Student Profiles – Emmanuella, History
Emmanuella is a second-year History student from Buckinghamshire. At A Level, she studied History, Biology, and Geography.
I loved the idea of a central college, which had access to the river. It also looked really pretty and I liked that it was old.
I did a mock interview at school, and other than that, I reviewed my personal statement and written work, to make sure that I was familiar with all of it and would be able to confidently answer questions on it.
Why did you choose your course, and has it lived up to your expectations?
History had always been my favourite subject in school, and I really liked the diversity of options that history at Cambridge gave me. The course has fulfilled my expectations. I have enjoyed the diversity of papers on offer, as well as the opportunities to have lectures, supervisions and more collaborative seminars. My favourite part of my course is that I get to choose all of my modules, so there is never a paper that I don’t enjoy!
How do you manage your time?
I generally have one supervision a week, about 5 lectures and a 2 hour seminar. Most of the rest of the time is individual study – history is very self-led. I try to be as organised as possible, by planning my weeks ahead of time, and making sure that I know exactly when my deadlines are, so that I can work backwards and partition my work into urgent and non-urgent things. I then use my diary and plan my days out in time slots so that I get the most out of them.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I spend a lot of time rowing, which is a lovely break from academic work. I also play in an orchestra once a week, and I am a member of the JCR (green and ethics officer) as well as being on the June Event Committee.
