle of wine. Super Hall = Bigger, fancy dress version of same.
High Table: The raised table where the fellows sit to eat.
JCR: Junior Combination Room, although little combining takes place here. Generally you just chill out. Very confusingly this is also the name the students’ union goes by. Grad students have the Middle Combination Room, and Fellows the Senior Combination Room.
Mathmo: Maths student.
Matriculation: What you do when you get here, on the first day of full term, and the ceremony in itself mainly consists of signing a book. Then go to Matriculation Dinner and get drunk in front of the people who will teach you for the next three years.
Mature Students: Students who are 21 or older. Not always mature.
May Week: In June, and lasting ten days, May Week involves lots of May Balls, Garden parties and general outrageous behaviour.
Michaelmas: The Cambridge name for the first term. The other two are called Lent and Easter.
MML: Modern and Medieval Languages.
Murr-maids: Murray Edwards students, obviously!
NatSci: Saying natural scientist is a bit tiresome after a while. Divided into PhysNatScis (the physical leaning type) and BioNatScis (the biological preferring type)
NUS: National Union of Students.
Open meetings: Arranged by the JCR, but are YOUR opportunity to discuss issues large and small with other students in College.
Pigeonholes: A row of boxes in the Porters’ Lodge where all your mail and messages are put. Check yours often.
Porters: All-knowing, all-seeing people who live in the plodge.
Plodge: Porter’s lodge.
Squash: A meeting of a society in the first few weeks of term, where current members ply freshers with drink and persuade them to sign up for the club.
SPS: Social and Political Sciences. Extraordinarily hard-working and clever. Really.
Suicide Sunday: The first day of May Week.
Varsity: student newspaper, as is ‘The Cambridge Student’. (N.B: both make sturdy wrapping paper if too poor to buy the real thing). Also a match between Cambridge and Oxford. Rah and so on, I’m sure.