[s0673966]

I have been offered a place at Gonville & Caius College (without a scholarship) and Sidney Sussex College (with an Evan-Lewis Thomas Scholarship).

I am unsure about which college to choose. I am aware that Gonville & Caius is considered a better college but is this outweighed by the award of a scholarship at Sidney?

Any help from those in the know would be greatly appreciated.

[Ewok]

(Original post by s0673966)
I have been offered a place at Gonville & Caius College (without a scholarship) and Sidney Sussex College (with an Evan-Lewis Thomas Scholarship).

I am unsure about which college to choose. I am aware that Gonville & Caius is considered a better college but is this outweighed by the award of a scholarship at Sidney?

Any help from those in the know would be greatly appreciated.

Hey,

The reputation of the college doesn't mean very much in relation to the status of your degree- especially not for postgrad where you'll be taught from the law faculty rather than via your college.

A scholarship can look pretty nice on a CV though, as well as obviously being very nice to have. If you get a chance have a look around the colleges to get a feel for them- they're both similar, mid-sized colleges in a nice and central position (although as a postgrad you're unlikely to get in-college accommodation).

Basically- if you're thinking about what your CV will look like the college makes no difference and the scholarship does. If it's a personal choice then that's up to you to make that decision. As a postgrad your college will mean less to you than it would an undergrad (and as a masters student you'll probably get the feel that you mean less to them too...). Have a look at what kind of accommodation would be available (my masters-level Caius friends last year didn't get a good deal at all because some undergrad accommodation was being refurbished so undergrads were put into the postgrad rooms), the food, may balls? (do you care about them? Caius won't be having one next year because they do one in alternate years), proximity to the law faculty (the colleges themselves are roughly the same distance away- Caius is marginally closer).

Hope this helps- and congrats!

[lawsquid]

I agree with the above, at postgrad level your college makes little difference as teaching is all central. A scholarship will make a difference to your CV whatever you plan to do after graduating.

When I was at Cam, there were quite a lot of LLM students in Sidney which might be a relevant consideration (though I don't know if this is always the case). In my college there were only a few and I would have preferred to be somewhere with more.

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by s0673966)
I have been offered a place at Gonville & Caius College (without a scholarship) and Sidney Sussex College (with an Evan-Lewis Thomas Scholarship).

I am unsure about which college to choose. I am aware that Gonville & Caius is considered a better college but is this outweighed by the award of a scholarship at Sidney?

Any help from those in the know would be greatly appreciated.

It depends what sort of conversations you wish to spend your life having:

"My college was Keys"

"I can't see that on the list"

"It's spelt C-a-i-u-s"

"I still can't see it. Are you sure it is not at Oxford?"

"Try under G"

Or alternatively:-

"I was at Sidney Sussex"

"How wonderful. I like Brighton so much"

[jacketpotato]

Yes it outweighs the difference. Sidney Sussex is a good college. It is smaller than Caius but still has famous alumni (e.g. Oliver Cromwell).

[covent50]

Definitely go for the one with the scholarship. It will look great on your CV (as well as saving some cash, one assumes?)