The Big 'Which Cambridge College?' Thread

Are there any opinions on Downing or anything I should know which I don't as I have only been on an open day?

You're going for law? It's generally pretty good - you'll get awesome supervisors (probably) and lots of lawyers to work with. One thing I have found, though, is Downing lawyers have a habit of keeping to themselves and not really wanting to mingle with students from other colleges. Maybe it's because they have so many of them already but they can be quite intimidating to sit by and I have met a few who didn't want to speak to me on the basis of me not being from Downing :\ Boy, those were fun supervisions when most of them were trying to exclude me from conversation (and the one person who seemed to have matured past college rivalry tried quite valiantly to include me, bless her ). You might like this but I would just say, try not to fall into that trap: I've found it's more fun to know lawyers from other colleges and to get different perspectives on law at other colleges.

Yeah Law. Thanks, that is an odd attitude to have to people from other colleges.

Hope that helps! It's not a college many have heard of before applying (I hadn't), but have a look round. The blackboard outside the plodge will probably have a cheerful message on it to welcome you. We're small, friendly, unpretentious, have an awesome bar and are opposite Sainsbury's. What more could you want?

</end bias>

Well, Downing has? a reputation as "the Law College", which means it must be the best. I guess it's a case of believing your own propaganda.

I feel like I should defend Downing slightly
Most of the lawyers I've met seem really nice, but I don't know what they're like in supervisions or anything!

The college itself though is great - not that far from the Sidgewick, where law lectures are held, there's a sainsbury's 2 minutes out of the gates, our porters are lovely, our chaplain gives us free doughnuts each Thursday... accommodation is all really nice and even the houses are mostly backing onto college, or at most about a 5 minute walk away

Is it possible that may not be the case?



I thought the accommodation was the best as both rooms we saw were good whilst Kings had one amazing room and the other I didn't like at all.

It is a good location, the college seemed friendly, the aforementioned accommodation and it is very nice to look at.

Is it possible that what might not be the case?

My post was tongue-in-cheek - I appreciate that you shouldn't generalise from limited exposure to the people in question, especially since everyone at Cambridge is pretty friendly.

Yeah i know you were being tongue in cheek.

I couldn't think of an appropriate response tbh

I'll definitely check it out, you've sold it well! Thanks for the help
Any ones other than your own college you can recommend?

We also have the highest proportion of northerners of any Cambridge college so of course we are also the friendliest

(St Catharine's - they are the only college with a cheese course at Formal Hall!)

Is that just a guess, or is there some facts somewhere about that? I'd quite like to be around more northerners, if possible haha

Yeah Law. Thanks, that is an odd attitude to have to people from other colleges.

Do you mean the advantages and disadvantages when you are studying there (hypothetically)? Or are you referring to admission chances?

There are a fair few people who have that attitude, apparently. I've been quite fortunate in that most lawyers I've met are happy to chat (I especially like the Caians I've met. Except for one person, they've all been friendly. Affiliates tend to be quite friendly as well, I've found). But it's not just me who thinks this about Downing lawyers - I know a fair few lawyers who don't like to sit by them. At the same time, however, I've met a lot who are nice but tend to be in big groups so hard to catch them.

This insularity, is something I am not sure about how to respond to. As they have lots of lawyers but this perhaps says something about their intake.

If you like Downing, apply there You don't have to only speak to Downing lawyers in the 3 years there. As long as you don't have this college rivalry attitude, I don't think it would be much of an issue.

(It may be that there are so many that they're often supervised together and as you don't tend to meet other lawyers in lectures or, oddly, Law Soc events, they may only really see their own lawyers.)

I think Law Soc is renowned for its events such that a lot of non-lawyers join. When I signed up, it was about a tenner a year or £20 for life membership. I'd say fewer than 1 in 10 were Law students, looking at the sheet...