A different take on academics

My impressions of Cambridge thus far have been based on website descriptions and hearsay, so my judgments should be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, I suspect that Cambridge's attitude toward academics is pretty much antithetical to Brown's.

One major difference I see is the element of academic competition. At Brown, tour guides often emphasize that Brown students are not cutthroat, and that they are much more likely to seek help from a peer than sabotage the work of others. Of course, one could flaunt this quality at many American colleges, but it seems that Brown especially likes to give the impression that we all approach our studies with the placidness of Hindu cows.

In contrast, Cambridge appears to shamelessly pit students against each other in every way imaginable. Individual colleges vie for the highest proportion of top-marks earned by their students. At some colleges, your pick of next year's housing is based on your exam scores. Monetary awards are routinely given to those who earn the highest marks. And, of course, your exam results are publicly displayed. In 2008, Peterhouse was denied permission to hold a May Ball event because their exam results were profoundly poor that year.

(I'm sorry—but can you imagine if Brown did that? "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PROVOST: BECAUSE THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF BROWN STUDENTS HAS NOT MET EXPACTATIONS, THE UNIVERSITY MUST CANCEL SPRING WEEKEND THIS YEAR." Well, uhh... damn.)

Another big difference is how students choose to display their academic diligence. Brown students tend to moan and groan about how much work they have (guilty). This is especially true of pre-med students, who often whine about how many all-nighters they've pulled at the Sci Li, how many pages they need to write for a paper, how many hours they've spent in lab, how long they've gone without showering... Want evidence of this? Read Brown FML during exam time.

I am told that Cambridge students, on the other hand, tend to hide their industriousness from others (except maybe from their Director of Studies). In fact, the guidebook given to us by our study abroad office warned about being lulled into a sense of complacency by the lackadaisical attitude of other students. I wonder if showing off how much free time you have is Cambridge's version of academically one-upping each other in casual conversation. We'll have to see.

Despite these differences, I'm actually looking forward to a change in pace, a change in attitude toward academics, a change in teaching style. Oh, especially a change in teaching style. Although Brown's teaching is generally superb, I was starting to get bored of the usual memorize-regurgitate-rinse-repeat formula in many neuroscience classes. I've been itching for a real challenge, and I sure hope I'll get one through Cambridge's cozy-but-intense supervisions plus amassing vast amounts of knowledge for a single end-of-year exam.