Subject Information
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Natural Sciences - Physical
IntroductionThere are three excellent reasons for choosing to study science at Cambridge: the exceptional flexibility of the Natural Sciences Tripos, the bright lively students you will work with, and the opportunity to learn from the large number of distinguished scientists who work in the University. Our students are a good reason for choosing Murray Edwards College too: many friendships made here will last the rest of your life. So also is the unusually sympathetic and careful teaching you will find; and the modern atmosphere, rather different from most Cambridge Colleges. There is another less obvious reason however: women are still greatly outnumbered by men in physical science departments, and you are simply more likely to enjoy your subject (and pursue it to the final year) here than at most colleges. In this respect, the College still fulfils the aim of its founders fifty years ago of increasing the number of women with a Cambridge education. Also our students do well: several have been at the top, or in the top few, of their class lists; our physics finalists in particular had the best results of any Cambridge College in 2004, and have recently been 4th and 7th too. Cambridge is a large university, with individuals of every kind found somewhere. The course is demanding: no university insists on higher entrance standards, and the degrees are rightly well thought of. The workload is high; however it does not stop students pursuing sport, music and drama too at many levels. Those of us who choose to teach in Colleges do it because we think it really important that as many students as possible, from whatever background (and country), have access to all the opportunities here - and we offer support when the opportunities seem more like pressures! The Cambridge Natural Sciences TriposIf you have already looked at the Cambridge University prospectus, you will know that the strange word 'tripos' simply means an examination subject at Cambridge; also that Natural Sciences is the umbrella under which Cambridge gathers all fundamental sciences - everything other than Engineering, Medicine, Computing and Maths. You read three sciences in the first year, two or three in the second, and one thereafter. The over-riding aim is that you should not have to choose one science in which to specialise until you have a proper idea of what each is about at University level, and which you enjoy most. Commonly, a single choice is made only for your final year, and you are positively encouraged to try something new during your first year. The large number of students who do eventually read a different final year science from what they anticipated at the outset suggests that many 'wrong' choices are made by students opting for single-subject courses elsewhere. Cambridge graduates are nevertheless expected to achieve much the same standard in their final subject as graduates from narrower courses elsewhere. The pace is high accordingly; it remains viable because of two factors: (a) relatively able students - that is, you! - and (b) the College supervision system about which more is said below. The Tripos is inevitably particularly complicated. For full information about its structure, the subjects available, and the necessary school preparation for each, you should look at the University Prospectus. We ask you to label yourself as 'Physical' or 'Biological' when you apply, but there is actually no such distinction within the Tripos itself, and a few students commonly migrate from one side to the other after trying subjects out in their first year. Most physical scientists at New Hall read Physics and Chemistry in their first year - commonly accompanied by Materials & Minerals or Geology, but also not uncommonly by Cell Biology or Evolution & Behaviour: you do not need Biology A level to do these. Everyone studying Natural Sciences Physical also reads Mathematics. (The Quantitative Biology or Elementary Maths for Biologists options are not sufficient.) It may not be clear from the University Prospectus that all four main physical subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Materials and Geology) - and also Biochemistry - actually offer three and four year alternatives: the latter, for those intending to be professional scientists, gives you a M.Sci. (Master of Natural Sciences) in parallel with your BA. You don't need to decide between these until early in your third year. The College and the UniversityYou will also know from the University Prospectus that the University examines you (at the end of each year) and ultimately confers your degree(s); it also provides central lectures and practical classes where students from all colleges work together, and which occupy about half your working time (twenty or more hours a week). Though final year lectures courses, when many options are commonly available, may have as few as ten students, first year classes may have several hundred. The College in contrast provides accommodation and food; social, music and sports facilities; a home among a smaller group of people; a Supervisor for each subject; a Director of Studies who arranges supervisors for the first two years and advises you on courses, and a Tutor who helps with any non-academic problems. Typically your spend an hour each week in twos or threes with your supervisor who helps you pick out what matters from the large volume of notes emanating from the lecturers. Together you talk through the ideas you have not quite grasped yet. You are set problems to do or essays to write, and you work through your answers together when you meet. In total, supervisions and preparing work for them occupy the other half of your working week. The individual help available through the supervision system is absolutely essential to keeping up with the high pace of the course, and it is vital to you that it comes from sympathetic and effective teachers. Why choose Murray Edwards College?Most obviously, as noted above, because you will be well taught as one of a stimulating group of bright students: we have almost forty physical scientists at any time. In addition, however, the company of other women scientists appears to result in fewer changing away from the physical science subjects where they remain greatly outnumbered by men - on average, women form only ~25% of the final year physics class and ~35% of the chemistry class. Our students come from many different backgrounds, including some 15% from overseas, and you may be surprised by those who become your best friends. The atmosphere amongst them is mutually supportive more than competitive; and very few physical science graduates would not recommend the College strongly. We are still young as a College; while we are able to admit through the pool a number of students who have applied elsewhere, we believe we could help many more than currently apply directly to us. Our final Tripos results are good; and better than those of many ancient mixed colleges. Over the years 2003 - 2008, 30% of physical scientists got a 1st, and 75% a 1st or 2i. We try to provide a lot of help early as you develop the independence necessary for the later years. We organise mock Tripos papers to help you prepare for the real thing; the DoS has an 'open door' for an hour every weekday to help you get started with physics or maths problems for supervisions; and we keep a collection of our own example answers to past physics and maths Tripos papers which no other College Library has. We arrange a most unusual open day when offer holders come to spend twenty-four hours with first-year scientists, accompanying them to lectures and doing whatever else they are doing: this gives you a real idea of what life as a student here is like, so that you can look forward to your first term much more confidently. We also send out (less welcome probably, but useful!) some worksheets to help you prepare in the weeks before you first arrive. Who will teach you?We have a substantial group of Fellows involved in the subjects making up Natural Sciences, all ready to share their own enthusiasm for their subject and to help you do well in it yourself.
These provide the core of first/second year teaching. University-wide, some teaching in these years is also provided by post-docs (young scientists who have recently obtained their PhD) and research students (still working towards their PhD); we rely first on those with strong links with the College such as those who were students here themselves. Third/fourth year teaching is largely organised at the Departmental rather than College level. What's a typical day like?Your timetable commonly involves a couple of hours of lectures in the morning, perhaps a practical lasting four hours, and perhaps a supervision; probably some time preparing work for a supervision. While there is a lot of work to be done in Physical Sciences, there is certainly also time for other things like sports, music, acting, taking a student union post, or writing for a student newspaper. There are five hundred societies at Cambridge that help you find people with similar interests at other Colleges - and you don't have do everything seriously and intensively to be welcomed into them. Someone reading Physics, Chemistry, Biology of Cells and Mathematics, playing inter-college football and … might have the timetable as shown. What qualifications do you need?Full details of the preparation needed for each first year subject are in the University Prospectus. The Physics and Chemistry courses require preparation equivalent to A level, and the Biology of Cells course requires Chemistry; but otherwise the science courses have no indispensable pre-requisite except Maths. The great majority of applicants have Physics, Chemistry and Maths, but this College does admit some students with only one of the sciences and Maths. Maths itself is quite indispensable. Further Maths is not necessary, but is undeniably very useful: the material concerned is all part of the first year course here, and those who have covered any of it before have a lighter load here, particularly in their first term. If you would like to study Further Maths but have problems in doing so at your current school you might like to contact the Further Maths Network who can advise you and provide access to free tuition. Other examinations systems than UK A levels can provide a perfectly adequate foundation, provided there is a high proportion of the subjects mentioned above. We have recently admitted students on the basis of the International Baccalaureate (with Higher Level Physics or Chemistry and Maths) and the German Abitur who have been very successful. How is your application assessed?While we always consider every candidate individually, it will help to set out what is 'normal'. In almost all cases, we invite you to interviews in December so that we supplement your paper application with interactive discussion; if you live too far away, we usually send a written test instead. We pay close attention to all the information in your application form, and always consider your own results in relation to the average results at your school. You normally have two 40-minute subject interviews, each with two Fellows (typically a physicist, a chemist, a geologist and a materials scientist). We do not expect you to come armed with any large body of factual information: we find out what you have done so far, and find some problems to analyse together in the light of that. We are looking for the ability to think clearly and critically, to apply principles correctly to unfamiliar areas, and to relate mathematical models to specific situations; you need to be able to show competence in basic mathematical manipulations; and finally enthusiasm for your subject and determination to master its details. We do not currently ask you to take any other written tests, either before or at the time of your interviews. Beyond the interviews and the statements on your application form, we give weight to GCSE results and AS marks. Those admitted usually have an average of 8-9 A* grades at GCSE, and average AS marks of 90% - but we always consider these in relation to the average point score of candidates at your school (as published by the DfES). We welcome any additional papers you may be taking (fourth subjects, Advanced Extension or STEP papers, S levels), though we do not normally set conditions on any beyond the pass level; even subjects not directly relevant (e.g. a language) are good evidence of extra capacity, and others (such as Further Mathematics) mean that you are likely to arrive better prepared. If it ever did, Cambridge no longer admits on such grounds as sporting, musical or similar achievement; however, the ability to achieve at a high level in some other direction is also useful evidence of spare capacity. Offers are usually conditional on A*AA in A2 levels achieved concurrently or AAA in Scottish Advanced Highers. We are happy to consider other examination systems however - for example, usually requiring 41 points out of 45 in the International Baccalaureate, 1.2 in the German Abitur, or 15 points in the French Baccalaureate. Most candidates do in the event meet the conditions, and we make only one or two more offers than we have places. The majority of those admitted for physical sciences come from the state-maintained sector. The University still receives almost as many applications from the much smaller private sector as it does from maintained schools. If you expect good exam results, do not be discouraged by any lack of tradition at your school of sending students here. We welcome your application. What will you do afterwards?About a third take research degrees (MPhil, MSc, PhD) here or elsewhere - investigating astrophysics, global weather, semiconductor devices, mineral structures, organic synthesis, surface catalysis, magnetism in crystals etc. One is now a Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford who co-wrote a now standard textbook on Statistical Physics; and another discovered, during her PhD, what was then the fourth most distant object in the known universe. Two work in the currently vital field of atmospheric physics. Perhaps another third have careers as industrial scientists - in pharmaceuticals, synthetic chemistry, water, energy or oil companies, or as consultants across a wide range of techniques. Others follow a wide range of careers, from fast-stream civil servants and personnel management through to computer graphics / special effects. A welcome few do PGCE courses and become teachers. The College Our most famous alumna is Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, who discovered pulsars while a graduate student at the College - though the Nobel Prize went controversially to her supervisor instead. You can find some more on our studying and career page. How to contact usPlease contact the Admissions Office for more information:
Director of StudiesThe Director of Studies responsible for admissions in Natural Sciences (Physical) is Dr W Owen Saxton, who will be glad to meet anyone considering applying, or to respond to email sent to wos1@cam.ac.uk. What students do nextOther webpages show more about the careers of students from this College who studied your subject in the past. Dr W Owen Saxton, Director of Studies in Physical Natural Sciences Updated by HB, March 2012 |
