Advice for mature graduate colleges

Good afternoon all,

I'm 29, a former chef, completing an anthropology undegraduate degree at UCL. I am in the third year for the second time, owing to an interruption taken for some unforeseen misfortunes...

Now, last year I was accepted for study at Cambrige (MPhil; Sociology of Media and Culture) and have since achieved an average grade of 78. My dissertation should bump that grade up somewhat, and I've some stellar recommendations and a research proposal that has now taken 2 years of passionate effort. I am not, therefore, worried about reapplying.

However, I feel I may gave dodged a bullet, since I had been bound for Hughes Hall, and have since heard some less than flattering things about the place.

So, considering my age and my subject of study, would you recommend Hughes Hall? I'm interested in good kitchens and a decent, comfortable library which might cater partially for my subject. I am not particularly interested in university traditions. Where would you recommend?

Thanks, nice one, many earnest familiar smiles,

Bill

..........l

Wow. That was incredibly convincing. I have been recommended Wolfson a few times but was not, at the time, happy with the location. What, may I ask, is your experience with the place?

To be honest, I'd try hard not to get focussed on one particular College, because most people end up somewhere different to plan and the vast majority end up loving wherever they end up. Hughes Hall suffered for longer than was necessary by an unhappy student with MH issues who every few years would drag up long since resolved issues and post them all over the internet, and also, for a couple of years, with a very unpopular Bursar. However, nearly all Colleges can point to similar issues, and all of them can point to many, many very happy students of all ages and stages.

I would also say (as a mature student who went to a 'normal' college), don't focus on mature Colleges unless you personally, actively want to. Apply to where you'd like to go, and accept there is only something like a 25% chance you'll get there anyway.

Applicants seem to overlook a few fundamentals of College life. First that Cambridge is small, and location isn't nearly as important as you think, because you can walk or cycle everywhere in a few minutes. Second, there is no fixed 'style' to Colleges in terms of human relationships, because at least 1/3 of the student cohort changes every year. The fact that Cam is a Collegiate University also makes the social groups much smaller and means that you have a significantly higher chance of personally influencing the culture of your MCR than you might have in a standard University.

They all have decent kitchens, and none of the libraries are focussed on PG study, you'll likely use the Faculty library and Uni Library for research, not the College one (unless it is cosy to sit in). If you like watching cricket, HH is undoubtedly the best College!

To be honest, I'd try hard not to get focussed on one particular College, because most people end up somewhere different to plan and the vast majority end up loving wherever they end up. Hughes Hall suffered for longer than was necessary by an unhappy student with MH issues who every few years would drag up long since resolved issues and post them all over the internet, and also, for a couple of years, with a very unpopular Bursar. However, nearly all Colleges can point to similar issues, and all of them can point to many, many very happy students of all ages and stages.

I would also say (as a mature student who went to a 'normal' college), don't focus on mature Colleges unless you personally, actively want to. Apply to where you'd like to go, and accept there is only something like a 25% chance you'll get there anyway.

Applicants seem to overlook a few fundamentals of College life. First that Cambridge is small, and location isn't nearly as important as you think, because you can walk or cycle everywhere in a few minutes. Second, there is no fixed 'style' to Colleges in terms of human relationships, because at least 1/3 of the student cohort changes every year. The fact that Cam is a Collegiate University also makes the social groups much smaller and means that you have a significantly higher chance of personally influencing the culture of your MCR than you might have in a standard University.

They all have decent kitchens, and none of the libraries are focussed on PG study, you'll likely use the Faculty library and Uni Library for research, not the College one (unless it is cosy to sit in). If you like watching cricket, HH is undoubtedly the best College!

But you'd agree that most applicants who haven't done their undergrad at Cambridge are allocated to Wolfson!

Which college did you do your undergrad as a mature student at?

Yes, I think Wolfson is the largest mature College by a margin. I did a Masters part-time at an unfriendly College that shan't be mentioned (an individual and personal circumstances and not necessarily a fair reflection on the whole College) and a full-time, 'live in College' PhD at Selwyn (the best College!).

Definitely Wolfson. There's a good library with plenty of seating and a willingness to get whatever books you need within reason, it's near the U.L. Most kitchens are newish, well appointed and, most importantly, there's no KFC!! Moreover, you'll be with a huge number of graduates, the tutorial system is set up with graduates in mind and the overall feel of the place is just that bit more grown-up than an undergrad college (except during Hallowe'en Formal, Bumps, May Week, June Event...) 29 is essentially a whippersnapper. It goes from mature undergrads at 20 all the way to 50+.

It's a brilliant choice.

Thanks a lot.

Firstly. I hate cricket.

Secondly, how "mature" were you? As an undergrad in his 4th year at UCL I am very much looking forward to finally meeting students my own age. I will, after all, be 30, and have spent the majority of my adult life in drudgery. Did you find that these "normal" colleges had their fair spread of age and experience among the student body? I have nothing against teenagers, but... wait... I really do. 😋

Thirdly, I had an inkling that I'd be spending the majority of my time in faculty libraries, and this is good to know, so, thank you.
Fourthly, I'm not familiar with this unpopular bursar but he sounds brilliant 😁

Ah! And, fifth, since there is only a marginal chance of being accepted into the college you've applied to, is it worth going to visit?

Is that true? I was told most mature undergrads at Wolfson are in their 20s.

How mature? Well a lady never discloses her age, but as it's you ... Masters part-time 36-38, PhD full-time 38-41. There were people my age around, students and staff, but I played a Uni level sport, so have a cohort of friends who were 20 years younger than me - oddly they never seemed to notice the age gap! The MCR, there were a few mature/older students, but mostly I guess they were in their early 20s - but do adults ask any more? I no more took part in their drinking games than I took part in Christian Union - neither of which are things I 'do', but of course I played cricket for the MCR team and went to the MCR Christmas party because I was fully part of the MCR.

Cambridge is generally a very diverse series of small communities (you could easily 100% ignore College and find all your time taken up in your department or in your favourite society) and everyone seems to have some 'feature' about them, be it their age, disability, languages spoken, home country, size, scholarship (all meanings), dippy obscure research subject, food foibles, health status etc etc etc. Being different at Cambridge is so normal that no-one notices the oddest of things.

If I was making a trip to Cam, I'd look at a number of Colleges, the department, the town centre and realise how small the distances are actually. I'd try hard not to fall in love with a specific College though, because there are simply too many variables for a decision at this stage to have much impact on what actually happens.

Bill

Well. Oddly, many of these things I had not considered. Societies, for one, I had never thought of taking part in. The food society, perhaps? I somehow expected to be cloistered in the college... I don't know what to expect, really, besides what's on the syllabus... At UCL my only friends have been staff, and the student body seem all to be cut from the same cloth. But, then, I've always been a strange little Aspy...

I think I'll put in a preference for Wolfson and then forget that I did. It's only a few months, innit?

@threeportdrift gives some good advice here - good luck with your 'viewings'!

Well. Oddly, many of these things I had not considered. Societies, for one, I had never thought of taking part in. The food society, perhaps? I somehow expected to be cloistered in the college... I don't know what to expect, really, besides what's on the syllabus... At UCL my only friends have been staff, and the student body seem all to be cut from the same cloth. But, then, I've always been a strange little Aspy...

I think I'll put in a preference for Wolfson and then forget that I did. It's only a few months, innit?

I've worked at UCL - it's a totally different environment. UCL is very cosmopolitan, but also very businesslike and 9-5 in its relationships. You turn up when you need to turn up and you go when you want to go and you go somewhere outside UCL (for the main part, it seemed to me). Whereas in Cam pretty much everything is connected, it's all in Cam, nearby, while walking past, related to the Uni on some way - it's a much closer environment, but it is still very much overlapping circles. So you could easily spend 100% of your time focussed on College activities, or 100% in the department, or 100% in a club or society. But just as much (and many people do) you could spend 20% of your time in 5 different places. Aspys are two a penny btw - totally mainstream!