<p>The web-site Spriteling is trying to link is</p>
<p><a href="http://www">www</a>. the student room .co.uk</p>
<p>If you remove the spaces, the link will work. For some reason it is blocked on this site.</p>
<p>
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what the average class size is
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Depends on what you mean by "class". This doesn't mean the same thing in the UK and US. </p>
<p>The whole year group (i.e. everyone admitted into the first year in 2009. That is your matriculation year BTW. You're the class of the year you start in the UK, not the year you graduate) will be around 3000-3500 students each. Cambridge is a bit smaller than Oxford, and you can only apply to one of them, not both, in the same academic year.</p>
<p>Your "college" is where you live, like a dorm. There are 30+ colleges in each university. You apply to an individual college to study a specific subject, effectibvely your major (no minors, no switiching soyou need to be sure). Some colleges are big, and some at small. I think Trinity Cambridge is the biggest college, with about 1000 students. But most have about 3-400 students. Some have just 10 trainee ministers/vicars/monks. </p>
<p>There are two types of teaching, lecture and tutorials (as the are known at Oxford) or supervisions (as they are known at Cambridge) which are exactly like the admission interviews really. You go to lectures with everyone studying your subject from all colleges. they will be held at a central place. If you're doing Natural sciences at Cambridge for example there may be 3-400 students in one lecture, at least in the first year (each year you specialise more and lectures get smaller). If you're doing something obscure like Anglo-saxon, Norse and Celtic, there may be 5 people in your lecture class (and maybe 30 in the whole university. I don't know). </p>
<p>So you take notes in the lecture, then you have to prepare an essay or questions for your tutorial/supervision. This may be one-to-one, or may be with one or two other students, and a Prof in that subject. You discuss the lecture topics of the week and the tutor marks your work for next time. In the first year at least most of your tutorials/supervisions are within your college (given by 'fellows' associated with that college), but as you specialise more you may choose tutors from other colleges. Your tutor may be a PhD student who is researching a topic of your lectures. You may have the same tutors all year, or you may have many, each for only a small topic. It depends on the subject you are studying how it is done. The work you prepare for your tutor is really exam practice. Most of your grade each (in many subjects, all of it ) it based on some exams you take in the summer. You have to like exams to go to Oxbridge (and I don't mean multiple choice! I mean one question and 3 hours to write about it on blank paper. 4-8 such exams every year). There is no getting away from this. It's an exam based system. 40% is a pass. 55% is good. 80% is genius level. </p>
<p>Scientists also have lab practical classes. Some subjects have discussion groups. I think language students have conversation groups (I am studying Biology so I cannot describe every subject). In Biology (I didn Natural Sciences, specialising in Zoology, at Cambridge for my undergraduate degree), in my final year I did an extended research project supervised by one prof. which counted towards my exams. All scientists do something like this. Arts students may do some kind of writing project.</p>
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what the lectures are like (hundreds of people in a lecture hall?) and what the classroom experience is like.
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See above. No-one will force you to go to any class. If you want to stay in bed all day, every day, you can. In the UK you are an adult at 18 and can do what you want. You have to do LOTS of self-study and be very self-motivated. It is not like "school" and in fact that term is only used in the UK for the education of under 18s (in fact, when Americans say they are "still in school", Brits assume they are in some kind of remedial class!). There are no class teachers or anything like that. You will have some kind of "Director of Studies" in your college who monitors your progress(who may also be one of your tutors) and gets progress reports from the other tutors. But these do not affect your grades.</p>
<p>I hope that helps. The most important point is the deadline for application is 20th Sept for overseas interviews/15th Oct if you want to interview in the UK. In other words, you are already too late to apply for 2009 entry. You have to get organised early if you want to apply for 2010 entry.</p>