The Student Room Group
Reply 1
They are completely different, as you've noted - it's only really the name, the fact they're both pretty, and the river that links them.

Trinity has this reputation as the best known college (a double edged sword), and has the bonus of cheap punts and the ball, but is so big you might feel lost in a mass of people. Tit Hall is small enough to avoid that, but might seem a bit *too* close and forment gossip.

It's really up to you as to what kind of dynamic you want, and whether Trinity's facilities (due to their massive richness) and grandeur outweigh Tit Hall's understated charm.

I'd say Pembroke is a fairly good balance between the two in terms of size.
Reply 2
Just go for Trinity. The admission process may be a little more competitive, but the college never fails to make me drool when I look at pictures of its grounds online.
Quite a generalisation, but the friends I have who seem to love Trinity the most have been big city people. Cambridge has an insular feel no matter how one looks at it, but Trinity gives the greatest feeling of anonymity within that band I'm still meeting people in my year at this point in time and I'm one of the most social people there. Between the tradition and the grandeur, I don't think one ever feels that the students make up the college as with many of the smaller colleges - more that the students ascend to the college.
Well, I'm reading English at Trinity Hall, so I'm probably in a decent position to give you an insight into the subject at the college.

Tit Hall Central Site is really beautiful, in my opinion. It's small though not too small, I think there are 109 in my year. As a result, there's a real community atmosphere and there are very few people who don't get on with each other. My year even goes out for en mass meals. First years all live on the central site, from next year some rooms are being renovated and they do plan to carry on with this but as far as I know it will continue to be third years who miss out on living in college so it wouldn't affect you too much. They tend to house people in subject groups, which I think is unique to Tit Hall. I lived with 5 or the other 7 English students on a staircase. Room prices vary, and first years choose from three price bands and are then placed in an appropriate room. I went for the middle band and paid around £63 per week for a massive room. It’s said that most people go for middle so some people get top band rooms at middle band prices. My friend who also went middle and paid little more than me got a mini-set, basically that’s one room split into two sections: bedroom, lounge. Cooking facilities aren’t great, though you make do. Some people get good facilities, Q staircase has a proper kitchen and south court tends to have ovens at least. My staircase was poor, we had a fridge and a microwave but we added to that ourselves and it was ok. The kitchens are definitely the downside of first year accommodation but I suppose they want to encourage you to eat hall food (which isn’t great cafeteria wise but is edible).

Second and third years can live either at Clems or BBC which are still in the town centre or Wychfield which is about a 20 minute walk from the centre (some third years get rooms back in college). Second year prices are generally higher than first years but there are still affordable rooms. Rooms are allocated by ballot. You get into groups of up to 4 people you’re happy to live with and these groups are put into a random order, then people pick in order and you have the pick of everything that’s left. In the third year the ballot reverses so that those at the bottom in the 2nd year are at the top in 3rd year. I know that at some colleges people with firsts get better accommodation. That’s not the case at Tit Hall, but scholars do get to keep their rooms over the holidays at no extra cost. There are some new houses being built at Wychfield now which are en suite, they’re meant to be finished for the new term (I’m meant to be living there).

College life is pretty good. As I mentioned before there’s a good community feeling and people tend to know each other. We have Vivas every fortnight (except in exam term) which are basically extremely cheesy fancy dress discos, people really get into the spirit of it too. There are also fortnightly super halls (again, except in exam term) which is a step up from formal hall and involves themes (some people in fancy dress) and a fines drinking game whereby someone sends up a fine I.e. I’d like to fine anyone who was caught having sex by their bedder, anyone who has stands up and downs a glass of wine.

One pull of English at Tit Hall is that you deal with Part 1 chronologically, starting with the Medieval paper and moving towards Modern English. This allows you to see progression of language and styles and also has the benefit or running alongside the lecture timetable, not everyone does this. The part one DoS (who I haven’t had for the whole of my first year because she went on maternity leave, but who you probably would have) is absolutely fantastic, she’s really lovely and makes you feel at ease.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask!
Trinity Hall does have a downside; the noise from Clare Cellars on events nights, as Rhi will probably attest...
Reply 6
The part one DoS (who I haven’t had for the whole of my first year because she went on maternity leave, but who you probably would have) is absolutely fantastic, she’s really lovely and makes you feel at ease.

...I, on the other hand, HAVE had Jan. She's absolutely wonderful - a proper mum-type (literally, now!), and is great to settle you in. Disadvantage of the chronological order of the papers, of course, is that you don't get her teaching you! (Newnhamites did, 'cause we started with the modern paper, which is her thing).

The DoS at Trinity has a reputation for being a bit of an 'ice queen', but is incredibly competent. You can't really go on the DoSs, though, becuase they have a tendency to change. One thing I will say about Trinity is that they have enough English fellows for you to never actually have to go outside of college (people do, but it's possible not to), whereas at Tit Hall you do. I quite like going to different colleges each term for different supervisions (happens at Newnham too as there's only one English fellow), because you get a good feel for lots of places and aren't trapped.

Maybe go and have another look round both of them? Happy choosing! :smile:
EDIT:
FadeToBlackout:
I forgot that as it wasn't part of my experience, you though seem obsessed with it, you're always bringing it up. South Court can be noisy, though more important than Clare Cellars (as some people are out then anyway so the noise doesn't bother them) is some kind of rubbish crushing thing that I'm told goes on in the morning. That's just South Court though, and where I lived (Front Court/North Court) there wasn't much noise at all, and Latham lawn is a pretty big area too. I guess with noisy accommodation it's mainly about luck, my friends seemed to get over it too.

Epitome:
Sorry, that was slightly confusing. Rather than meaning that I hadn't experienced Jan at all, what I meant was that I'd only had her as DoS for 2 terms out of the three, some of the time not the whole time. We do get taught by her, for Practical Criticism (and I agree, she's lovely and her supervisions were always relaxed and enjoyable) and I'd imagine we'll get her for Modern sometime in second year.
you though seem obsessed with it, you're always bringing it up


Yes, obsessed enough to be head techie there and spend a good deal of my weekend in there! :smile: Anyway,things should get better next term onwards as I have some padlocks for our new amplifier box, so I can set the maximum volume and lock the box so the DJs can't turn it up too loud.
No, obsessed with the noise it makes in Tit Hall South Court! Heh.
Reply 10
Epitome:
Sorry, that was slightly confusing. Rather than meaning that I hadn't experienced Jan at all, what I meant was that I'd only had her as DoS for 2 terms out of the three, some of the time not the whole time. We do get taught by her, for Practical Criticism (and I agree, she's lovely and her supervisions were always relaxed and enjoyable) and I'd imagine we'll get her for Modern sometime in second year.

Ah, I see! :smile:
I'm glad you've had her, pre-baby, 'cause, as you say, she's lovely. (Woah! Too many commas there...!)

Modern with Jan is more...shall we say...Victorian! :wink:
Reply 11
i stayed at trinity hall on my open day and i have to say i was absolutely enchanted with the place. it was gorgeous. it felt really homely.
Charlottie
No, obsessed with the noise it makes in Tit Hall South Court! Heh.


Yes. I'm responsible for it, and am the one who will get hauled over the carpet by the dean if there are any complaints from next door over volumeor duration ... it is the main thing I have to do with Tit Hall.
Reply 13
Charlottie:

Do people tend to eat all of their meals in the cafeteria, or just go there once a day and make their own sandwiches etc for other meals.
tarka
Charlottie:

Do people tend to eat all of their meals in the cafeteria, or just go there once a day and make their own sandwiches etc for other meals.


In my first term, I ate two meals in cafeteria most days. In the second, I went to hall a total of six times. Last term I went once. This may or may not be a reflection on the quality of vegetarian food at Tit Hall.:wink:
There's definitely a mix. In first term people tended to go a fair amount, it's about socialising then. In second term my food bill was quite low, because I cooked for myself a lot and this term it's gone up again because over the revision period I was too stressed to feed myself. Generally it depends but I do think it tends to work in groups. The lawyers seem to go to hall together, the natscis cook together, that kinda thing.
The former stole the latter's name. Hope that helps in your decision (though why would it?).