Degree Certificates
Oct. 17th, 2012 12:45 amWhen I finally put all my degree certificates in the same folder, I realised I really did have four different degree certificates for basically one four-year course. And I actually know where they all are if I ever need them, although already having a job, that's fairly unlikely.
For the record, that is:
* Bachelor of Arts, for the normal undergraduate course. Obviously Cambridge eschews such new-fangled contraptions such as degrees other than "of arts". Oxford graduates may snicker at Cambridge thinking of itself as "old" here :)
* Master of Arts, also for the normal undergraduate course, but seven years later (assuming you haven't brought the college into disrepute in the meantime), on the traditional-but-spurious grounds that when the system was instituted, a Cambridge three-year degree was supposedly worth as much as a four-year degree somewhere else.
* Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics, for the fourth year masters-equivalent. Which has a very idiosyncratic name, since most people understand either "Part III" or "Masters-equivalent", but no-one ever actually says "certificate of advanced studies in mathematics".
* Master of Mathematics. When Cambridge finally knuckled under to the pressure to be marginally consistent with everyone else, and give out actual masters certificates for the masters course. I still feel like I cheated by doing a taught masters that didn't have a true research component, but it's still true that after four years of teaching, you're not at the frontiers of knowledge yet, and maths is harder to start doing research in, since there often nothing like "a bit similar to the research we did before, but on a new chemical".
"Master of Mathematics" probably has to be my favourite, since even though I didn't become an academic mathematician, it's still a nice achievement, and the title is more sensible that the previous one.
For the record, that is:
* Bachelor of Arts, for the normal undergraduate course. Obviously Cambridge eschews such new-fangled contraptions such as degrees other than "of arts". Oxford graduates may snicker at Cambridge thinking of itself as "old" here :)
* Master of Arts, also for the normal undergraduate course, but seven years later (assuming you haven't brought the college into disrepute in the meantime), on the traditional-but-spurious grounds that when the system was instituted, a Cambridge three-year degree was supposedly worth as much as a four-year degree somewhere else.
* Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics, for the fourth year masters-equivalent. Which has a very idiosyncratic name, since most people understand either "Part III" or "Masters-equivalent", but no-one ever actually says "certificate of advanced studies in mathematics".
* Master of Mathematics. When Cambridge finally knuckled under to the pressure to be marginally consistent with everyone else, and give out actual masters certificates for the masters course. I still feel like I cheated by doing a taught masters that didn't have a true research component, but it's still true that after four years of teaching, you're not at the frontiers of knowledge yet, and maths is harder to start doing research in, since there often nothing like "a bit similar to the research we did before, but on a new chemical".
"Master of Mathematics" probably has to be my favourite, since even though I didn't become an academic mathematician, it's still a nice achievement, and the title is more sensible that the previous one.