General Discussion 5

Swaffy · Dec 04, 2013 7:09 PM

Here in Texas we are still having days where it's 75° to 80°F outside.

Mr. John · Dec 05, 2013 12:06 AM

Yeah cold gets to you sometimes it's just easier and better to sip hot chocolate next to a fireplace on a cold day.

Clock-la · Dec 05, 2013 8:20 AM

Hwd45 wrote:

Swaffy wrote:
Interviews for universities? I guess I'm too used to simply signing up, paying, and going.
It all depends on the subject and university, but I don't think I've ever heard a university application process be that simple. A lot of universities judge your application (namely the personal statement, references and grades) and decide whether or not to make you a conditional offer, and you are allowed to go to the university once you've achieved the grades you need - in the UK the grades needed to go to most universities (barring open courses, I think) is A-levels, with the levels themselves varying by subject and Uni, for example the universities I've applied to mostly expect me to get AAA - AA*A*.
Some universities, particularly the high-end Unis, will invite you to an interview first to decide whether or not you're suitable for the course. In the case of Mathematics at Oxford, the full process involves submitting an application, taking a Maths Aptitude Test (MAT) and then the applicants who performed the best are invited to an interview - at this stage there are around 3 interviews for every university place. If the interview goes really well, then you are offered a place at the university. Considering that Oxford is the second best university on the planet, they need to go through more than just 'sign up and pay' ;P

In other words, make sure we don't let northerners in!

Hwd45 · Dec 05, 2013 5:00 PM

Clock-la wrote:

Hwd45 wrote:
Swaffy wrote:
Interviews for universities? I guess I'm too used to simply signing up, paying, and going.
It all depends on the subject and university, but I don't think I've ever heard a university application process be that simple. A lot of universities judge your application (namely the personal statement, references and grades) and decide whether or not to make you a conditional offer, and you are allowed to go to the university once you've achieved the grades you need - in the UK the grades needed to go to most universities (barring open courses, I think) is A-levels, with the levels themselves varying by subject and Uni, for example the universities I've applied to mostly expect me to get AAA - AA*A*.
Some universities, particularly the high-end Unis, will invite you to an interview first to decide whether or not you're suitable for the course. In the case of Mathematics at Oxford, the full process involves submitting an application, taking a Maths Aptitude Test (MAT) and then the applicants who performed the best are invited to an interview - at this stage there are around 3 interviews for every university place. If the interview goes really well, then you are offered a place at the university. Considering that Oxford is the second best university on the planet, they need to go through more than just 'sign up and pay' ;P

In other words, make sure we don't let northerners in!

They don't really care where you're from! In fact, I'd probably have to think up a decent reason why I want to go to Oxford simply because I live so close to Oxford (it's only about 5 miles away from where I live) since most people applying to uni want to get as far from home as possible xD

MaxwellTheScribblenaut · Dec 05, 2013 10:44 PM

Sorry about bringing up death, and somewhat changing the subject, but I just heard civil rights leader Nelson Mandela died today.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013 … dead-at-95

Hwd45 · Dec 05, 2013 10:49 PM

I just heard that as well. RIP sad

Clock-la · Dec 05, 2013 10:52 PM

Rest in peace sweet prince sad

Hwd45 · Dec 05, 2013 11:06 PM

In personal news, I just received an A*A*A offer from Imperial College London! Really happy atm smile

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Dec 06, 2013 12:23 AM

R.I.P. Nelson Mandela.

congratulations, Hwd. refer to my post at the top of this page.

Stormy · Dec 06, 2013 12:51 AM

Nelson Mandela died? sad R.I.P

Congrats Hwd, you might have to explain all this *A**A*A*** stuff to ignorant non-British-people such as myself, though. tongue

Swaffy · Dec 06, 2013 7:52 AM

For the short moment I was hearing the news on Nelson's death, I heard he
was a great person, loved by the people. So he has my respect so far.

Congrats, Hwd! Whatever "A*A*A*" means, I can guess it's awesome.

Hwd45 · Dec 06, 2013 4:50 PM

Okay, so this A*A*A thing...

In the UK, at A-Level, our grading system goes from U to A* - U being ungraded, followed by E, D, C, B, A and A*, which is the highest grade. Normally each grade is separated by 10%, meaning an average of over 90% is needed in all A-level modules in a subject to get A*, 80% is needed for an A and so on. It's actually a little more complicated than that since A* doesn't exist in the first year of A-Levels, but that's the rough idea.

What an A*A*A offer means is that to be able to accept the offer I must get an A* in two subjects and A in the other. The number of subjects taken at A-Level tends to be 4 in the first year and 3 carried on in the second year, but some people don't drop a subject after the first year and some people take Further Maths, which counts as a 5th A-Level. In my A*A*A offer they specifically asked that I get an A* in both Maths and Further Maths and an A in Physics... clearly they didn't care about Chemistry tongue

Stormy · Dec 06, 2013 6:09 PM

Ah, I see. Makes sense.

Colleges around here don't look at individual grades much. GPA and standardized test scores (ACT or SAT, depending on the region) are really all they seem to care about. Some will ask about activities and stuff like that, or make you get a teacher recommendation, or write a paper, but I don't know how much they actually care about any of that. I never applied for any prestigious schools, either, so who knows.

Mr. John · Dec 07, 2013 6:43 AM

RIP Nelson Mandela you will always be remembered!

Hwd my continued well wishes to you hope you get in!

Swaffy · Dec 07, 2013 6:55 AM

Thanks for clearing that up for us, Hwd. I finally get to understand it to some
degree. Stormy basically summed up our grading style here. Our grades are
generally averaged or something, which becomes our GPA (Grade Point
Average). Heck, I barely know how it works.

Latias fan · Dec 08, 2013 2:18 AM

The VGX awards never fail to get worse every year.

Mr. John · Dec 08, 2013 4:17 AM

Latias fan wrote:

The VGX awards never fail to get worse every year.

That bad huh? Heard it was not so good.

RangerOfIthilien · Dec 08, 2013 5:53 AM

Why were they bad?

Clock-la · Dec 08, 2013 9:17 AM

Latias fan wrote:

The VGX awards never fail to get worse every year.

Examples? :-p i do love a bad list!

Swaffy · Dec 08, 2013 5:59 PM

Our kitten is insane! It clawed up onto my shoulder and pulled an insane stunt
by jumping onto the counter top. Freakin crazy cat!

RangerOfIthilien · Dec 08, 2013 6:41 PM

KingLambda wrote:

Why were they bad?

Okay, I read this and I think I know why now. I didn't watch the awards so I had no idea

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Yes-Jo … 60945.html

Latias fan · Dec 08, 2013 7:07 PM

Clock-la wrote:

Latias fan wrote:
The VGX awards never fail to get worse every year.

Examples? :-p i do love a bad list!

>Surprise announcement from Nintendo was Cranky Kong being in Tropical Freeze, That's it.
>Another Borderlands game
>Gone Home won PC GOTY
>Pewdiepie
>That Joel thing
>Smosh
>Constant rap
>No real announcements

Was just an overall disappointment. Last year we had The Phantom Pain and Kojimas mind game.

RangerOfIthilien · Dec 08, 2013 7:36 PM

Latias fan wrote:

Clock-la wrote:
Latias fan wrote:
The VGX awards never fail to get worse every year.

Examples? :-p i do love a bad list!
>Surprise announcement from Nintendo was Cranky Kong being in Tropical Freeze, That's it.
>Another Borderlands game
>Gone Home won PC GOTY
>Pewdiepie
>That Joel thing
>Smosh
>Constant rap
>No real announcements
Was just an overall disappointment. Last year we had The Phantom Pain and Kojimas mind game.

What about the confirmation of the telltale game of thrones game? If say that's pretty big news

Mr. John · Dec 09, 2013 3:33 PM

From Nintendo's point of view DKCTF is their next big game for Wii U they won't say much about SSBU or MK8, X or even Bayonetta 2 till next year, The announcement about The Legend of Zelda isn't going to happen till E3 next year. So Cranky Kong being confirmed playable is cool and a good surprise. Of course they would promote their next big game.

Glad SM3DW and TLOZALBW won some words for Nintendo they deserved it.

Sony had some cool announcements Grand Theft Auto won game of the year Microsoft got a reveal trailer for Titanfall so it wasn't that bad.

Not the best but not bad.

Clock-la · Dec 09, 2013 7:14 PM

I want Fallout 4!!!!

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