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The Big 'Which Cambridge College?' Thread

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gethsemane342
I'd guess they give you some sort of text/problem/whatever it is you do in linguistics before the interview and you read over it or something and they'll ask you about it. But i'm not 100% sure.


Then, what do you think would be the difference between "preparatory study at interview" and "database problem presented to candidates during interview"? :wink: My guess is that in the first case you are given the materials and left alone for 30 minutes to prepare the answer to present to the examiners, while in the second case you are asked to look at the problem while in the examination room and expected to produce an answer on the spot. Anyway, I think it's not that important as both forms of assessment are there to test similar skills. Let's leave it for now, then, because there is one more question that's come to my mind.

It does sound reasonable to me that it is no less difficult to get into a less popular college because if the college of your choice can't give you an offer but considers you to be a good candidate, they will pool you and... etc., etc., etc., but may colleges with the strongest academic reputation be more difficult to get into? This is important for me because I'm actually looking for one that will really motivate me academically, and you do hear about some being more "pushy" with regard to their students' performance than others. Are they "more pushy" in the admissions process, too?
You say you would like a larger, central college. Supervision groups will be small regardless of college size, so don't worry about that. Other teaching e.g. seminars will be university based anyway.

I'm a scientist, so I can't help with academic considerations, I'm afraid.

Do you have any preferences in the other areas mentioned? Something else to consider is dining - would you want to dine in college most evenings, or have more freedom?

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'd be happy there - most people grow to love their colleges.
sentiment
All this plus: maybe consider looking at the entrance requirements for your course - if you have less strong GCSEs, for example, you don't want to apply for a college that puts a lot of weight on applicants having 12 A*s,


have you got any advice on good colleges to pick that don't put weight on lots of A*s.

I've got:

2 distinctions
1 A*
7 As
2 Bs
1 C

thanks. i'm looking at colleges at the moment. very hard to find one!
safwaansh
good colleges to pick that don't put weight on lots of A*s.

There's no such thing...
robynxxx
Thankyou everyone so far :smile:
I've written down a list of all of the colleges and have crossed out the ones I don't want to go to.. the all-girls ones, mature students, graduates only etc.
After that I'm pretty stuck.. I'm from a small high school in Scotland so I guess the idea of a bigger college appeals to me as it's something completely different.. But I'm used to smaller classes (I'm doing 3 advanced highers this year and there are only 3 people in each of my classes).
I'd like a fairly central college and I enjoy sport (I'm a highly competitive dancer).
I don't know anyone else that is applying to Cambridge this year so I'm a bit lost and don't really know where to begin. And because I'm from a small school, I think I'm one of the first pupils to apply to Cambridge, so the school aren't sure how to help me in deciding/applying either.. One pupil previously got into Oxford but that's it :smile:
So yeh, thankyou for all your help so far. If anyone else has any advice, it is much appreciated!!

As a couple of others have said, "class sizes" will be pretty much the same wherever you are. You have university-level teaching in lectures, and college-level teaching in supervisions (which will only be 1-4 students anyway).

I'm not sure how many colleges have dance societies, but I know there's a society for pretty much any kind of dance at uni level.

Get your personal statement reviewed on here, in my experience the PS reviewers on here can know more than teachers. And don't look too much into the state/private school intake ratios etc...
Please help me! I'm at a complete loss as to which college I should choose!

Essentially, what I expect from my college is
(1) a stunningly beautiful old building (a modern building is enough for me to cross a college out of my list of preferences regardless of whatever other virtues it may have)
(2) a really really really strong academic reputation and
(3) a library that is open 24/7 offering an outstanding book collection ( :wink: ).

Good food would be a great advantage :rolleyes: , but it is by no means a must.
Let us say that other factors (bathrooms, sports facilities, entertainment, clubs and societies, etc., etc., etc.) do not matter.

What are my options?

By the way, could colleges with the strongest academic reputation (not necessarily the ones with the greatest number of candidates per place, as in this case good potential students are still said to have the possibility of being accepted at another college) be more difficult to get into than the ones with a slightly more relaxed ethos? What are your feelings/experiences?
Reply 1866
Avatar for Dann
Dann
15
ZuzaMagda
(3) a library that is open 24/7 offering an outstanding book collection that includes all the works I may ever need to read working towards a degree in Linguistics.

I don't think any college library is going to cover all the works you may ever need to read to be honest...
Dann
I don't think any college library is going to cover all the works you may ever need to read to be honest...


OK. Take it to be a hyperbole I used to create a stronger impression, but is not meant to be taken literally. I basically want a large library :wink:
ZuzaMagda
(1) a stunningly beautiful old building (a modern building is enough for me to cross a college out of my list of preferences regardless of whatever other virtues it may have)


Do you mean no modern buildings at all? Most of the colleges will have at least one modern accommodation building somewhere, although some are more subtly hidden that others.

ZuzaMagda
(3) a library that is open 24/7 offering an outstanding book collection that includes all the works I may ever need to read working towards a degree in Linguistics.


Your college library probably won't have all of the texts. It should have all of the basic texts, but by third year most courses offer so many options it's not possible for a college library to stock all of the books for all of the options. They should all be in the faculty library or the University library. As a general rule, the bigger colleges have bigger libraries.

ZuzaMagda
By the way, could colleges with the strongest academic reputation (not necessarily the ones with the greatest number of candidates per place, as in this case good potential students are still said to have the possibility of being accepted at another college) be more difficult to get into than the ones with a slightly more relaxed ethos? What are your feelings/experiences?


First of all, most of the teaching is done by the faculty and going to a college higher up in the Tompkins table is unlikely to make a difference in your result. Choice of college certainly doesn't affect your chance of getting in to the university, the pool system evens out any possible differences in this respect. As for how likely you are to get in to your first choice college and not be pooled, this is arguably more difficult at colleges with a stronger reputation, but it's likely to fluctuate a lot year on year and depend on a lot of other factors making it impossible to guess. I would recommend to apply for the college you want to.
Reply 1869
Avatar for Dann
Dann
15
Emma is beautiful, academic, and has a 24 hour library? I suppose it depends on which colleges you want to cross off your list because you don't think they're pretty enough though.
ZuzaMagda
Then, what do you think would be the difference between "preparatory study at interview" and "database problem presented to candidates during interview"? :wink: My guess is that in the first case you are given the materials and left alone for 30 minutes to prepare the answer to present to the examiners, while in the second case you are asked to look at the problem while in the examination room and expected to produce an answer on the spot. Anyway, I think it's not that important as both forms of assessment are there to test similar skills. Let's leave it for now, then, because there is one more question that's come to my mind.

It does sound reasonable to me that it is no less difficult to get into a less popular college because if the college of your choice can't give you an offer but considers you to be a good candidate, they will pool you and... etc., etc., etc., but may colleges with the strongest academic reputation be more difficult to get into? This is important for me because I'm actually looking for one that will really motivate me academically, and you do hear about some being more "pushy" with regard to their students' performance than others. Are they "more pushy" in the admissions process, too?


I'm afraid i haven't the foggiest with the database question, sorry. I'm not even sure what Linguistics is :o:

No one college is really harder than another to get into so just go for the one you like best. If it helps, when i applied, i went for Christ's and it was only after i sent off my application that i discovered Christ's has a reputation for being strongly academic. And i was kicking myself because i thought it would be stupidly hard to get into (especially considering some of the things i then came out with at the interview). But i got in. The person who interviews you at a college isn't even necessarily from that college. Each individual tutor looks for something different. Each college will, naturally, want the best students. So, no, reputation rarely makes a difference.
Christ's is the same except we have the Typewriter (must be one of the ugliest buildings known to man!) at the back and the second worst food in Cambridge :biggrin:
Reply 1872
Avatar for qwstorp
qwstorp
is anybody here doing Maths at Peterhouse?
I need help choosing a college. . .I have my sights set on Queen's atm but I don't know why because I barely know anything about it.
What I really want in a college is:

>Friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
>Near to shops.
>Lots of parties :smile:
>Quite large number of students.

Any recommendations? I'm applying for maths btw.
Reply 1874
Avatar for 248677
248677
2
robynxxx
Thankyou everyone so far :smile:
I've written down a list of all of the colleges and have crossed out the ones I don't want to go to.. the all-girls ones, mature students, graduates only etc.
After that I'm pretty stuck.. I'm from a small high school in Scotland so I guess the idea of a bigger college appeals to me as it's something completely different.. But I'm used to smaller classes (I'm doing 3 advanced highers this year and there are only 3 people in each of my classes).
I'd like a fairly central college and I enjoy sport (I'm a highly competitive dancer).
I don't know anyone else that is applying to Cambridge this year so I'm a bit lost and don't really know where to begin. And because I'm from a small school, I think I'm one of the first pupils to apply to Cambridge, so the school aren't sure how to help me in deciding/applying either.. One pupil previously got into Oxford but that's it :smile:
So yeh, thankyou for all your help so far. If anyone else has any advice, it is much appreciated!!


The best thing to do really is visit them, if possible. You'll probably get a feel for the college you're most likely to like.
As said above, your class sizes won't really change throughout the university - the only difference may be how many people are doing your subject in your college.
Obviously there will be university wide societies that you can join, and the vast majority of college-based societies will be open for any member of the university. If you're very competitive, you'd probably be looking at the university level anyway.
Sports-wise I've heard good things about Downing, Jesus and Queens - but I'm not sure if that's true or if it was bias :rolleyes: Other than that, larger colleges in the centre you could also check out are Trinity, St. Johns, Emmanuel and Gonville and Caius. Clare is also very lovely and central, and I don't know anyone who hasn't fallen in love with it.
Any other preferences you have, about anything? Dining? How formal / informal? Fond of drama or music?
I think i just looked at pictures on Google images until I narrowed it down to a few (Trinity, Downing, Pembroke and Clare), then I visited them all a few times until I was certain.
For me I started off by crossing off all of the far away ones. Then I read the profiles of the colleges and crossed off any ones that sounded overly pompous or workaholic. I was left with a handful and in the end I had to make a choice between beautiful colleges on the backs vs colleges that are in more convenient locations closer to lectures. I preferred somewhere better looking (a 10 minute walk is acceptable really), and somewhere unpretentious/informal so went for Clare in the end.
jaheen22
I need help choosing a college. . .I have my sights set on Queen's atm but I don't know why because I barely know anything about it.
What I really want in a college is:

>Friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
>Near to shops.
>Lots of parties :smile:
>Quite large number of students.

Any recommendations? I'm applying for maths btw.


Queens probably fits all of that (it runs Queens' Ents so lots of parties) or Clare. If you're looking for very central, maybe Jesus or Emmanuel (noted as being the 'friendly' college).
Reply 1877
Avatar for ABC.
ABC.
3
i narrowed it down to these two. any good/ bad points? major differences?
thanks :smile:
i wanted a traditional, big, centrally located college. then, starting from this, i picked the one that had the admission system that could most maximise my chances of getting in, ie i had a topic to prepare before the interview so that it could be discussed during it (rather than, say, the tsa, sending in essays or the interview alone). oh, i also wanted a very international college. so trinity was practically the perfect choice for me :biggrin: good luck!
I chose the college that had the cheapest price for a pint of beer -> Sidney Sussex. :yep:
Didn't get past the winter pool though. Going to ICL instead.

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