Living outside of Cambridge as a PhD student

I’m thinking of applying to reside outside of the uni’s precincts, but I intend to commute mon-fri. I live in north east London with my partner and driving to Cambridge takes ~1 hour. If I use the trumpington park and ride service it would take approximately 1 hour 15 min from my doorstep to the department. I think this is very doable, as that’s how long I’d have to commute for a job anyway

I am a new student, so I don’t have CamSIS set up yet. I’m just slightly concerned because I would have to apply for both permission to live away and permission to bring my car into Cambridge. I’m worried about either of them being rejected

Anyone have any advice/experience in doing this?
I know everyone talks about how commuting ruins the “Cambridge experience” but if I’m in every day I don’t think it will have a huge effect.

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Original post by hazoolcat

I’m thinking of applying to reside outside of the uni’s precincts, but I intend to commute mon-fri. I live in north east London with my partner and driving to Cambridge takes ~1 hour. If I use the trumpington park and ride service it would take approximately 1 hour 15 min from my doorstep to the department. I think this is very doable, as that’s how long I’d have to commute for a job anyway

I am a new student, so I don’t have CamSIS set up yet. I’m just slightly concerned because I would have to apply for both permission to live away and permission to bring my car into Cambridge. I’m worried about either of them being rejected

Anyone have any advice/experience in doing this?
I know everyone talks about how commuting ruins the “Cambridge experience” but if I’m in every day I don’t think it will have a huge effect.

Residing outside of the precincts of the University is a difficult one. This is intended for Ph.D. students who have to travel for their research and needs to have buy-in from supervisor and college before going to the university.

Also, that park and ride may allow a 1hr 15min commute outside of rush hour, but I know from experience that the M11 run to Trumpington can be far slower than you'd like and then you are faced with a huge queue of traffic in rush hour towards the centre. Better off cycling from the P+R.

Some students however choose to reside outside of precincts and not tell anyone, it's possible but you could get caught.

Original post by hazoolcat

I’m thinking of applying to reside outside of the uni’s precincts, but I intend to commute mon-fri. I live in north east London with my partner and driving to Cambridge takes ~1 hour. If I use the trumpington park and ride service it would take approximately 1 hour 15 min from my doorstep to the department. I think this is very doable, as that’s how long I’d have to commute for a job anyway

I am a new student, so I don’t have CamSIS set up yet. I’m just slightly concerned because I would have to apply for both permission to live away and permission to bring my car into Cambridge. I’m worried about either of them being rejected

Anyone have any advice/experience in doing this?
I know everyone talks about how commuting ruins the “Cambridge experience” but if I’m in every day I don’t think it will have a huge effect.

As a mature student who has done part-time, live in College and live locally -

a) it will have a huge effect on the Cambridge experience, though you may not care
b) you need to leave an additional hour to get to and from Trumpington P&R at any time schools are open or rush hour, unless you cycle
c) just because you 'want to' isn't likely to be accepted by your College. You will need to show a very real domestic need. An 'easy commute' from London is frequently cited and I've never heard of it being accepted, but clearly don't know all cases.

Cambridge is simply a residential university. You might get the right combination of course, Supervisor, College and Senior tutor, but without something like a disabled partner combined with care responsibilities or similar, it's not going to be allowed.

You can use any email address to write and ask permission.

Living outside of Cambridge as a PhD student

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