The Student Room Group

Oxford or Cambridge? The more beautiful?

I must admit even as a soon to be Oxford man (fingers crossed) Cambridge is the more Beautiful.
Oxford does have its unique features, (Radcliffe Square and Camera with All souls adjacent, Merton Fields with Magdelens chapel in the distance, The chapel at Christchurch) Its size and sheer density of high quality architure of the colleges giving it that wonderous venetian feel.

But,... Cambridge. What can compare to punting down the Cam on a warm summers afternoon passed Kings college gardens, passed the husseling pubs and bars, Under the bridge of Sighs?
Where Oxford has magdelene, Cambridge has St Johns. Where Ox has Christchurch, Cambridge has kings (Possibly the finest chapel in the world?)
Infact, magdelene cambridge is my favourite college.

On a final note, Cambridge probably only has the edge during the summer months. And indeed its small size (often a critism) has the advantage of it opening into the countryside as if from nowhere.

please add more thoughts.......(check out www.scudamores.com/cam/backs.php)

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Cambridge! They're both gorgeous though. My mum prefers Oxford... personally I like the fact that Cambridge is smaller, and looking at that link has just reminded me of how beautiful it is... which reminds me in turn that I should be working... :wink:
bluefuture
I must admit even as a soon to be Oxford man (fingers crossed) Cambridge is the more Beautiful.
Oxford does have its unique features, (Radcliffe Square and Camera with All souls adjacent, Merton Fields with Magdelens chapel in the distance, The chapel at Christchurch) Its size and sheer density of high quality architure of the colleges giving it that wonderous venetian feel.

But,... Cambridge. What can compare to punting down the Cam on a warm summers afternoon passed Kings college gardens, passed the husseling pubs and bars, Under the bridge of Sighs?
Where Oxford has magdelene, Cambridge has St Johns. Where Ox has Christchurch, Cambridge has kings (Possibly the finest chapel in the world?)
Infact, magdelene cambridge is my favourite college.

On a final note, Cambridge probably only has the edge during the summer months. And indeed its small size (often a critism) has the advantage of it opening into the countryside as if from nowhere.

please add more thoughts.......(check out www.scudamores.com/cam/backs.php)


haha, Do you work for this Scudamore's Punting Company? Sounds like a sales pitch to me... :rolleyes:
Reply 3
No i dont, not yet anyway! Do you think they'll offer me a job?
Reply 4
bluefuture


But,... Cambridge. What can compare to punting down the Cam on a warm summers afternoon passed Kings college gardens, passed the husseling pubs and bars, Under the bridge of Sighs?


punting down the isis on a warm summers afternoon, passing the botanic gardens, up to pubs further along? then walking past the bridge of sighs on your way back? (cam has one of those too? unoriginal naming going on! :rolleyes: )

my impressions of cam are somewhat ruined by the foul weather when i've been there! :p: & generally "dead" feeling like oxford outside of term. although St John's (i think?) was v impressive, apart from a concrete monstrosity inside grounds...
bluefuture
No i dont, not yet anyway! Do you think they'll offer me a job?


I have an uncontrollable urge to book a punting trip. I think you have a gift!
Reply 6
For the overall effect I would say Cambridge with the Backs, Oxford does not have anything that quite compares to this, even the skyline across Christ Church meadow. However when you compare individual colleges (ignoring the more obvious ones such as King's, Trinity (Cam), St John’s (Cam), Christ Church, and Magdalen) I would say on average Oxford colleges are somewhat more attractive; but it is all a matter of individual taste really and the line between the two is very small.
Reply 7
Cambridge. Cambridge is prettier, Oxford has prettier girls. It's the way it's always been :smile:
Reply 8
PDJM
For the overall effect I would say Cambridge with the Backs, Oxford does not have anything that quite compares to this, even the skyline across Christ Church meadow. However when you compare individual colleges (ignoring the more obvious ones such as King's, Trinity (Cam), St John’s (Cam), Christ Church, and Magdalen) I would say on average Oxford colleges are somewhat more attractive; but it is all a matter of individual taste really and the line between the two is very small.


Yes i would probably agree about the Higher average standard of the oxford colleges, the only ugly ones are really; St Catz, wolfson, Keble, Wadham, and a few of the graduate colleges, also Somerville is rather poor in parts, as is St Peters. Many are also very similar in design. Cambridge has more modern colleges which are further out of town (fingers down on both fronts)

What i suppose i love of the cambridge colleges is the huge difference in styles between the colleges, with Oxford not having any Tudor architecture at all.
Reply 9
bluefuture
Yes i would probably agree about the Higher average standard of the oxford colleges, the only ugly ones are really; St Catz, wolfson, Keble, Wadham, and a few of the graduate colleges, also Somerville is rather poor in parts, as is St Peters. Many are also very similar in design. Cambridge has more modern colleges which are further out of town (fingers down on both fronts)

What i suppose i love of the cambridge colleges is the huge difference in styles between the colleges, with Oxford not having any Tudor architecture at all.


WHAT!? You insult my honour! I challange you to a duel!
Reply 10
bluefuture
Yes i would probably agree about the Higher average standard of the oxford colleges, the only ugly ones are really; St Catz, wolfson, Keble, Wadham, and a few of the graduate colleges, also Somerville is rather poor in parts, as is St Peters. Many are also very similar in design. Cambridge has more modern colleges which are further out of town (fingers down on both fronts)

What i suppose i love of the cambridge colleges is the huge difference in styles between the colleges, with Oxford not having any Tudor architecture at all.


How can you call Wadham ugly? And Jesus (Oxford) is Tudor.

However, as a town I would have to say that Cambridge is the more beautiful (especially in the summer) but Oxford has lots of nice colleges.
Cambridge. I love the way it's a university town, like St. Andrews. (I've not visited Oxford, I'll admit, but considering I've heard from people who have that it's a lot more like Glasgow, i.e. a city with a university in it, I'd have to go with Cambridge.)
Reply 12
Duke Flipside
Cambridge. I love the way it's a university town, like St. Andrews. (I've not visited Oxford, I'll admit, but considering I've heard from people who have that it's a lot more like Glasgow, i.e. a city with a university in it, I'd have to go with Cambridge.)


Oxford isn't really a city like Glasgow. It's only called a city because it has a cathedral but is is a larger town than Cambridge.
Reply 13
HannahZ
Oxford isn't really a city like Glasgow. It's only called a city because it has a cathedral but is is a larger town than Cambridge.


Oxford may be larger, but it seems to take significantly longer to walk around all the different Cambridge Colleges than it does the Oxford ones. The former must be spread out more....
Duke Flipside
Cambridge. I love the way it's a university town, like St. Andrews. (I've not visited Oxford, I'll admit, but considering I've heard from people who have that it's a lot more like Glasgow, i.e. a city with a university in it, I'd have to go with Cambridge.)


Trust me, it's nothing like Glasgow.
Reply 15
Elles
the bridge of sighs on your way back? (cam has one of those too? unoriginal naming going on! :rolleyes: )


as far as my knowledge serves, both are named after the bridge of sighs in venice, which is of a similar style. And that bridge is named such because criminals being taken to prison used to pass under that particular bridge last before they got to prison.

but what the hey, that might all be urban myth for all i know, but it's what i've been told.
Reply 16
I take what i said about Wadhams architecture back, the Jacobean parts and the chapel are rather attractive, but the modern sections i saw when visiting were all i could really remember (the accomodation, and library). Also, Kebles architecture is up for debate, Many regard it as very unnatractive, but i actually thinks its vulgarity (coverned in gargoyles, etc) is quite interesting.
Cambridge. Because it's got Clare.

And it doesn't matter how beautiful Oxford is, if you live close to the high street it's the equivalent of smoking 20 a day. Unlike lovely pedestiranised and cycle-ised Cambridge... :smile:
Agreed Cambridge. Sure the individual Oxford colleges (*couMERTONgh*) are pretty enough, but the city itself is full of cars and noise and ugly modern pavements. And it does take blooming ages to get across Oxford, whereas Cambridge is much closer together.
Reply 19
FadeToBlackout
Cambridge. Because it's got Clare.

And it doesn't matter how beautiful Oxford is, if you live close to the high street it's the equivalent of smoking 20 a day. Unlike lovely pedestiranised and cycle-ised Cambridge... :smile:


Now your just being smug!

But you forget the reason Oxford has the upper hand, is that it isnt full of Chavs and other scum at the weekend, which i have noticed there in the past. and that it isnt also completely crammed full of tourists down every street!!!
Oxford is more civilised as a town in its own right.