The Big 'Which Cambridge College?' Thread

Right oh, howdy there folkses! Prepare yourselves for yet another thrilling 'halp may plez' post

So, after deciding upon Cambridge over Oxford after much consideration and salivation over the pathology course of natsci I've decided on Cambridge. Now the real problem: which college?! My current thoughts on the subject are outlined below, starting with some critera:

-Maybe a smaller college would be preferable but I'm flexible.

-Nearby on on-site sport facilities would be a boon. I'm not very sporty but having the ability to indulge in something such as, say, swimming would be enjoyable.

-Good dramatics community, I'm a bit of a thespian really and would like to continue as such.

-Some nice greenery, trees, grass, whatever; it's always nice to have some (visible) autotrophs about ain't it?

-This may sound awfully naïve but here goes, a quirky one'd be very popular with me, I'm quite fond of places with some personality in terms of some funky history and facts (one of the things which did act as something of an attraction to Oxford was an area where J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis used to supposedly meet, nearby there were some mighty trees which were apparently inspiration for the ents, petty? Yes, awesome? Totally).

Two colleges I'm currently quite fond of (on paper) are Downing and Girton; you couldn't get much different in terms of location could you?

Corpus Christi and Emmanuel (I think) also boast open air pools.

I have searched and searched, but cannot find any real information on Emmanuel accomodation. can anyone enlighten me?

At Emma, accomodation is graded on a scale of 1-8. Grade 1 rooms are basically glorified cupboards, as far as I've heard, while Grade 8 rooms are en suite. Freshers can only have rooms in grades 1-6, but most are accomodated in grade 3-4. In second year there is a random ballot, which is then reversed in the third year.

For first years there are two alternatives for acommodation - North Court and South Court. North Court is old, traditional, what you'd expect from a Cambridge college. The mix in there is about half and half freshers and other years. The rooms are all different shapes and sizes and come in grades 1-6 for Freshers. There are no ensuites for us noobs, but there are showers/baths on every floor. When I went for my interview, the bath had a nasty yellow stain on it which put me off applying to live there, but the building itself is gorgeous.

South Court is the obligatory 1960s monstrosity. It's only for first years, all the rooms are grades 3 or 4, and it's where the bar is (which is clearly the reason I'm living there ). I think most, if not all grade 3 rooms in there have a basin, and the grade 4 rooms are slightly bigger and have this little partition thing so you can basically divide your room in two. Oh, and we all have mini fridges Plumbing is apparently better in South Court.

That's about as much information as I can give you really, having not actually lived there yet. It's what my own research has told me anyway!

Another useful thing: Pictures of first year rooms.

Hope this has helped a little

EDIT: Oh, and if you want to know about prices - I have a grade 3 South Court room costing me £695 a term

do st johns and trinity look for very sporty applicants?

please could someone answer this

Any thoughts/comments on St Johns?

Regarding anything really - facilities (sporty, arty, musical, is there a dark room? etc), gym, music (non-traditional side: gospel (choir); rnb; hiphop; rock; indie scenes/facilities/societies), accommodation (1st year and beyond), grounds, ents, stereotypes, parties, bar, social scene, library, law library, law tutors, advantages, disadvantages... the list goes on!

please could someone answer this

Thanks, that is really useful. You should tell the damn website organisers to actually make it obvious what accomodation is like as it really put me off applying not being able to find anything at all.

Some of the rooms look quite nice, the huge lack of ensuite puts me off though, how many do you have to share bathrooms with? How likely is it you will end up with a glorified cupboard?

Do all colleges have sites like that with pictures of rooms?

I think it just takes a little more digging to find out about accomodation... And I've just remembered this, which is probably better than my account. Hooray for ECSU!

I'm not entirely sure about the bathroom sharing - I think it's anywhere between 4 and 6 people to a bathroom, but I really don't know so I don't want to answer authoritatively. Ask me on Saturday! And you'll only really end up with a glorified cupboard if you apply for that accomodation band. In the pre-Freshers pack I was sent in March there was a form asking which court and band I wanted to be in. If you apply for South Court, you'll have a grade 3 or 4 room. I don't really know how many people will end up with a grade 1 in North Court having applied for a higher grade, but I suppose it's possible. I do know that they will try to accomodate your preferences wherever possible

Not sure about other colleges and pictures... Have a look!

Hi everyone! I know there's a thread on colleges, but this is just a specific question:

I'm applying from outside the UK so I really don't have a clue about the reputations of the colleges. I'm applying for SPS (PPS) and I have narowed it down to the following: (in parantese the main characteristics I've been told)

Corpus Christi (small, old, high standarts)
Downing (sporty)
Fitzwilliam (small)
Girton (far away)
Homerton (far away)
Jesus (sporty)
Selwyn (top tompkins, "poor")
Sidney Sussex (small, midtown)
Trinity (richest in oxbridge)
Trinity Hall (small, many postgrads)

Which one should i choose??
( I don't mind if its old or new / far away or close ) I am not sporty or musical. Just interested in my subject and want to optimize my chances since I'm a foreign applicant (denmark) I have good grades, reference and so on.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Hey everyone, I've handed in my UCAS to my referee people at school/ send it/ whatever you do with it. I've applied to do English at Trinity. I realise that this is one of the harder colleges to get into, and considering the fact I do not do a language and my GCSEs are ok, but not as good as I expect those of other applicants to be, can anyone tell me something about the College that isn't on their website? I like the idea of it having lots of formals and being in the centre of Cambridge and I really, really liked it on the open day. In the end I chose it over the other colleges, and I really hope that it is the right college for me. People say Trinity is "formal", but is it friendly and formal?

Cheers for the replies two pages back, and I've got my decision down to 3 (from 6) colleges.

These are:

Pembroke, Downing and Jesus.

I'm applying for History, and I play tennis and would like to keep that going. I'm looking for good accom., not too musical and not really involved in drama. Medium/large college but one that doesn't feel too big.

Are my final 3 good choices? Or have I selected the wrong ones? I know Peterhouse is good for history but it's steeped in tradition and I'm not sure if I want all that.

Hey everyone, I've handed in my UCAS to my referee people at school/ send it/ whatever you do with it. I've applied to do English at Trinity. I realise that this is one of the harder colleges to get into, and considering the fact I do not do a language and my GCSEs are ok, but not as good as I expect those of other applicants to be, can anyone tell me something about the College that isn't on their website? I like the idea of it having lots of formals and being in the centre of Cambridge and I really, really liked it on the open day. In the end I chose it over the other colleges, and I really hope that it is the right college for me. People say Trinity is "formal", but is it friendly and formal?