<p>anyone done this program(me) before? I hear it’s relatively. I can only go abroad for the summer, and this looks like a worthwhile one</p>
<p>Are you talking about the UK?</p>
<p>If so, there are at least 2 King’s colleges (Cambridge and London) and at least 2 Pembrokes (Oxford and Cambridge). With so little information it is impossible to identify the programme you are talking about. </p>
<p>Country and location would be a great start.</p>
<p>oh yes, it’s the King’s/Pembroke of Cambridge. heres the site: [Pembroke</a> College : International programmes : Pembroke-King’s Summer Programme](<a href=“http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/ip/pkp/]Pembroke”>Pembroke Cambridge Summer Programme | Pembroke)</p>
<p>Note that the undergraduate part of the University of Cambridge is basically closed for the duration of the summer (End of June till 1st October). The programme you have linked above is a kind of fake Cambridge term for foreign students. You won’t meet any UK undergraduates doing this course (nor many professors who teach undergraduates - they are all on holiday. As a graduate student at Oxford people constantly tried to recruit me and other grads to teach on courses similar to this. Mostly likely you will only see regular professors at the guest lectures which are mentioned, For the simple reason that only the grad students and the retired are around in the summer). So if you want to meet any non-Americans, this is unlikely. You might see the grad students at formal hall (but not if they remove the alcohol due to the presence of easily offended Americans LOL!) or in the caferteria.</p>
<p>The courses seems to be a bit Cambridge-lite. During a real Cambridge term you would have 4 supervisions a weeks and you wouldn’t have time to go on trips every weekend as you would have to fit in 60-70 or more hours studying a week to avoid failure (unless you are a genius. There are a few of them). Having said that, would you really want that?? Especially in the summer (most Cambridge undergrads have never seen Cambridge in the summer. They are only there October -June).</p>
<p>Bear in mind that lots of parts of the university, such at the union (debating) society, boat houses and all the normal social stuff will be closed. I persoanlly would hate being forced to go to organised social activities, but there wouldn’t be anything else to go to in summer if they weren’t organised! As a normal undergraduate, you certainly don’t get trips to Scotland provided or anything.</p>
<p>The good thing is they seem to have got the grade-conversion thing sorted (very unsual for any study abroad programme). </p>
<p>Also, you get single rooms. This is the norm in the UK, but UK universities often rob American students by putting them two to a room, as you don’t know you are paying the single price, and think sharing is the norm. </p>
<p>I think it will be fun, but more of a holiday than an academic learning experience compared to studying during term time.</p>
<p>Im cool with it. My schedule only allows me to study abroad during the summer, and it seems like all summer programs are geared toward international students (as you stated).</p>
<p>Plus, it’s been a dream of mine to travel to Europe 
and it’d be nice to not destroy my gpa</p>
<p>It sounds like you will get what you want out of this programme. I just wanted to point out how it would differ from studying there duirng term time.</p>
<p>Note that it is actually on Pembroke College website, so it is really endorsed by them. There are many, many dozens of “colleges” in Cambridge which have nothing to do with the university and charge foreign students extortionate amounts to study there to have a “Cambridge experience”. This doesn’t seem to be one of them. You really get to stay in the university.</p>
<p>I went to PKP last year and it was definitely the best summer of my life. I’m an engineering major but used the PKP courses to fulfill the requirements for an international minor at my home university. The students at PKP were mostly Americans (also a few internationals that attended US universities) but were truly some of the most intelligent (mainly Ivies, BYU, and UC schools), adventurous, and just plain interesting people I’ve ever met. There were also Cambridge students who acted as “TAs” though a more accurate term would probably be “camp counselors” since they were in charge of planning the activities, not teaching any classes. All the TAs were really friendly and genuinely interested in getting to know the American students and we got to know them as friends as well. </p>
<p>The activities that were planned by the program were great- the formal halls were amazing 5-star dining experiences in a dining hall out of Harry Potter, there were weekly high teas, plus many other fun activities like day trips to local manors, punting on the River Cam, and hiking to a tearoom that Virginia Wolff used to frequent. The trips to Scotland and London were also really well planned. </p>
<p>The classes were also good for the most part. I was lucky and had one of my courses taught by a very well known professor who had taught at Cambridge for 30 years before deciding to go to an Ivy league. My other courses were taught by young Cambridge fellows who were also very knowledgeable in their fields. In my opinion, the classes were appropriate for a study abroad program because although they were challenging at times, I never felt like I needed to miss out on the cultural activities in order to study. I didn’t do a supervision, but the students who did this seemed to really enjoy it. </p>
<p>Let me know if you would like to know more!</p>
<p>CupCake, you’re at Oxford, how does a programme like [Summer</a> School - Oxford University Statistics](<a href=“http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/research/genome/summer_school]Summer”>http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/research/genome/summer_school) compare to PKP? Obviously the former is more academic but to what extent? I know a few that have gone for the former and didn’t even publish. I understand that it’s hard to bring is a bunch of foreign students and try do some hard academic work (though the Oxford programme does actually run interviews and only accepts certain majors), but I’m still suspicious of all UK summer schools.</p>
<p>I got accepted to PKP yesterday (I feel like it was pretty easy too). I study fulltime in the UK (Edinburgh) but I’m currently on exchange in the US where I heard about it. I’d still like to do something like this just to generally check out Cambridge where I’ll be applying for a MPhil in Comp. Bio [I’m not from the UK so it’s still all interesting]. I think it will go at least some way to helping me get in for that…or maybe not? Seems a bit too much like fun, but at the same time, it is official endorsed by Cambridge with courses for credit so it can’t all be a vacation. Maybe I can opt to take more courses? I don’t really have anything else planned for the summer.</p>
<p>The stats program linked above does appear to be endorsed by the uni, given that it has a official .ox.ac.uk address. It also appears to be competitive entry, so you can’t just pay to get in. If you are already studying in the UK you will know that it is a very independent experience compared to some other countries. The above stats program appears to be typical research based with a low amount of tutoring time.</p>
<p>Obviously I’ve never attended a summer school myself. I’vejust seen the students around during the summer while I was a grad student and known other students who were recruited to teach on such courses. In general, any course which includes things like trips to tourist attractions is nothing to do with any British university. They couldn’t care less if you’ve seen stonehenge. Of course there is nothing wrong with such a course if that is what you want, but be aware it is basically a vacation and unlikely to be academically challenging.</p>
<p>Good luck
Cupcake</p>
<p>I am studying abroad this coming summer at Pembroke-King’s College and need to select a dorm. Can anyone provide any opinions on the following dorms in Band 4?
“A” Staircase
Bodley’s Court
Kennedy Building
Webb’s Court
Pembroke College</p>
<p>@UCLAstudent2016 I’d suggest asking on the Cambridge subforum of The Student Room. There are plenty of students on there who will know the buildings and who will be able to advise you properly.</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestion. I will check out the Cambridge subforum.</p>
<p>How competitive was acceptance into the program? I know it’s been a while since anyone has posted on here but help would be appreciated!</p>