The Big 'Which Cambridge College?' Thread
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Every college has an annual black tie law dinner. I imagine Downing can put on better events than other colleges, but I hardly think that makes it a better place to study law.
fumblewomble
Downing has the Cranworth law society - Academic and social society for Law students.
...
The more serious advocates were joined by the thespians amongst us for the College Mock Trial. Mayhem and sexual intrigue ensued!!!
http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/dow_server/info/danl/DANL96.html
...
The more serious advocates were joined by the thespians amongst us for the College Mock Trial. Mayhem and sexual intrigue ensued!!!
http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/dow_server/info/danl/DANL96.html
I was at the Cambridge Law Conference and they decided to hold a mock trial - it was certainly full of "mayhem and sexual intrigue" (with Mr Justice Virgo presiding) - ironically, he looked like he disapproved at the time!
So which college are you at? So far, it looks like Downing is living up to its reputation as one of the best colleges for Law. The only other advantage of Pembroke is that I stayed there during the Conference, so I've got a better idea of what to expect...
Anyway, thanks very much for the links - they've certainly given me a greater insight into Downing's facilities.
EDIT:
The West Wing
Every college has an annual black tie law dinner. I imagine Downing can put on better events than other colleges, but I hardly think that makes it a better place to study law.
Oh absolutely, although if Downing has more Law-specific resources than Pembroke, it's certainly worth taking into account (is there much book-hogging at Cambridge?
). Mind you, I bet fumblewomble's at Downing - that's the only rational explanation for all of this researching! 
fumblewomble
The Harris, Jarvis, Saunders and Sefton Scholarships are among the most valuable Law Scholarships offered by Cambridge Colleges, being each of up to £3,000 in value
Surely other colleges have scholarships too, not to mention uni-wide ones?
Muppety_Kid
I was at the Cambridge Law Conference and they decided to hold a mock trial - it was certainly full of "mayhem and sexual intrigue" (with Mr Justice Virgo presiding) - ironically, he looked like he disapproved at the time!
So which college are you at? So far, it looks like Downing is living up to its reputation as one of the best colleges for Law. The only other advantage of Pembroke is that I stayed there during the Conference, so I've got a better idea of what to expect...
Anyway, thanks very much for the links - they've certainly given me a greater insight into Downing's facilities.
EDIT:
Oh absolutely, although if Downing has more Law-specific resources than Pembroke, it's certainly worth taking into account (is there much book-hogging at Cambridge?). Mind you, I bet fumblewomble's at Downing - that's the only rational explanation for all of this researching!
So which college are you at? So far, it looks like Downing is living up to its reputation as one of the best colleges for Law. The only other advantage of Pembroke is that I stayed there during the Conference, so I've got a better idea of what to expect...
Anyway, thanks very much for the links - they've certainly given me a greater insight into Downing's facilities.
EDIT:
Oh absolutely, although if Downing has more Law-specific resources than Pembroke, it's certainly worth taking into account (is there much book-hogging at Cambridge?
). Mind you, I bet fumblewomble's at Downing - that's the only rational explanation for all of this researching! He is at Downing. You'll buy the books you use every day, and you'll only occaisionally flick through the books you use sporadically anyway. Every college has a law library, and at Downing there are more people to share them anyway.
No colleges use TSA for law.
Hello everyone,
Having visited Cambridge last year, I am trying to use that experience to help me in narrowing down my college choice. I would like to read economics and would like your advice on the college, from the following four, which will best suit my wants.
Thank you very much for your expertise and suggestions!
---
College Choices:
1) Clare
2) St Catharine's
3) Trinity
4) Trinity Hall
Important factors:
- (Relatively) Healthy, good canteen food
- Clean, well-maintained residence
- Single room if possible
- Good faculty-student interaction
- Friendly college atmosphere
Insignificant factors:
- Pubs, alcohol venues, servings, etc... (Yes, I'm a bit out of the ordinary...)
- College size
- Party, ball, and dance scenes
Having visited Cambridge last year, I am trying to use that experience to help me in narrowing down my college choice. I would like to read economics and would like your advice on the college, from the following four, which will best suit my wants.
Thank you very much for your expertise and suggestions!
---
College Choices:
1) Clare
2) St Catharine's
3) Trinity
4) Trinity Hall
Important factors:
- (Relatively) Healthy, good canteen food
- Clean, well-maintained residence
- Single room if possible
- Good faculty-student interaction
- Friendly college atmosphere
Insignificant factors:
- Pubs, alcohol venues, servings, etc... (Yes, I'm a bit out of the ordinary...)
- College size
- Party, ball, and dance scenes
Pembroke has its own Law library. I can probably answer this question pretty well given I applied for Law at Downing and ended up at Pembroke (allbeit doing a different subject). It's later though so I will do so tomorrow.
And btw, disclaimers do not mean the threads will not get merged.
And btw, disclaimers do not mean the threads will not get merged.
Muppety_Kid
Hi,
I'm planning on reading Law at Cambridge and am currently trying to decide which college to apply to. After visiting them (for a third time!) today, I've narrowed it down to Pembroke and Downing. I'd really appreciate it if current Law students of these colleges could help me in making my final decision.
It seems that they're fairly similar - they're about the same size and the standard of teaching is irrelevant since the experts in each field rotate for supervisions anyway. However, there does seem to be a key difference.
Downing is known as "the Law college" and has about 20 undergrads doing Law each year. In comparison, Pembroke only has about 6. Does this mean that there'll be more debate/discussion at Downing since there are more Law students? For example, are there more moots etc. at Downing, since there are more people to participate? If this is the case, are Pembroke students welcome to join in, despite not being from that college? (Clearly as an aspiring lawyer, that's a fairly important criterion!) Also, out of interest, are you with the same students in your supervisions throughout the year, or do the groups rotate every so often?
The main thing I'm interested in though is this:
If you had to pick the most important advantage of the other college (i.e. not yours), what would it be? To clarify, I'm not looking for features of the buildings like "Pembroke's marginally closer to the Law Faculty", but rather the relative "academic" advantages of each.
Thanks a lot.
I'm planning on reading Law at Cambridge and am currently trying to decide which college to apply to. After visiting them (for a third time!) today, I've narrowed it down to Pembroke and Downing. I'd really appreciate it if current Law students of these colleges could help me in making my final decision.
It seems that they're fairly similar - they're about the same size and the standard of teaching is irrelevant since the experts in each field rotate for supervisions anyway. However, there does seem to be a key difference.
Downing is known as "the Law college" and has about 20 undergrads doing Law each year. In comparison, Pembroke only has about 6. Does this mean that there'll be more debate/discussion at Downing since there are more Law students? For example, are there more moots etc. at Downing, since there are more people to participate? If this is the case, are Pembroke students welcome to join in, despite not being from that college? (Clearly as an aspiring lawyer, that's a fairly important criterion!) Also, out of interest, are you with the same students in your supervisions throughout the year, or do the groups rotate every so often?
The main thing I'm interested in though is this:
If you had to pick the most important advantage of the other college (i.e. not yours), what would it be? To clarify, I'm not looking for features of the buildings like "Pembroke's marginally closer to the Law Faculty", but rather the relative "academic" advantages of each.
Mods
Thanks a lot.
I'm not a law student but I am at Downing with several lawyer friends. Generally the advantages of being at Downing appear to be:
* reputation - it is 'the' law college. This means it is more competitive in terms of numbers, but I wouldn't let that put you off.
* number of lawyers per year - there's 18 or so in a year which builds a good community feel among the lawyers (though some may feel it is a bit cliquey, especially from other college lawyers' pov), and there are also 2-3 erasmus students here per year so there is more diversity. In my year, the lawyers were also the biggest social 'group', so to speak, who were at the forefront of a lot of things socially.
* supervisors - you get Virgo as a supervisor; apparently he is one of the popular law lecturers.
* law library - fumblewomble gave a description of this already. Law books take up at least 1/4, if not 1/3 of the books in the Downing library and you should be able to find the majority of the books you need in there.
* other perks - Downing lawyers seem to go out to A LOT of dinners, parties and whatnot, with a very active Cranworth law soc. I'm sure this happens at other colleges too, if maybe not as big a scale because of the fewer number of law students.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't make a difference in terms of the quality of your education, though; the only real difference academically seem to be the supervisors you have and the scale of the law library - but again, this is just from my perspective and I'm not a law student here!
As far as I know people stayed in the same supervision groups generally throughout the year (mostly divided alphabetically) but there were a few switches for whatever reason.
If you have any queries about Downing in general too, then do ask.
The West Wing
He is at Downing.
fumblewomble
--
Who are you??scherz0
Hello everyone,
Having visited Cambridge last year, I am trying to use that experience to help me in narrowing down my college choice. I would like to read economics and would like your advice on the college, from the following four, which will best suit my wants.
Thank you very much for your expertise and suggestions!
Having visited Cambridge last year, I am trying to use that experience to help me in narrowing down my college choice. I would like to read economics and would like your advice on the college, from the following four, which will best suit my wants.
Thank you very much for your expertise and suggestions!
Every college has the potential to have a 'friendly atmosphere'; that depends on the people who are there, which changes every few years and you can't really say that 'xyz college is always friendly' etc. (although Clare porters were indeed a lot friendlier than the trinity/trinity hall porters when I went, but that's by the by!). For food, none of those colleges have any reputation for good or bad food, and every college will have good days and bad days, but Catz and Clare was fairly good out of my own experience. As far as I know all those colleges have single rooms. Trinity will house you on site or very near site for all your years, I think; the other three are smaller, so you may be flung out a bit far in your second/third year.
For size Trinity is huge - some would prefer that, others may prefer a more homey feel where you know everyone in your year. Tit hall is small, while Clare and Catz are medium sized. When you say pubs and alcohol venues, do you mean their college bars? Because college choice won't impact the pubs and bars you visit in town - all of the colleges are central and near to all the nightlife (the little we have of it) in town. Clare cellars (the Clare bar) is really really nice though.
In terms of balls - Trinity and I think Clare have a may ball every year, while Trinity Hall has an event every year. I don't think Catz have anything during may week. Trinity ball trumps everything really in terms of grandeur, scale, cost, prestige, competitiveness to get tickets etc; Trinity and Johns are the two colleges with the 'best' balls (apparently!). For general ents during term, I hear good things about Clare ents but for the others I don't really know.
Sorry that wasn't much help!
FadedJade
Pembroke has its own Law library. I can probably answer this question pretty well given I applied for Law at Downing and ended up at Pembroke (allbeit doing a different subject). It's later though so I will do so tomorrow.
And btw, disclaimers do not mean the threads will not get merged.
And btw, disclaimers do not mean the threads will not get merged.
Thanks, it'd be great to hear from you.
Hi all, I'm sure these kind of threads have been absolutely done to death, but I really would appreciate some help.
If all goes to plan come Thursday (anxiously awaiting my A Level results at the moment..) I'll be applying to Cambridge for History, 2010 entry.
I've done a bit of research as far as colleges are concerned, but haven't really managed to get very far. I've got a couple of front runners, but would really like some advice from someone who knows more about them than I do.
So, my preferences... obviously somewhere that does History (as far as I know they all do, so no problems there) and fairly central location would be ideal; right on the river would be perfect, but it isn't a 'must.' Attractive architecture, however, is really important to me. I'm a sucker for a pretty building.
Politically, I'm an active Conservative, so it would be nice to find somewhere I won't get burned at the stake for that... I also enjoy drama and debating. Accommodation-wise, I'm really not too fussed. I'm not sure if any of the college have shared rooms, but if they do, then I'd like somewhere I'm guaranteed to get my own room. I don't really mind about the size of the college either, as I can see the advantages and disadvantages of large and small. I'm perhaps leaning a bit towards a smaller college, though, as it would be a bit easier to get to know everyone and I'd imagine there'd be more of a close-knit environment.
I'm not going to try and play the numbers game, but I don't really want to pick the most over-subscribed college. Although if it fits all my other criteria perfectly, then so be it.
Thanks so much for reading all that, and thanks in advance for any help! I know it seems like I'm asking for quite alot, but I just wanted to give as much information as possible.
If all goes to plan come Thursday (anxiously awaiting my A Level results at the moment..) I'll be applying to Cambridge for History, 2010 entry.
I've done a bit of research as far as colleges are concerned, but haven't really managed to get very far. I've got a couple of front runners, but would really like some advice from someone who knows more about them than I do.
So, my preferences... obviously somewhere that does History (as far as I know they all do, so no problems there) and fairly central location would be ideal; right on the river would be perfect, but it isn't a 'must.' Attractive architecture, however, is really important to me. I'm a sucker for a pretty building.
Politically, I'm an active Conservative, so it would be nice to find somewhere I won't get burned at the stake for that... I also enjoy drama and debating. Accommodation-wise, I'm really not too fussed. I'm not sure if any of the college have shared rooms, but if they do, then I'd like somewhere I'm guaranteed to get my own room. I don't really mind about the size of the college either, as I can see the advantages and disadvantages of large and small. I'm perhaps leaning a bit towards a smaller college, though, as it would be a bit easier to get to know everyone and I'd imagine there'd be more of a close-knit environment.
I'm not going to try and play the numbers game, but I don't really want to pick the most over-subscribed college. Although if it fits all my other criteria perfectly, then so be it.
Thanks so much for reading all that, and thanks in advance for any help! I know it seems like I'm asking for quite alot, but I just wanted to give as much information as possible.
Have you been to visit Cambridge?
If you're looking for central, then I would advise you not to go too central because it's full of tourists!
I imagine there are alot less tourists during term time, but all the same...
Clare, King's, Trinity, Trinity Hall, Gonville and Caius, Queen's, are all central, with Gonville and Caius being the most central I can think of. It's right by the market, if I remember correctly.
You may want to cross off Girton, Churchill, Selwyn, St. Catherine's and Homerton straight away, as those aren't very central (but Cambridge is very small, so it's really not far at all).
Clare, Trinity, Trinity Hall, are all extremely pretty. In fact, Trinity Hall is this tiny little college, with a tiny little courtyard, with lots of prettiness!
Feel free to disregard all of this, as I am not a student, and this was based on just 2 days in Cambridge.
I can give you more information on Churchill though.
It's ugly.
It has huge grounds, with a very climbable tree (more of course, but we fell in love with just one).
The rooms are nice!
The gym is well equipped.
PAV SOUNDS AMAZING.
If you're looking for central, then I would advise you not to go too central because it's full of tourists!
I imagine there are alot less tourists during term time, but all the same...
Clare, King's, Trinity, Trinity Hall, Gonville and Caius, Queen's, are all central, with Gonville and Caius being the most central I can think of. It's right by the market, if I remember correctly.
You may want to cross off Girton, Churchill, Selwyn, St. Catherine's and Homerton straight away, as those aren't very central (but Cambridge is very small, so it's really not far at all).
Clare, Trinity, Trinity Hall, are all extremely pretty. In fact, Trinity Hall is this tiny little college, with a tiny little courtyard, with lots of prettiness!
Feel free to disregard all of this, as I am not a student, and this was based on just 2 days in Cambridge.
I can give you more information on Churchill though.
It's ugly.
It has huge grounds, with a very climbable tree (more of course, but we fell in love with just one).
The rooms are nice!
The gym is well equipped.
PAV SOUNDS AMAZING.
If I was an undergrad I think I'd go to either Magdalene, Clare, or Emma. They're beautiful, central, old but not (compared to Kings and Trinity) touristy.
Magdalene seems to tick your boxes. Its pretty in a quirky way, on the river in the centre of town, I've heard it's quite active in the conservative department and quite small. Phil.
Queens' is on the river (both sides actually) and is very central!
Ava91
Politically, I'm an active Conservative, so it would be nice to find somewhere I won't get burned at the stake for that... I also enjoy drama and debating.
If you want to enjoy your Conservatism you'll probably want to avoid King's. I'd say the same about Homerton, except that they have a lot of Christians there who seem politically Tory, so perhaps both sides get on okay. And Homerton is best for drama, though it doesn't tick any of your other boxes. If you want to debate it won't matter much where you go as the obvious place to go for is the Cambridge Union Society.
Since no-one else has mentioned it yet I want to correct the person who said that St Catharine's is too far out - it's smack in the centre of the city, next door to King's. It's not on the river, though, Queens' got that stretch. (Remember that some of these "old" colleges may accommodate you in a draughty garrett two floors from the nearest toilet, with a view of the bins - you can never know.)
Good luck for Thursday though, and your application for next year.
Ok, so it's me again with yet another thread about Oxbridge, Geography and me. LOL!!
So basically I thought that I would apply to Oxford to read geography because I felt that the Oxford course suit me more and was generally better than the Cambridge course. However, having recently compared them again the Cambridge course looks the better of the two. The problem now is if I do decide to chose Cambridge this October what college should I apply for?!?!
So basically I want your opinion, advice and personal experience on and with the Cambridge Colleges. This is my criteria for a college:
1. It must be old i.e. 1700 and earlier.
2. Small.....ish about 400 Undergraduates max.
3. It should have a strong reputation for Geography
Thanks for your help!!
So basically I thought that I would apply to Oxford to read geography because I felt that the Oxford course suit me more and was generally better than the Cambridge course. However, having recently compared them again the Cambridge course looks the better of the two. The problem now is if I do decide to chose Cambridge this October what college should I apply for?!?!
So basically I want your opinion, advice and personal experience on and with the Cambridge Colleges. This is my criteria for a college:
1. It must be old i.e. 1700 and earlier.
2. Small.....ish about 400 Undergraduates max.
3. It should have a strong reputation for Geography
Thanks for your help!!
Ava91
Thanks for all your replies! Consensus seems to be Magdalene, then. Just had a quick look, and it seems perfect. Can't believe I missed it before. The admissions criteria are exactly what I wanted, too. Does anyone go there who can tell me more?
I'm at Magd. - as is Supergrunch who is about on these boards somewhere..
And whilst I don't do history, I do know that one of our history fellows is *really* cool...
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