Famous Alumni Trinity vs. any other

Hey guys,

just a question:

Why are so many (or almost all) famous natural scientists
alumni of Trinity? Does this have a historical reason or is the teaching at Trinity by far better? (I thought that the teaching is done by the uni)

Thanks in advance

Reply 1

Zhen Lin

Historically, there was more teaching at colleges, and, fame breeds fame.

Reply 2

Zhandro

I am also curious about this...Trinity seems to have a lot of famous alumni.

But that shouldn't affect anything if we were pooled from Trinity and got into another college right? Is there still a notion of prestige that varies with each of the colleges?

Also didn't some of them become fellows of Trinity and not attend Trinity as an undergraduate?

Reply 3

ArchedEdge

Trinity attracts lots of candidates because of its famous name and academic scoring in the past - so they have more pick of the applicants in order to get the best, so seems reasonable to assume that their level of applicants will be higher compared to rest of the uni.

Reply 4

paneity

Trinity does get people who they think may be successful in future as fellows, and they can afford to have more fellows than most other colleges. They have been known to claim people as their own when there is only a very tenuous connection, e.g. some of the Nobel Prizes attributed to Trinity, the person may have only been at Trinity for a very short time before doing their Nobel Prize work somewhere else, or only came to Trinity after they had won it.

Reply 5

Supermerp

paneity

They have been known to claim people as their own when there is only a very tenuous connection, e.g. some of the Nobel Prizes attributed to Trinity, the person may have only been at Trinity for a very short time before doing their Nobel Prize work somewhere else, or only came to Trinity after they had won it.

The university as a whole does that though, it's not just Trinity.

Reply 6

paneity

Supermerp

The university as a whole does that though, it's not just Trinity.

Yes, but not all colleges do it. And trinity have the cash to attract people.

Reply 7

Zhandro

But not reading maths at Trinity by no means puts me at a disadvantage right?

And in the future if I want a 4th year of maths or graduate school, I can apply to Trinity?

Reply 8

Zhen Lin

There are some restrictions if you have matriculated at another college at Cambridge. The 4th year of the course is considered part of the same course, so I don't think you can change college for that.

Reply 9

Zhandro

What are these restrictions if I have matriculated at another college?

Reply 10

Zhen Lin

http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=80

It is the College's practice not to accept applications from students who have matriculated at another College in Cambridge or who hold an offer from another College in Cambridge, except via particular Trinity graduate studentships.

Reply 11

FadeToBlackout

Trinity have produced more Nobel laureates than France.

They've also produced far more world-class traitors than anywhere else- but they don't tell you that....