The Big 'Which Cambridge College?' Thread

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Why are you only taking the AS?

I'm going to be applying to study Law at Cambridge. I've been to two colleges out of the many that there are, Caius & Pembroke. I liked both these colleges alot but im making sure that there isnt a better suited one and would appreciate anyones help. Im looking for

-Large law student count/A favoured Law college
-En-suite accommodation for first years
-Not too posh, preferably students from state schools (though i know this is v opinion based)
-And i havent come across any shared kitchens at any colleges yet, or are they ALL halls? :confused:

-And perhaps a sporty college, though this isnt a must

Reply 1042

Rob16

Ive already eailed admission and if you read the prospectus it says "chemistry is strongly prefered by all college" or something along those lines.
I was unsure of what i wanted to do when i started college, but things happened and its medicine i want to do, but i didnt have chemistry last year so ive taken it as an AS this year.

Reply 1043

smetin92

i think you should take chem, as strongly prefered means it is a mojor factor in the application process, because if u r fighting for a place with 7 other people with chem, they r mre likely to get that place than you. but, if you do well, there is nothing stopping you applying because you do have good a-levels. i applied for kings and am awaiting the news of possible interviews :smile:

but, i think you should go to http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/statistics/
it shows application statistics, by college and by subject. check it out ans see which college you have the highest chance of getting in to. but, you should just go an apply to the college that yo actually like. that is the best option. :smile:

Reply 1044

Rob16

smetin92

Thanks a lot and i have take chemistry this year as an AS. If i dont get any offers (which is pretty liekely without chem lol) then il stay on at college next year and get the full A2. But ya know, i might as well apply ant I :smile:

Reply 1045

_Claudia_

avernew

Hi,
I'm going to apply to read English.

I really like St. John's, but almost everywhere I've looked it says that St. John's is rather posh. Is this true? And why would people rather be at Oxford than St. John's?

Hi! I'm applying to read English at St. John's too - so I guess we're rivals from now on! :eek:

Perhaps we even met - have you been to their June open day? :smile:

From my (extremely limited) experience, everyone was very friendly and normal. I have been 'warned' by a few students from other colleges while in Cambridge though - but since it's such a large college, I can hardly believe everyone to be snobbish... From what I've heard (again, I'm only applying myself, so I'm not your ideal reference!), they sing that song because people would even rather be at Oxford ('the other place' and all that) than at St. John's.
Good luck with your application - who knows, when we're both lucky I might meet you at interview :wink:

Reply 1046

smetin92

Rob16

definately. you might as well try next year as well as this year :smile:

Reply 1047

Rob16

smetin92

definitely. you might as well try next year as well as this year :smile:

My thinking exactly! Though id happily take my other choices. Im only really applying to cambridge this year (well i really want to go obviously) because out of the few i can apply to theres only 3 that id be willing to go to, so i might as well have a go at cambridge because i wouldnt want to go to the others anyway (Y)

Reply 1048

spacepirate-James

well no, i would say that if you were only applying to cambridge because "well you know, i might get in" you have just wasted one of those precious 4 choices :ninja:

...im just saying...

Reply 1049

Fanganesium

one trouble with that is that cambridge likes you doing your a levels over a 2 yr period. gd luck btw.

Reply 1050

Rob16

spacepirate-James

well no, i would say that if you were only applying to cambridge because "well you know, i might get in" you have just wasted one of those precious 4 choices :ninja:

...im just saying...

Well i disagree, without chemistry to A2 (only AS) there are only like 9/10 i can choose from, im happy wth 3 of them but the fourth choice is just difficult because i dont want to have to move 7 hours away from home, not to mention that i dont want to goto ome of the places. So i might as well apply to cambridge with the slightest chanc that i might get in, its not wasted because i wouldnt accept the other 4th choice ones anyway id prefer to do the extra year at college and get the full A2 then apply wherever, so relly its not wasted. Oh and sorry if thats made no sense at all :tongue:

Reply 1051

Rob16

Fanganesium

one trouble with that is that cambridge likes you doing your a levels over a 2 yr period. gd luck btw.

Allready talked to them about that. They say its fine because i will have completed 4 a levels over the regular 2 year period which would be more than enough to meet the offer, id only be staying the extra year to meet he requirements if you get where im going with this :yep:

Reply 1052

ninanguyen

Tempeststurm

Emma is nearer to the center, but Newnham isn't that far. The biggest difference between the two is whether you want an all girls college.

I wouldn't mind whether the college is only for girls,as long as other criteria are good :biggrin:

. In that respect,which one do people think is better?

Reply 1053

avernew

_Claudia_

Hi! I'm applying to read English at St. John's too - so I guess we're rivals from now on! :eek:

Perhaps we even met - have you been to their June open day? :smile:

No, I wasn't at open day, but hopefully we'll both get interviews :smile:

Just looking at the JCR website and all, St. John's seemed really nice.

Thanks!

Reply 1054

EasyTiger

I didnt even know there were colleges with en-suite rooms.

The buildings are hundereds of years old (mainly) so the rooms are'nt going to be up to much are they

Reply 1055

timotiis

EasyTiger

I didnt even know there were colleges with en-suite rooms.

The buildings are hundereds of years old (mainly) so the rooms are'nt going to be up to much are they

That's very much not true. Some of the buildings, in some of the colleges, are a few hundred years old. But the accommodation has been kept up to scratch -- en-suite is quite common at many colleges, for example.

To the OP:

My first recommendation is to look through college websites or the like, and check off your points. But to briefly comment on each one:

Law student counts aren't (to the best of my knowledge) going to be 'huge' anywhere.

Clare has en-suite rooms for 1st years. I don't know about anywhere else.

Cambridge these days has a fairly even mix of state and private school people, and you won't be looked down on anywhere for having come up from a state school.

Shared kitchens (known as 'gyp-rooms') are very standard, normally distributed a few to a staircase. Catering arrangements in each college are different -- look on the websites. Most students will likely prepare some meals of their own, but eat in the communal facilities a fair amount of the time (however, there is massive variance in this).

All the colleges will have teams in the 'standard' sports, and in some others besides -- I'm not aware of any being notably 'sporty', although some do undeniably better than others in inter-college tournaments.

Most importantly, once you've picked (for whatever reason), go and visit it. Make sure you feel you'll be happy to live and work there for the next few years. If you have any doubts, try a few others as well.

Reply 1056

Piricad

prag92

-Large law student count/A favoured Law college

This will say how many law students each college usually takes

prag92

-En-suite accommodation for first years

I don't think any college guarantees this, you'll find it scattered here and there, like in the Stephen Hawking Building at Caius

prag92

-Not too posh, preferably students from state schools (though i know this is v opinion based)

Well they all have students from state schools, I assume you don't require them to exclusively take state pupils, because none of them do this.

Reply 1057

248677

Downing?
- Large law student count, one of the best law lecturers, a whole massive floor of the library devoted to law, apparently the law college
- Lovely en-suite accommodation available
- Not too posh with plenty of state school applicants
- Gyp kitchens, as per usual in Cambridge
- Pretty sure it's got a good reputation for being sporty
- Lovely atmosphere, gorgeous buildings, not too old, not new
- Good location in the town, not too far a walk from anywhere really
I've been told a million times - you'll enjoy it wherever you pick :smile:

If you're applying for Law at Cambridge this year - go join the Law Applicants Thread (see my sig) and the Cambridge Applicants Thread! :smile:

Reply 1058

nuodai

Robinson College:

prag92

-Large law student count/A favoured Law college

Not 100% sure about this one. See here for more info.

prag92

-En-suite accommodation for first years

~50% of the accommodation is en-suite, and in the other 50% you're sharing a bathroom/toilet with one other room, so it's practically en-suite.

prag92

-Not too posh, preferably students from state schools (though i know this is v opinion based)

To the best of my knowledge, Robinson has the highest state school intake of all colleges. Even if it's not the highest, the state :tongue:

rivate ratio is much higher than most other colleges.

prag92

-And i havent come across any shared kitchens at any colleges yet, or are they ALL halls? :confused:

There are shared kitchens on each staircase in the college, which you can use instead of the restaurant if you want.

prag92

-And perhaps a sporty college, though this isnt a must

This might give you an idea.

It's not an old or pretty college, but it's comfortable :p:

It's worth paying it a visit anyway.

Reply 1059

Cheeyang

As above for NatSci Bio. I have about an hour to choose before sending my COAF off last minute!

Help guys!!! Need your opinions on this!

Would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS :biggrin: