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good college for graduate students?

I want a fun college. There has to be a bar. I don't fancy somewhere where it's, like, a 95:5 undergraduate :tongue:

ostgraduate ratio. No offence, those of you who are eighteen, but I've had enough! So far, I thought Hughes Hall looked the best? Maybe? I fell in love with Downing - it's absolutely gorgeous - but it looks pretty po-faced. I do like the idea of a graduates-only college, but I don't want somewhere boring (ahem Lucy Cavendish, I'm looking at you). Are graduate-only colleges boring by definition? Any contributions to this stream of consciousness are welcome.

Reply 1

Craghyrax

17

Lilith have you seen this thread, and the postgrad forum on TSR in general?

I get the impression Hughes Hall is crap (comparatively), and I've not heard good things from the students I know there (awful accommodation apparently)

Grad/mature student colleges I hear good things about are Lucy Cav, and Darwin sounds/seems nice. Clare Hall was nice looking (I went to its May Ball) but I've heard nothing about it so don't know how it compares. I know nothing about Wolfson. Some of St Eds is quite nice (the newly built bits) but it seems poorly resourced.

The above comments are second hand knowledge from friends at mature student colleges, supervisors at grad colleges etc.

Reply 2

groovy_moose

1

I'm having supervisions at St Eds atm and it's somewhere i would consider going - looks quite nice. Wolfson also looks nice from a distance but i can't vouch for it at a deeper level than that. I would also advise to steer clear of Hughes Hall - i've never actually net anyone who loved it, and i've met a fair few who aren't enthralled... you don't tend to hear esp good things about hughes hall... I've heard that Kings has a good Post grad community, but that' all hearsay really...

Reply 3

lilith_bloom

OP

5

thank you for replying

really? lucy cavendish is meant to be good? they should change their webpage, then, cos it makes it sound rubbish! :biggrin:

now i have fallen in love with trinity hall. it looks lovely. and informal.

Reply 4

lilith_bloom

OP

5

REALLY? come on, have a bitch, what's said about hughes hall? i thought it looked nice!

i am quite taken with robinson, too..!

but currently trinity hall and homerton (i'm doing education, it seems logical) are winning for me.

Reply 5

Craghyrax

17

If you can, it would be a good idea to come and visit. This is all really subjective.

Reply 6

lilith_bloom

OP

5

yeah, i got the feeling the trinity hall webpage had been written by a student ("check it out" etc) and others didn't sound like this. i got an offer from cambridge a few years ago (sps, girton) but didn't take it cos i didn't like the college - had not realised how important your college is, had pretty much stuck a pin in the prospectus to choose, foolish - so this time i am taking the whole thing very seriously!! will most definitely be going to have a nose round on interview day. :biggrin:

which are you at? what's it like?

ps: good to know there are socialists at cambridge. and there was me thinking everyone there was the child of an evil baron of some kind or other. now who's the cliché? :redface:

Reply 7

Craghyrax

17

lilith_bloom

yeah, i got the feeling the trinity hall webpage had been written by a student ("check it out" etc) and others didn't sound like this. i got an offer from cambridge a few years ago (sps, girton) but didn't take it cos i didn't like the college - had not realised how important your college is, had pretty much stuck a pin in the prospectus to choose, foolish - so this time i am taking the whole thing very seriously!! will most definitely be going to have a nose round on interview day. :biggrin:

which are you at? what's it like?

You had an offer for SPS and you turned it down!? :eek:

I think you're overestimating colleges a bit. I think it makes a big difference at undergrad, because your whole life takes place in it. Your meals are in hall, your accommodation is often central, etc. However many postgrads live nowhere near their colleges, and wouldn't be eating in hall etc etc. Having received an offer from Girton you could easily have found somewhere else to live without much need to ever go to Girton!

I'm at Peterhouse. Its lovely. The library is awesome. All the grad accommodation is relatively very central (the bulk being on the side of Parker's Piece and the other part on site - Peterhouse itself is central) but I hear its expensive. Also we're the smallest college, so I assume that our grad population may well be the tiniest. And to the best of my knowledge I'm the only mature student in the college :p:

And yeh, Trinity Hall was my first choice of college, before choosing Peterhouse second time round.

lilith

ps: good to know there are socialists at cambridge. and there was me thinking everyone there was the child of an evil baron of some kind or other. now who's the cliché? :redface:

Lol no, I think the SPS department takes it on itself to counterbalance all the rightness of the rest of the University put together :biggrin:

Reply 8

Supermerp

2

Robinson's grad accommodation is pretty expensive (I think you can see this on their website somewhere but I'm a member so if you want to ask any questions about it I could try and answer them). I met someone the other day who complained about Hughes Hall, apparently the accommodation is expensive and he didn't have a high opinion of the college at all (I didn't ask him why). Wolfson is pretty nice, I think, and it has a snooker table.

Reply 9

Arrogant Git

lilith_bloom

I want a fun college. There has to be a bar. I don't fancy somewhere where it's, like, a 95:5 undergraduate :tongue:

ostgraduate ratio. No offence, those of you who are eighteen, but I've had enough! So far, I thought Hughes Hall looked the best? Maybe? I fell in love with Downing - it's absolutely gorgeous - but it looks pretty po-faced. I do like the idea of a graduates-only college, but I don't want somewhere boring (ahem Lucy Cavendish, I'm looking at you). Are graduate-only colleges boring by definition? Any contributions to this stream of consciousness are welcome.

You realise that turning down a girton offer because you didn't like the college is the single, biggest mistake you'll ever make in your life. It is, by far, the best college.

But I'd recommend Darwin as the best postgrad college. It certainly has one of the best bars and all the Darwinians I know are pretty fun. But it's worth bearing in mind that in all colleges, being a postgraduate, you won't be forced/encouraged to spend any time with undergrads at all (and certainly not freshers). In Girton, the grads who don't live out have flats in Wolfson Court. They live apart from the undergrads (mainly second and third years) who live in Wolfie, so there's no obligation to speak to anyone younger than you, but there's generally some intermingling. And Girton grads get free formal hall.

Reply 10

ebam_uk

20

Arrogant Git

You realise that turning down a girton offer because you didn't like the college is the single, biggest mistake you'll ever make in your life. It is, by far, the best college.

Lol, well Girton is good, being here I love it obviously but the distance is the only thing that is kinda bad.

Reply 11

Zhen Lin

12

Wolfson Court is right next to the CMS though, which makes it very tempting for mathematicians...

Reply 12

Jahmez23

lilith_bloom

now i have fallen in love with trinity hall. it looks lovely. and informal.

I'm an undergrad at Tit Hall, but I can vouch for it's lovelyness.

The grad community is quite active at Tit Hall. They have an exclusive graduates formal each week, which is always packed, and the MCR has bops now and again, just for the graduates. Grads can also use JCR (undergrad) facilities, and some come to our superhall, bi-weekly bops, etc,etc.

College is very well resourced and seems to look after grads as well as undergrads. Any more specific questions, I'd send one of the MCR committee an email - i'm sure they can help.

Reply 13

roxy potter

13

I'm at Clare Hall! When I applied I applied for Clare Hall first and Darwin second, the reason I picked colleges at all was because I was afraid I'd end up in Lucy Cavendish.

The only disadvantage about being at Clare Hall is that it's small, which means it lacks some simple things (like food variety at halls etc) However it does have plenty of plus points. It's really relaxed and informal, the accommodation is good and everybody is nice. Everyone from the senior tutor, to the president to the porters is really nice and really look out for you. It's also in a nice location, it's right beside the rugby pitch(the blues training right outside my room is a plus :smile:

and really close to the sidgwick site which is where all of my lectures and things are. Sometimes I feel a bit claustrophobic because the college is small but I think it's a small price to pay for the support that you get.

Darwin also seems pretty cool, it's in an awesome location and it has a good reputation. I personally wouldn't want to be in Wolfson because I think it's a bit out of the way, not massively but a bit(I think the same can be said for Hughes and St Eds although I could be wrong)

Reply 14

Craghyrax

17

roxy potter

Darwin also seems pretty cool, it's in an awesome location and it has a good reputation. I personally wouldn't want to be in Wolfson because I think it's a bit out of the way, not massively but a bit(I think the same can be said for Hughes and St Eds although I could be wrong)

Lucy Cav and St Eds are very close to eachother and only negligibly further away from town than Clare Hall IMO (having been to each of these a few times) Hughes is out of the way, and I have no knowledge of Wolfson so I'll take your word for it.

Reply 15

roxy potter

13

Well to me Lucy Cavendish is miles away, but then that's because the centre of my existance is Sidgwick, but it's also not near anywhere that I ever want to go. I've just had a look athe University map, I can't see anything of any importance that it's near But it's all relative.

My reasons for not wanting to be in Lucy C were more to do with the lack of testosterone more than anything.

Reply 16

FadedJade

15

Wolfson isn't far away, its next door to some Pembroke accommodation, and right by the Sidgwick site! (About the same distance as Clare Hall in fact, so not far at all)

Reply 17

roxy potter

13

Yeah maybe, if you walk down sidgwick avenue, but from Clare Hall you can walk down west road which saves a good bit of time. I've walked it both ways.

If my entire life revolved around Sidgwick then I wouldn't mid so much being in Wolfson, but I definitely would prefer Clare Hall. Darwin is the best option if you want to be between town and Sidgwick, I can't imagine a better location.