Food at Cambridge.

That is not true. Admittedly, I live where there are the best kitchens (4 hobs, oven and microwave), 2 kitchens like this for 10 rooms. In other freshers' accommodation I have seen you get pretty much the same thing but without the oven (Wolfson) and with fewer hobs (eg Blue Boar O). I can't remember much about Angel Court, but you definitely have at least hobs and microwave in each kitchen. And fridge (unless rooms have fridges).

Well done on choosing the best college!

Most gyp rooms have hobs. If you're in the Wolfson building as a first year, you will have ovens, if not then you won't. For second and third years there are huge kitchens in the houses over in Burrell's (V, W and X) with ovens and hobs. Almost everywhere else will have hobs but not ovens and there are a few in the older parts of college which don't have hobs (just a microwave, kettle and toaster).

Thank you! I was thinking of trying to go into the more modern accommodation anyway (like Wolfson) because i'm quite keen on the idea of an en-suite, though i won't be devastated if i can't get one. Do all first years get rooms in Wolfson?

No. First-years live in Wolfson, Angel Court, Blue Boar I and Blue Boar O (or at least they did when I was a first year). Wolfson and Blue Boar I have ovens, Blue Boar O and Angel may or may not have hobs, somebody who has lived there more recently will have to clarify on that. Blue Boar I has a few ensuites but not all the rooms are. When I applied, you did not really get to pick where you lived in first year, you just said what level of rent you want, and then you were assigned a room - to my knowledge this hasn't changed...

Thereafter, it is easy to choose accommodation with decent cooking facilities - everywhere in Burrell's Field has at least hobs and some places have ovens, some have really massive kitchens with a proper dining table. Bridge Street (renamed Pearce Hostel, another bit of Trinity I didn't even know existed until my 2nd year) also has ovens, and I think there's part of Blue Boar court that also has them. Older parts of college, especially the areas around Great Court, and Whewell's Court, generally only have microwaves, but many people bring their own hobs/George Foreman grills/easy-bake ovens and hide them.

I didn't know you didn't get a choice in your accommodation. Some of my friends who are already at various unis said that when they applied for their accommodation, they put down the different halls of residence in order of preference. Most ended up in their second or third choice. I assumed Cambridge would be similar? I mean, i'm sure it doesn't matter because the accommodation is all pretty good, but still - it's a strange way of doing things

I didn't know you didn't get a choice in your accommodation. Some of my friends who are already at various unis said that when they applied for their accommodation, they put down the different halls of residence in order of preference. Most ended up in their second or third choice. I assumed Cambridge would be similar? I mean, i'm sure it doesn't matter because the accommodation is all pretty good, but still - it's a strange way of doing things

Different colleges do different things. I may be wrong in saying this but I think some colleges will bump you up the ballot choice for second year for very good first year examinations.

At King's at least (from what I was told a while ago), you choose according to the random ballot allocation for second year then flipped the complete other way for third. A nice position in the middle and you could well have ensuite for three years woo

Different colleges do different things. I may be wrong in saying this but I think some colleges will bump you up the ballot choice for second year for very good first year examinations.

At King's at least (from what I was told a while ago), you choose according to the random ballot allocation for second year then flipped the complete other way for third. A nice position in the middle and you could well have ensuite for three years woo

Different colleges do different things. I may be wrong in saying this but I think some colleges will bump you up the ballot choice for second year for very good first year examinations.

Different colleges do different things. I may be wrong in saying this but I think some colleges will bump you up the ballot choice for second year for very good first year examinations.

How's Christmas dinner there? Do you get like special food for holidays like that? A gargantuan turkey perhaps..?

Term tends to end on the very first days of December so I don't think they could really do Christmas food http://www.cam.ac.uk/univ/termdates.html

How's Christmas dinner there? Do you get like special food for holidays like that? A gargantuan turkey perhaps..?

Actually, there's Cambridge Christmas, which is like normal Christmas but early and with your friends. Most, if not all colleges, have a Christmas formal hall, and certainly there's lot of carol concerts and things too. It's really fun

We have Cambridge Christmas - 25th November Not sure if it's the same for all colleges but i know a few, mine definitely, do a special christmas formal hall where you have crackers etc It's fun. We sang drunken carols at our last one.

We have Cambridge Christmas - 25th November Not sure if it's the same for all colleges but i know a few, mine definitely, do a special christmas formal hall where you have crackers etc It's fun. We sang drunken carols at our last one.

This sounds like SO much fun, I can't wait for it next autumn! Do you know if Fitzwilliam has a Cambridge Christmas??

Wow, judging your college on food?!

A note on judging which college to go for.

When you go for open days, you get roughly a 0% appreciation of what the place is actually like to live at. You go and you think "Right, I want to go to somewhere that's old, big, grand, rich, prestigious, etc."

It means bull. Basically, about a month into your degree you get an appreciation of what actually means something to you about your college. Things that you wouldn't expect are important, most definitely are.

1. Food is important, and the guy who's posted this has a very good point in asking this question. The fact that I can rely on my college's hall to produce for me three nice, good size courses, for very cheap prices, every day, means I can worry a LOT less about food in general. Eating takes less time, and I'm healthier because I have a good diet. I go to Girton, for the record. I've sampled Homerton, Corpus (pretty nice), Caius (abysmal), Robinson (pretty nice), Johns (nice formals on the whole), Newnham (average) and Pembroke (expensive!) food and I'm confident in saying that ours surpasses the lot of them. Our chef won the award for "best hot main" in the recent competition between colleges, and it does show.

2. Personality of your DoS and fellows, and the way they run your course. This is impossible to gauge from an open day, really. Our DoS is lovely, she's down to earth, funny, keeps our classes relaxed, and really is top notch on her knowledge of literary criticism, she's... like... infallible at it. She's also disorganised and skittish, and occasionally has to go pick up her kids from school rather than give a supervision. She also organises weekly events for us, including poets as speakers, professors from the faculty, poetry groups, essay writing discussions, etc. Wine is always present, and we generally have a really nice time. The fact that they pretty much run our course (considering English is pretty flexible in the amount of teaching you choose to receive from lectures) it has a HUGE positive effect on my life that my DoSses are both lovely people.

3. Proximity to other places you need to go. This affects me quite a lot, being at Girton. I wish I was at Selwyn and only had to take a 2 minute walk to get to my lectures. Saying that, though, if you're a natsci you have to go to loads of different labs all over the place anyway - and if you're a medic, there's only really Homerton that's close to Addenbrookes. Pick somewhere close.

4. Wealth of your college. I've found this has affected me very little. Our room rents are high, yes. Our rooms aren't that big, yes. Our bathrooms haven't been decorated in a few years, it's true, but apart from these things you're not going to find that going somewhere really rich is going to change your experience much. I went to John's the other day and the loo I went in was disgusting. The loo I went to at Queens' - one of the poorest colleges - was immaculate.

5. Architecture of your college. Does nothing. For the first month you're "" every time you walk anywhere and then it pretty much wears off - this is the place you live in. It stops being special pretty quickly when you see it every day. This is coming from someone who adores architecture; it matters to me a lot, but you just come to accept it.

6. Prestigiousness. Means nothing. Pretty much everyone here is treated the same as everyone else (except the Johnians) and just because you go to Fitzwilliam that hasn't got any really famous alumni or whatever doesn't mean you couldn't be the first. Everyone that goes to Cambridge has that potential.

There are other things, but really, they're irrelevant. Choose your college based on how easy it will make your experience in Cambridge in terms of the living side of things. The less time you spend living (eating, travelling, shopping, sleeping, cooking) the more time you have to work and the more time you have to have fun.