Cambridge or UCL

Rumors, but I'm totally open to other opinions. If you believe this isn't the case do share your experience!

Hi! I received offers from both Cambridge and UCL to PhD programs. I'm very leftist and worry that Cambridge is too conservative for me to thrive academically. Both places offer a strong research fit, but the lab at Cambridge may be more conservative than the one at UCL. Does anyone have advice or insights about the pros and cons of attending either Cambridge or UCL in terms of academic culture and postgrad job prospects?

Hi! I received offers from both Cambridge and UCL to PhD programs. I'm very leftist and worry that Cambridge is too conservative for me to thrive academically. Both places offer a strong research fit, but the lab at Cambridge may be more conservative than the one at UCL. Does anyone have advice or insights about the pros and cons of attending either Cambridge or UCL in terms of academic culture and postgrad job prospects?

Hi! I received offers from both Cambridge and UCL to PhD programs. I'm very leftist and worry that Cambridge is too conservative for me to thrive academically. Both places offer a strong research fit, but the lab at Cambridge may be more conservative than the one at UCL. Does anyone have advice or insights about the pros and cons of attending either Cambridge or UCL in terms of academic culture and postgrad job prospects?

both unis are packed with left-wing students with little experience of the real world.

I know some people at Cambridge who think it's too left-wing. I suppose it depends how much of a lefty you are

You seem to have a lot of preconceptions based on no hard evidence. This is surprising for a postgrad student, and even more surprising for a scientist.

I think you're also getting the university and college muddled. As a graduate student, much of your time will be spent in your department. There's a good mix of people, and you must have already met some of them in addition to your supervisor/PI at your interview. What vibe did you get from them? As for your college, some are going to be more traditional than others: I wouldn't recommend Trinity or Magdalene for you, for instance. However, the mainly 'graduate' colleges such as Wolfson, St. Eds, Darwin etc again have a huge range of nationalities and politics and are much less traditional (sc. 'stuffy') than some of the others.

It's rather unwise, and as I say very surprising, to be basing decisions on something as massive as where to do a PhD on speculation about people's politics. Very odd indeed!

Cambridge, as both a university (on the academic side anyway) and as a city, is very left wing and liberal. Generalisations of Cambridge being somewhere only rich private school boys go to school are extremely antiquated - this hasn't been the case for at least 20 or 30 years...even with their higher proportion of privately educated undergrads, it's still very left wing, and undergrad students have no bearing on the politics of postgrad students, who tend to come from a very wide range of countries across the world and bear little resemblance to such ideas of what Cambridge is like.

Generally my experiences working at the uni and living in the city are that it's generally quite left wing here.

From the experience of my friends, Cambridge is quite conservative in their undergraduate programs, but not really amongst graduate and PHD students. Also I wouldn't worry too much about the politics of the place, if you're studying science it's not like politics will be central to everyday discussion and if it is maybe it would be a nice chance to share your views and change some minds?

You seem to have a lot of preconceptions based on no hard evidence. This is surprising for a postgrad student, and even more surprising for a scientist.

I think you're also getting the university and college muddled. As a graduate student, much of your time will be spent in your department. There's a good mix of people, and you must have already met some of them in addition to your supervisor/PI at your interview. What vibe did you get from them? As for your college, some are going to be more traditional than others: I wouldn't recommend Trinity or Magdalene for you, for instance. However, the mainly 'graduate' colleges such as Wolfson, St. Eds, Darwin etc again have a huge range of nationalities and politics and are much less traditional (sc. 'stuffy') than some of the others.

It's rather unwise, and as I say very surprising, to be basing decisions on something as massive as where to do a PhD on speculation about people's politics. Very odd indeed!

What a silly sweeping statement, based on no evidence or first-hand experience from you of either university.

Which Colleges are the most traditional in your experience? You mentioned Trinity and Magdalene, any more?