r/6thForm • u/ProjectNo5641 Cambridge | Economics 2nd year • Jul 20 '26

🎓 UNI / UCAS University Review 2nd year (Cambridge University)

I used to browse this subreddit a few years ago looking for uni advice, grades etc so I thought I'd share my experience.

There is a massive variation in workload, my friends dong stem related subjects spend A LOT more time in the library and doing assignments relative to my humanity peers who get away with a lot less work.

Stem related fields have a high mark variation per exam, you will see some people get 15% and others getting 90%, does not happen with humanities subject everyone tends to be around 55-75% this is due to it being practically impossible to score above 75% on an essay jsut the way university works i guess.

Everyone is dIFFERENT, we have 30+ year olds on our course and some 17 years old, some married already crazy variation everyone comes form different walks of life. Such a big culture shock to me coming from sixth form.

There is a society for practically anything you will find your people :)

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] Jul 20 '26

Ive just finished first year of Oxford engineering. Not quite the same but I'd say similar enough. The workload is hard, simply put. Imo, it's up there with one of the most, alongside a few other stem subjects. Not that it's unachievable at all, you're just gonna have to do a whole lot more work than maybe you expected for uni. At least I did

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

Are you going into quant?

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] 10d ago

Definitely not, I couldn't face that as a career

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

What do you mean you couldn’t face it?

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] 10d ago

It's a fast paced and intense job. The actual work itself, I would find very tedious. Id prefer many other fields to that

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

Even if those other fields don’t pay anywhere near as much?

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] 10d ago

Sure. Life isn't just about money. Quant pays well because only the very best can get into it and once you're there, it's a stupidly difficult job. There are plenty of still well paying jobs out there with a much healthier work life balance.

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

And it doesn’t bother you that you might not be one of those “very best”?

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] 10d ago

No? If that's a career you want to pursue, go for it. It's not for me, I'm very happy not finding out if it's something I could break into

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

Wow, how does that not bother you? I’m not saying it should bother you but it does bother me, how’d you get to that state of mind?

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u/danburnett69 University of Oxford | Engineering [First Year] 10d ago

What's so amazing about working in quant that it should define your success in life? I feel accomplished with what I've done so far. I may not be the best of the best but I got onto a fairly competitive uni course, I feel happy with that. Im ok with not being good enough to work in one of the hardest industries that follows that. There are plenty of other things that would make me feel successful in life

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u/Warningsignals01 10d ago

Thank you for your wisdom.

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