Cambridge College: Jesus vs Clare vs Emmanuel
Trying to decide what college to apply for at Cambridge. Applying for PBS in 2024 cycle. They’re all mid size colleges, near the centre of town, what are the pros and cons of each?
Original post by CameronJames
Trying to decide what college to apply for at Cambridge. Applying for PBS in 2024 cycle. They’re all mid size colleges, near the centre of town, what are the pros and cons of each?
Go for Jesus.
you should think about
1. Typical number of students on your course
2. social life
3. proximity to your lectures
4. college vibe
Jesus is the least central of the three (it's actually jokingly called "Jesus College, near Cambridge", both in reference to its official name and because its kind of set out on its own from the rest), though it's obviously more central than like Homerton or Girton.
Clare is nice because of its river position, and the gardens are particularly well known. It has quite a cool student bar in the cellars.
Emma has its own swimming pool, if that's important to you, and a very nice large pond.
I think Clare has a higher proportion of en suite rooms for first years. Emma doesn't have great food, so I've heard. Jesus is the richest of the three which tends to mean it can offer a bit more in the way of research grants etc, although tbh they'll all be pretty good for that.
It really just depends what's important to you, there's no objective measure for it. Do you care about ensuite rooms or proximity to your faculty? And also look at housing for your second and third years - do they have a decent number of rooms in college or are they mostly college houses, and does that make a difference to you? Off the top of my head I think Emma has houses that are pretty far away from college, but you'd have to double check that.
Of the three I'd probably choose Clare, if only for the river.
Clare is nice because of its river position, and the gardens are particularly well known. It has quite a cool student bar in the cellars.
Emma has its own swimming pool, if that's important to you, and a very nice large pond.
I think Clare has a higher proportion of en suite rooms for first years. Emma doesn't have great food, so I've heard. Jesus is the richest of the three which tends to mean it can offer a bit more in the way of research grants etc, although tbh they'll all be pretty good for that.
It really just depends what's important to you, there's no objective measure for it. Do you care about ensuite rooms or proximity to your faculty? And also look at housing for your second and third years - do they have a decent number of rooms in college or are they mostly college houses, and does that make a difference to you? Off the top of my head I think Emma has houses that are pretty far away from college, but you'd have to double check that.
Of the three I'd probably choose Clare, if only for the river.
(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by fedora34
Jesus is the least central of the three (it's actually jokingly called "Jesus College, near Cambridge", both in reference to its official name and because its kind of set out on its own from the rest), though it's obviously more central than like Homerton or Girton.
Clare is nice because of its river position, and the gardens are particularly well known. It has quite a cool student bar in the cellars.
Emma has its own swimming pool, if that's important to you, and a very nice large pond.
I think Clare has a higher proportion of en suite rooms for first years. Emma doesn't have great food, so I've heard. Jesus is the richest of the three which tends to mean it can offer a bit more in the way of research grants etc, although tbh they'll all be pretty good for that.
It really just depends what's important to you, there's no objective measure for it. Do you care about ensuite rooms or proximity to your faculty? And also look at housing for your second and third years - do they have a decent number of rooms in college or are they mostly college houses, and does that make a difference to you? Off the top of my head I think Emma has houses that are pretty far away from college, but you'd have to double check that.
Of the three I'd probably choose Clare, if only for the river.
Clare is nice because of its river position, and the gardens are particularly well known. It has quite a cool student bar in the cellars.
Emma has its own swimming pool, if that's important to you, and a very nice large pond.
I think Clare has a higher proportion of en suite rooms for first years. Emma doesn't have great food, so I've heard. Jesus is the richest of the three which tends to mean it can offer a bit more in the way of research grants etc, although tbh they'll all be pretty good for that.
It really just depends what's important to you, there's no objective measure for it. Do you care about ensuite rooms or proximity to your faculty? And also look at housing for your second and third years - do they have a decent number of rooms in college or are they mostly college houses, and does that make a difference to you? Off the top of my head I think Emma has houses that are pretty far away from college, but you'd have to double check that.
Of the three I'd probably choose Clare, if only for the river.
For me, the social life, quality of the accommodation (not how far away it is) and what the formals/college events are like are most important when choosing a college.
I'd just note that Jesus College is still definitely a city centre college but only if you understand the city centre in terms of the city and not purely in terms of the university. As Jesus Green/Midsummer Common are actually very central locations but relative to the university I think people often forget everything on the upper side of the river is also part of the city and not just where the boathouses are 
It's literally about 5-10 minutes tops on foot from Jesus College to Emmanuel College for example.
Also to note, Jesus College is also on the river (albeit not on the tourist-y part, and I don't know if the river itself is accessible from the college, but you should be able to see it from the back as you can see into the college over the river from Jesus Green) and is also adjacent Jesus Green and the Midsummer Common which are some nice green spaces in the centre of Cambridge (although in summer the latter hosts the infernal Strawberry Fair plus relatively frequently this one annoying fun fair which always plays the exact same music with the same DJ all day long).
Just trying to keep in context that in this case the "less central" element is really just "less central relative to the main university central teaching blocks" and even then, it's close. Closer than Clare Colony for example!
It's literally about 5-10 minutes tops on foot from Jesus College to Emmanuel College for example. Also to note, Jesus College is also on the river (albeit not on the tourist-y part, and I don't know if the river itself is accessible from the college, but you should be able to see it from the back as you can see into the college over the river from Jesus Green) and is also adjacent Jesus Green and the Midsummer Common which are some nice green spaces in the centre of Cambridge (although in summer the latter hosts the infernal Strawberry Fair plus relatively frequently this one annoying fun fair which always plays the exact same music with the same DJ all day long).
Just trying to keep in context that in this case the "less central" element is really just "less central relative to the main university central teaching blocks" and even then, it's close. Closer than Clare Colony for example!
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