Archaeology & Anthropology
Okay well, Good points:
You’d probably be the only person in your year doing the subject, but it’s a small college so there’s plenty of people like that. The library has good selection of books for 1st year and no competition for them.
Your supervision partners would be from other colleges so you get to know a new group of people. I liked this as now I have two close groups of friends one from subject and one from college. Also the department is very sociable, everyone knows each other.
The DOS is external and there’s no arch and anth fellows which means all teaching is external but for most students it is anyway as it’s a very small subject, and you get to look round other colleges. Whilst there’s a fair amount of work, the pressure increases gradually and is never too bad so in 1st year you can settle in and have plenty of time for outside activities. If you do like the odd night out in 1st year there’s no 9am lectures. There are no mocks after Xmas so your holidays are easier.
The real benefits of the course come if you stay onto 2nd year archaeology. Firstly there’s a heavily subsidised field trip to Europe. This year we went to France and in amongst some rather long tours of rock shelters there was a fair amount of wine consumption, and some interesting games of “I have never….” Secondly you have to do fieldwork for four weeks and are encouraged to travel to places linked with your interests. I had four great weeks in Calabria in Southern Italy, and whilst it was very hard work, the beach just across the road compensated. Also the department pays up to ¾ of your costs and you can usually get help with the rest.
Bad points
Well there’s not that much, some people probably wouldn’t like being the only student in a year and the lack of a fellow for arch and anth means that it’s not the most prominent of subjects. However the small number of students means that there’s a lot of support and communication between students in different years, plus the subject rep is there to make sure everyone is getting on ok.
Peterhouse isn’t that great for travel and other subsides but being so small there’s a higher degree of flexibility and they go out of their way to help with additional course costs like travel, so not being wealthy should never stop you from pursuing a given area of study.
Personally the only black cloud on the horizon is the potential move by Peterhouse to reduce the number of small subjects and centralise on areas of expertise. I’m not sure what’s happening about this, if it’s just an idea or whether it has any effect on arch and anth. It would be a real shame if it does as I personally really enjoy doing a small subject at a small college. This shouldn’t put people off as it’s a really great subject and college but it’s something that should be checked out.
Alex Lerwill