Clare,StCatz,StJohns,Trinity for economics

Evening all... (and indeed UKL)

Just thought I'd ask all you fine people your opinions on said colleges, both generally and with respect to econ. Ill be a post A level applicant for 2005 so if anyone also has any info on how these colleges regard post a-level kids i'd be very grateful.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to these four and thought all of you could help me differentiate between them and give me so hints as to which you thought was most competitive for entry. Here's why I was considering each college, feel free to completely slander my opinions:

Clare is top of the list so far: central, pretty, friendly... Am a bit worried about the competition and the fact that accomodation is out of college (colony??) Not sure what it's like for sport. Jazz venue could tip the scales...
Catz next, Pretty central, good econ fellow, just seems cool... Too cool perhaps?...
Then StJohn's: Large, good facilities, pretty, live in, econ fellows and lectures all look fairly legendary(dasgupta) Would imagine it's uber competitive tho...
Last comes trinity :s-smilie:

till seeminly awesome at most stuff. THought it would be really hard to get into then saw this: http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/undergrad/statistics/collegenat.html
Still probably no walkover though. Still think it might be a bit to big, public schooly and full of maths kids.

Anyhow,
Thoughts, comments and abuse are more than welcome.

...and hellos as well!!

Reply 1

Claude

Did you apply for entry in 2004, or will 2005 be your first time?

Reply 2

kindofblue

It'll be my first time.

Reply 3

babyballerina

Clare Colony is just past Magdalene, over the bridge. About half as far away from the town centre as Churchill, Fitz and New Hall. It's almost as big as a college by itself and the accommodation that I have seen is really nice. So you have nothing to worry about.

You will probably be happy wherever you go. I think people stress far far too much about which college they apply to. I have never met anyone who hated their college.

Reply 4

Alaric

kindofblue

Clare is top of the list so far: central, pretty, friendly... Am a bit worried about the competition and the fact that accomodation is out of college (colony??) Not sure what it's like for sport. Jazz venue could tip the scales...

The Colony isn't as bad as people make out, there is some dodgy accommodation by Clare standards - it pales in comparison to the lovely first year stuff - but it's easily liveable in and there's a good chance the bits needing rennovating will be done before you get there. Second years tend to live in the hostels (shared accommodation), Castle End (which is 1950s - stylishness, sadly with public facilities to match at the moment, it will be dealt with in the next five years I believe, and the rooms are really nice themselves) and Castle House (which is perpetually too hot to be in and the rooms are a bit small, but it's 1991 iirc). Third years tend to live in the recently rennovated St. Andrews/St. Giles (where I will be living next year), the rest of Castle House or Castle Brae which has decent sized rooms and is quite sought after. Then again in the third year you might get to live in Old Court (which I decided not to) which could really tickle your fancy.
Note the Colony isn't properly out of college, it isn't gated with 24hr porters like the first year accommodation and Old Court, but it does have a porter there from 8am-midnight and a porters lodge to get mail from etc. It's also all one site, so there's plenty (two or three hundred or something probably) of people around you'll know. The Economics fac would be about two minutes walk from the first year accommodation, but maybe ten from the Colony, it's not really a big deal :smile:

.

Sport, well we play it, there's a big long list of sports we play on the ucs website but we tend to not actually be any good at it :smile:

.

Alaric.

Reply 5

sam99

kindofblue

THought it would be really hard to get into then saw this: http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambuniv/undergrad/statistics/collegenat.html

Anyhow,
Thoughts, comments and abuse are more than welcome.

...and hellos as well!!

These tables are misleading as they don't break the data down into individual subject applicant/acceptance ratios, so don't base any decisions on them

Reply 6

Helenia

Well, I think Clare is great, but then I'm biased. The colony is not really that far out, and as Alaric says, you'll be with all your friends anyway, so an extra 3 minutes cycle doesn't make too much difference. It seems to be popular in terms of admissions at the moment though :smile:

I don't know anyone properly at any of the other colleges, I'm afraid. Catz seems quite cool, and "fitting in" is never as much of an issue here as it is at school. Both Trinity and Johns are very big and so it might be easy to feel lost there, but some people (e.g. shiny) think it's great. I don't know how hard it would be to get into them compared with the others - generally, if you're good enough, you'll get in somewhere.