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St Hugh's Oxford vs Girton Cambridge, Mathematical Physics/Part III

Hi, does anyone have any particular thoughts on St Hugh's college at Oxford and/or Girton college at Cambridge?

I applied to the MSc of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford and Part III in Theoretical Physics at Cambrdige and got college offers at St Hugh's and Girton Respectively.

Was wondering how do the colleges compare against other oxbridge colleges and against each other?
- Both seem a fair distance away from the main Uni.
- Both are low on the Norrington and Thompkins Tables. Should this matter in regard to course tuition? I got first class at my undergrad institution so definitely hoping to keep the marks up for postgrad.
- How are the social events and food? From what I can read online Formal Hall is once a week, but has restricted placement at Girton. On the otherhand, there's no dinner at St Hugh's on the weekends.
- Both are relatively new colleges so no fancy classic sandstone architecture, but the gardens are apparently nice.

Also if this helps, I plan to eventually undertake a PhD in theoretical Physics, maybe Oxbridge, maybe elsewhere, not certain at the moment.
I put no preference for college placement. How exactly does a college choose you to go there?

Interested to hear general thoughts and experience on the colleges, or even the two courses.
(edited 1 year ago)
Unsure if you are still looking for an answer but, regarding Girton, it does definitely have some nice ornate constructions. It's not the oldest, and it's true that King's or the like is superbly impressive, but Girton is definitely still nice to sit and look at.

The distance into town for Girtonians is a meme, but in reality it doesn't matter much as it's about 15 minutes by foot to the city centre, or around 5 minutes cycling. I personally don't think the extra distance matters as you'll be receiving the same education, and anything you want to do in town just asks for a short commute.

At MSc you'll get group supervisions, I can't advise on how they work.
Reply 2
Original post by GreenJonan
Hi, does anyone have any particular thoughts on St Hugh's college at Oxford and/or Girton college at Cambridge?

I applied to the MSc of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford and Part III in Theoretical Physics at Cambrdige and got college offers at St Hugh's and Girton Respectively.

Was wondering how do the colleges compare against other oxbridge colleges and against each other?
- Both seem a fair distance away from the main Uni.
- Both are low on the Norrington and Thompkins Tables. Should this matter in regard to course tuition? I got first class at my undergrad institution so definitely hoping to keep the marks up for postgrad.
- How are the social events and food? From what I can read online Formal Hall is once a week, but has restricted placement at Girton. On the otherhand, there's no dinner at St Hugh's on the weekends.
- Both are relatively new colleges so no fancy classic sandstone architecture, but the gardens are apparently nice.

Also if this helps, I plan to eventually undertake a PhD in theoretical Physics, maybe Oxbridge, maybe elsewhere, not certain at the moment.
I put no preference for college placement. How exactly does a college choose you to go there?

Interested to hear general thoughts and experience on the colleges, or even the two courses.

Go to Girton.
Reply 3
why Girton?
Original post by Wired_1800
Go to Girton.
Reply 4
Original post by GreenJonan
why Girton?


1. Cambridge is stronger in Math than Oxford
2. Girton is more beautiful as a college than Hugh’s

if you are keen on both, you can try to defer one of them.
Original post by GreenJonan
Hi, does anyone have any particular thoughts on St Hugh's college at Oxford and/or Girton college at Cambridge?

I applied to the MSc of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford and Part III in Theoretical Physics at Cambrdige and got college offers at St Hugh's and Girton Respectively.

Was wondering how do the colleges compare against other oxbridge colleges and against each other?
- Both seem a fair distance away from the main Uni.
- Both are low on the Norrington and Thompkins Tables. Should this matter in regard to course tuition? I got first class at my undergrad institution so definitely hoping to keep the marks up for postgrad.
- How are the social events and food? From what I can read online Formal Hall is once a week, but has restricted placement at Girton. On the otherhand, there's no dinner at St Hugh's on the weekends.
- Both are relatively new colleges so no fancy classic sandstone architecture, but the gardens are apparently nice.

Also if this helps, I plan to eventually undertake a PhD in theoretical Physics, maybe Oxbridge, maybe elsewhere, not certain at the moment.
I put no preference for college placement. How exactly does a college choose you to go there?

Interested to hear general thoughts and experience on the colleges, or even the two courses.

Honestly, the only way to actually decide is to go to each on an open day and make your own mind up.
Reply 6
Original post by GreenJonan
Hi, does anyone have any particular thoughts on St Hugh's college at Oxford and/or Girton college at Cambridge?

I applied to the MSc of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford and Part III in Theoretical Physics at Cambrdige and got college offers at St Hugh's and Girton Respectively.

Was wondering how do the colleges compare against other oxbridge colleges and against each other?
- Both seem a fair distance away from the main Uni.
- Both are low on the Norrington and Thompkins Tables. Should this matter in regard to course tuition? I got first class at my undergrad institution so definitely hoping to keep the marks up for postgrad.
- How are the social events and food? From what I can read online Formal Hall is once a week, but has restricted placement at Girton. On the otherhand, there's no dinner at St Hugh's on the weekends.
- Both are relatively new colleges so no fancy classic sandstone architecture, but the gardens are apparently nice.

Also if this helps, I plan to eventually undertake a PhD in theoretical Physics, maybe Oxbridge, maybe elsewhere, not certain at the moment.
I put no preference for college placement. How exactly does a college choose you to go there?

Interested to hear general thoughts and experience on the colleges, or even the two courses.

Your college (in Oxford at least) would have very little impact on your teaching as that will all be departmental.
St Hugh's take a good number of mathematics undergraduates each year, so you're likely to be part of a big mathematics community.
Both universities are excellent in these disciplines. (If you particularly wish to rank them then Oxford have beaten Cambridge to top spot for the last three REFs in mathematics.)
Whilst St Hugh's is somewhat out of town it's not very far from the Mathematical Institute.
Reply 7
Original post by GreenJonan
Hi, does anyone have any particular thoughts on St Hugh's college at Oxford and/or Girton college at Cambridge?

I applied to the MSc of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford and Part III in Theoretical Physics at Cambrdige and got college offers at St Hugh's and Girton Respectively.

Was wondering how do the colleges compare against other oxbridge colleges and against each other?
- Both seem a fair distance away from the main Uni.
- Both are low on the Norrington and Thompkins Tables. Should this matter in regard to course tuition? I got first class at my undergrad institution so definitely hoping to keep the marks up for postgrad.
- How are the social events and food? From what I can read online Formal Hall is once a week, but has restricted placement at Girton. On the otherhand, there's no dinner at St Hugh's on the weekends.
- Both are relatively new colleges so no fancy classic sandstone architecture, but the gardens are apparently nice.

Also if this helps, I plan to eventually undertake a PhD in theoretical Physics, maybe Oxbridge, maybe elsewhere, not certain at the moment.
I put no preference for college placement. How exactly does a college choose you to go there?

Interested to hear general thoughts and experience on

the colleges, or even the two courses.


Go to Girton College, Cambridge University!!! :biggrin:

https://www.applytocambridge.com/colleges/girton

The Maths Tripos at Cambridge University has a worldwide reputation especially in the USA, EU and Asia as well as China. :wink:
(edited 10 months ago)

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