#dos's

[askacambridgestudent]

ahh wait how do you find college DOS? is it the same as the fellows?

Right so here’s Kings HSPS page

See there, under James Laidlaw it says he’s the Director of Studies for Part I. That means he’s the main DoS (more on that here). Some of those other fellows might be Pt II DoS’s. 

If the college page doesn’t make it as clear as this, eg it just lists all the fellows, you have to kinda detective around. You can google the people and find their pages within their Cam department, which will sometimes tell you (like “X’s speciality is in ____ and she is also the St. Catz DoS” or something). If you can’t find it anywhere, you’ve basically got to guess. Discount anyone who is called like ‘The __________ Fellow’ those will be special associated people, pretty much never DoS’s. Then just look for whoever seems the most senior. 

[askacambridgestudent]

Hi, I am an offer holder. I did some mock interviews privately with an ex cam stufent in my subject, they were returning to do some PHD work. We didn't get on, and they made me feel awful and crushed my confidence so we quit sessions. Found out they will be doing there PhD at the college I have an offer! I'm so scared I'm considering dropping my offer. Will they definitely teach me? They also know how I totally only got in on luck, they didn't think I was very good. SCARED

Hi, scared person here again. I’m worried this will ruin my entire three years :( do PhD people often teach undergraduates in the same college ?___________________

Well first of all, you got in. Your DoS chose you, that’s the person you have to worry about, not some rando PhD. Honestly, this person sounds like a douche bag who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. I wouldn’t worry about it. Just because they’re a PhD at your college doesn’t mean they have anything to do with your DoS and it doesn’t mean they’ll have anything to do with your teaching. It’s not all that common to be supervised by PhDs, especially not first year PhD’s. And even if you are taught by them, it definitely wouldn’t be for more than one year. 

There’s no reason to drop, even if this person is going to be supervising you. Why would you be scared? Clearly they’re an idiot who was wrong about you. Supervisors have no effect on your grades, having one that hates you won’t dash your chances of getting a good mark. And if their supervising is really bad or they’re not treating you properly in supers, that’s what you have a DoS for. Your DoS is on your side, that’s their job. If this does become an issue (which it really shouldn’t, they probably won’t be teaching you and even they are, they should be able to remain professional) your DoS will sort it out. DoS’s are like fairy godmothers. Don’t underestimate them, don’t underestimate yourself. This is going to be fine. Deep breath. 

[askacambridgestudent]

hey aacs! do you know where you can find a list of the DoS at each college for a certain subject?

Sorry, there’s not a whole list up anywhere as far as I know, you just have to search within the college websites!

[askacambridgestudent]

My interviewers were really horrible to me at interview... do you think they'll be the same in real life?

No definitely not necessarily. I know a lot of people get scared about this (their DoS interviews them, is terrifying, they think all DoS meetings will be that scary) but most DoS’s are fairly nice, especially once you get to know them. And when you’re terrified in interview, people can come across as much more intimidating than they actually are. So don’t worry about it too much!

[askacambridgestudent]

So I'm starting HSPS in October, the courses I'm taking are Soc Anth, Politics, IR, and Sociology. My plan was ultimately to either specialise in Politics, or possibly two subjects like Politics and Social Anthropology. However, reading through your blog now I can see that you recommend a college with a DoS in the subject that you're taking. As a matter of fact, the Christ's DoS is a Social Anthropology professor. How much will this suck for me?

Meh. It’s not the worst thing. It mostly matters for your first year results where the teaching is much more organized by the college than in later years (where your dept takes care of most of it). So it might affect your first year results a bit but, honestly, as long as you get a 2.i first year doesn’t matter at all so it’s not a big deal. It’ll just mean that you probably won’t have that close a relationship with your DoS but that’s hardly the end of the world. 

Have fun this year!

[askacambridgestudent]

sarah, help!! i'm so confused. so i got my welcome package from my college today, I'm over the moon and all, but then I read the letter and it said that my DoS was one of my interviewers, but not the one that is labelled as the DoS on the college website. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed (I think my now-DoS is brilliant), I just thought that I'd understood the system but it turns out that I'm still lost. Are there multiple DoS, per subject and year? Do they change each year? xx

They’re generally fairly stable but Cam academics often get months/whole years of leave if they come up with a cool project or get good grant money so yeah, it does happen. You old DoS will probably be back at some point during your degree, usually they switch back to that person but sometimes the current person will keep doing it. So to recap: yeah, it does happen, usually for good reasons. The person originally listed as DoS will probably come back at some point but you may or may not stick with the current person, it really varies. 

[askacambridgestudent]

How do you call your teachers at Cam? Sir? Ma'am? Dr? Mr/Ms (Surname)? Did you ever get to a first name basis with any of them? xx

My dept was very casual, we went with a first name basis for pretty much everyone. So my DoS was just Jay, my diss supervisors was Peter, etc. But other DoS’s/depts are more formal, my boyfriend always calls his DoS “Dr. McCombie.” When I would write to a member of staff, I would also say “Dr. ____” in my first email and then I’d use whatever they signed off with when they replied from then on.