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Reply 20
Even though the overriding memory of my first visit to Cambridge is of it being a cold, dull and rainy day I remember looking around and seeing it as some kind of 'utopia' hidden amongst the rest of concrete england. I know that sounds pathetically romantic but I remember how surreal it felt walking around places that were so old and beautiful.
Hmm, I seem to be in a minority. I didn't start loving Cambridge as a place until part way through my first term.
TomTeeTom
went to the open day today and just was astonished by the beauty of the univeristy. I live in London and the differences are amazing. I had seen the pictures but the views just take you aback. Anyone feel the same.


OP, you've expressed exactly how I feel about the place. :smile:

...but you've also reminded me of how sorry I'll feel if I don't meet my offer. :frown:
Reply 23
I am in love with St Johns... it's so competitive though

Ahhhhh the dilemma
Chess Piece Face

...but you've also reminded me of how sorry I'll feel if I don't meet my offer. :frown:


Me too :frown: Out of our hands now though, eh? :rolleyes:
Reply 25
blimey me...I thought King's was amazing! Not just the chapel, but it looked beautiful next to the canal, and in that back courtyard, besides the dining hall etc. I also love its reputation for lack of tradition and all that. However, chatting to one natural scientist, she said it was terribly competitive...is this the case? I was gutted when she said this...
Reply 26
Supergrunch
Hmm, I seem to be in a minority. I didn't start loving Cambridge as a place until part way through my first term.


I think I've gone in the opposite direction... from 'Oooh how pretty' to 'Aaargh get me outta here!' :p:
Reply 27
TomTeeTom
went to the open day today and just was astonished by the beauty of the univeristy. I live in London and the differences are amazing. I had seen the pictures but the views just take you aback. Anyone feel the same.


yeah I definitely had the same feelings. My first time ( hopefully not last) was when I went to Cambridge for the interview, so I was amazed and awed yet I had to sort of stifle these emotions to get through my interview lol.

Glad I secured the offer though, now just gotta sit and wait and see if my grades are right!
Reply 28
jamie_90
blimey me...I thought King's was amazing! Not just the chapel, but it looked beautiful next to the canal, and in that back courtyard, besides the dining hall etc. I also love its reputation for lack of tradition and all that. However, chatting to one natural scientist, she said it was terribly competitive...is this the case? I was gutted when she said this...

It's a river, not a canal.

All the colleges are "terribly competitive" -- this is Cambridge we're talking about. (Remember, the hard part is getting admitted to the *University*, of which the colleges are a constituent part). King's is, however, very popular. Like all the colleges it's over-subscribed. Ce la vie! Seriously, if you really like the look of King's, GO FOR IT! :smile:
Reply 29
Well, I wouldn't go overboard with stressing the competitiveness. It's competitive because of the quality of applicants and not the number of them, and if you yourself are an applicant the chances are that you're pretty good yourself. Almost all the colleges have four applicants to a place, with the more popular colleges in any given year (yes -- they do often change year on year) going up to about six applicants per place.

If you like King's apply for it, you're almost certainly at no disadvantage for doing so. King's isn't generally the most competitive college, even if it was it's not massively more competitive than anywhere else. Even if it were, the pooling system is there to even out such discrepancies.
Reply 30
epitome
It's a river, not a canal.

:redface: oops sorry....the Cam I guess?

epitome
All the colleges are "terribly competitive" -- this is Cambridge we're talking about. (Remember, the hard part is getting admitted to the *University*, of which the colleges are a constituent part). King's is, however, very popular. Like all the colleges it's over-subscribed. Ce la vie! Seriously, if you really like the look of King's, GO FOR IT! :smile:


thats what I thought...and I was feeling just like 'wtf I may as well have a shot at it'...but the girl we were talking to was a bit skeptical about the pooling system, and my Dad was there and he says I'd be a **** to go for one of the most competitive colleges especially if I went for NatSci (where I'm disadvantaged with no chem/fm at A2) which would totally minimise my chances of getting in...He makes sense, and I guess it would be pretty reckless...:frown:
jamie_90
thats what I thought...and I was feeling just like 'wtf I may as well have a shot at it'...but the girl we were talking to was a bit skeptical about the pooling system, and my Dad was there and he says I'd be a **** to go for one of the most competitive colleges especially if I went for NatSci (where I'm disadvantaged with no chem/fm at A2) which would totally minimise my chances of getting in...He makes sense, and I guess it would be pretty reckless...:frown:


Are you biological or physical?
jamie_90

thats what I thought...and I was feeling just like 'wtf I may as well have a shot at it'...but the girl we were talking to was a bit skeptical about the pooling system, and my Dad was there and he says I'd be a **** to go for one of the most competitive colleges especially if I went for NatSci (where I'm disadvantaged with no chem/fm at A2) which would totally minimise my chances of getting in...He makes sense, and I guess it would be pretty reckless...:frown:


Rubbish. Go for the college you like. I wouldn't say that the pooling system is by any means infallible, but it's not like you're applying for Maths at Trinity without FM... It's not that reckless. I applied for a college that is very popular and frequently comes near the top academically with only one language at A2 and UMS that are by no means outstanding, particularly in my chosen subject - maybe that was reckless, but at least I know I applied to the place I actually wanted to go to.
Reply 33
jamie_90

thats what I thought...and I was feeling just like 'wtf I may as well have a shot at it'...but the girl we were talking to was a bit skeptical about the pooling system, and my Dad was there and he says I'd be a **** to go for one of the most competitive colleges especially if I went for NatSci (where I'm disadvantaged with no chem/fm at A2) which would totally minimise my chances of getting in...He makes sense, and I guess it would be pretty reckless...:frown:


Playing the numbers/stats doesn't guarantee success so what do you have to lose by applying to the college you really want to go to?
Reply 34
I think the best way to choose a college is to go and have a look around, and go with the one you liked the most or fall "in love" with ,because as has been said, the pool means that if you're 'cambridge material' you will get in to the university, if not your chosen college.
Reply 35
Supergrunch
Hmm, I seem to be in a minority. I didn't start loving Cambridge as a place until part way through my first term.
I don't think you're in that much of a minority, it's just only the gushing people contribute to this thread. I like Cambridge as a place more now than I did when I started.
Reply 36
shootbangfire
Are you biological or physical?


Physical, although having not done chem (well I might do it at AS next, or FM at AS) options are pretty restricted...I would go for Physics, Maths, Evolution and Behavior and Geology probably...having only done Physics and maths, just worried that I won't really look like a 'scientist', and they'll be like 'so, why did you only do physics, and now you're going for a natural sciences degree'

and to the other people that have quoted...thanks! That girl put me on a bit of a downer, but I think if I go for Cambridge, I may as well go the whole hog and go for the college I want to go for! After all, if I got into one of the (marginally) less competitive colleges, I'll be thinking 'oh balls...maybe I SHOULD have gone for Kings'!!
Ahhh! Cannot wait...hope I at least get interviewed so I can say I was at Kings for a couple of days or however long the interview thing takes :p:
Reply 37
hmm - I didn't like it.

The first time I saw Cambridge, I was really "wowed", but then when I went for the open day it was all just a little... maybe even annoying? It just seemed like it was all set up and prepared for tourists, not students. I just couldn't live there - it felt like everything was in it's place, and you shouldn't do anything to distrupt it. I went into about 5/6 colleges, and they're were all the same. Don't stand on the grass, can't just hang out and sit on a bench (there weren't any!), and there seemed to be nowhere really to go.

It was all quite "bitty" with a college here, a college there, and no central point. Obviously, I was only there for a day, so I might have missed something, but for me it just didnt seem like the sort of place someone could live.
Reply 38
Not that it should be a deciding factor, afua12, but there are some colleges which allow you to walk on the grass (such as Newnham and Robinson). Catz has a few benches around Main Court as well as in Sherlock Court & I'm sure other colleges have some too.
Reply 39
lol yeah it's such a little thing, but it sort of highlighted the impression I got from the university that everything was geared more towards the whole Cambridge view, rather than actually making it a comfortable, appealing place for students to live. Nothing was signed properly, there were hardly any students around to help out, and it made me feel like I had to put an unecessary effort in just to see the place. The tutor who gave the MMl talk in Queens college said that he hadn't prepared to talk to us, and at the stand they were even less keen to just talk to me about the course.

I don't know, it just seemed to me that they didn't really care about it, and were just riding on the fact that most applicants will have wanted to go their for years anyway and so already know everything about the university.

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