which college to apply to?
firstly, i will just say that i am in year 11 and have plenty of time to research. secondly i understand that the college you apply to might not be the one that you get. that said, i don't want to go in blind and i'd love to get a better picture of what colleges would suit me more. i am someone who enjoys a slightly smaller community and i'm not fussed about how many people do the same subject as me (i'm considering MML.) i would also love to be close to the city centre although i don't necessarily mind either way. finally i would prefer a bit of a lively atmosphere with good social and night life. any recommendations? thanks 
Original post by aesthetic-artery
firstly, i will just say that i am in year 11 and have plenty of time to research. secondly i understand that the college you apply to might not be the one that you get. that said, i don't want to go in blind and i'd love to get a better picture of what colleges would suit me more. i am someone who enjoys a slightly smaller community and i'm not fussed about how many people do the same subject as me (i'm considering MML.) i would also love to be close to the city centre although i don't necessarily mind either way. finally i would prefer a bit of a lively atmosphere with good social and night life. any recommendations? thanks
The best advice I can give you is to attend open days to actually see the college environments in person. This is the only way you'll get a true perspective on what each college is like, but as you said, you have plenty of time to do your research. Cambridge is holding their undergraduate open days this year in early July, so if you'd like to attend, I would book a place once booking opens (I'm not sure whether it's already out or not). If not, you can wait until you are in Year 12 to visit universities, which is probably a better time to start looking than right now.
Original post by aesthetic-artery
firstly, i will just say that i am in year 11 and have plenty of time to research. secondly i understand that the college you apply to might not be the one that you get. that said, i don't want to go in blind and i'd love to get a better picture of what colleges would suit me more. i am someone who enjoys a slightly smaller community and i'm not fussed about how many people do the same subject as me (i'm considering MML.) i would also love to be close to the city centre although i don't necessarily mind either way. finally i would prefer a bit of a lively atmosphere with good social and night life. any recommendations? thanks
Sounds like same subject and similar criteria to me. I applied to (and went to) St Catharine's because it ticked a lot of boxes (and they gave me a full guided tour of the college when I emailed them!)
Obviously I'd recommend Catz, but giving a more objective answer, if you can get to Cambridge at some point and have a look at some of the colleges, just to get an idea for size and location, that would be ideal. But equally they are very similar so it's not the most significant thing!
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 3
Original post by bibachu
The best advice I can give you is to attend open days to actually see the college environments in person. This is the only way you'll get a true perspective on what each college is like, but as you said, you have plenty of time to do your research. Cambridge is holding their undergraduate open days this year in early July, so if you'd like to attend, I would book a place once booking opens (I'm not sure whether it's already out or not). If not, you can wait until you are in Year 12 to visit universities, which is probably a better time to start looking than right now.
yep, sounds good thank you 🙂
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Sounds like same subject and similar criteria to me. I applied to (and went to) St Catharine's because it ticked a lot of boxes (and they gave be a full guided tour of the college when I emailed them!)
Obviously I'd recommend Catz, but giving a more objective answer, if you can get to Cambridge at some point and have a look at some of the colleges, just to get an idea for size and location, that would be ideal. But equally they are very similar so it's not the most significant thing!
Obviously I'd recommend Catz, but giving a more objective answer, if you can get to Cambridge at some point and have a look at some of the colleges, just to get an idea for size and location, that would be ideal. But equally they are very similar so it's not the most significant thing!
i visited catz for a residential and absolutely loved it!! do you know exactly when cambridge open days start?
Reply 5
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Sounds like same subject and similar criteria to me. I applied to (and went to) St Catharine's because it ticked a lot of boxes (and they gave be a full guided tour of the college when I emailed them!)
Obviously I'd recommend Catz, but giving a more objective answer, if you can get to Cambridge at some point and have a look at some of the colleges, just to get an idea for size and location, that would be ideal. But equally they are very similar so it's not the most significant thing!
Obviously I'd recommend Catz, but giving a more objective answer, if you can get to Cambridge at some point and have a look at some of the colleges, just to get an idea for size and location, that would be ideal. But equally they are very similar so it's not the most significant thing!
catz was one that kept coming up in my research, i will definitely pay a visit😇
Original post by sldkldsa
i visited catz for a residential and absolutely loved it!! do you know exactly when cambridge open days start?
Looks like 4th and 5th July are the next ones! https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-open-days
Reply 7
Original post by aesthetic-artery
firstly, i will just say that i am in year 11 and have plenty of time to research. secondly i understand that the college you apply to might not be the one that you get. that said, i don't want to go in blind and i'd love to get a better picture of what colleges would suit me more. i am someone who enjoys a slightly smaller community and i'm not fussed about how many people do the same subject as me (i'm considering MML.) i would also love to be close to the city centre although i don't necessarily mind either way. finally i would prefer a bit of a lively atmosphere with good social and night life. any recommendations? thanks
Some to consider:
1.
Selwyn
2.
St Catherines
3.
Magdalene
4.
Trinity Hall
5.
Pembroke
Reply 8
Original post by Wired_1800
Some to consider:
1.
Selwyn
2.
St Catherines
3.
Magdalene
4.
Trinity Hall
5.
Pembroke
amazing thank you so much !
Corpus Christi (Christopher Marlowe)
Magdalene (the only college, apart from part of Trinity Hall, named in my list, to be on The Backs, the line of colleges backing on the River Cam. Samuel Pepys, John Simpson, Julian Fellowes)
Peterhouse (the oldest college at Cambridge. Henry Cavendish, Charles Babbage, Henry Whittle, Sam Mendes, Colin Greenwood, David Mitchell, Michael Portillo, Roger Scruton)
Sidney Sussex (Oliver Cromwell, Lord David Owen, Carol Vorderman)
Trinity Hall (not to be confused with the larger Trinity College). (Stephen Hawking, Geoffrey Howe, Andrew Marr, Rachel Weisz).
They all happen to be central too. They all happen to date from no later than the 16th Century.
Magdalene (the only college, apart from part of Trinity Hall, named in my list, to be on The Backs, the line of colleges backing on the River Cam. Samuel Pepys, John Simpson, Julian Fellowes)
Peterhouse (the oldest college at Cambridge. Henry Cavendish, Charles Babbage, Henry Whittle, Sam Mendes, Colin Greenwood, David Mitchell, Michael Portillo, Roger Scruton)
Sidney Sussex (Oliver Cromwell, Lord David Owen, Carol Vorderman)
Trinity Hall (not to be confused with the larger Trinity College). (Stephen Hawking, Geoffrey Howe, Andrew Marr, Rachel Weisz).
They all happen to be central too. They all happen to date from no later than the 16th Century.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 10
Original post by Picnicl
Corpus Christi, Peterhouse, Sidney Sussex, Trinity Hall (not to be confused with Trinity College) appear to be the smallest by population. They all happen to be central too.
i’ll definitely check them out thank you ☺️
Also:
Christ's (John Milton, Charles Darwin, and Robert Oppenheimer studied here. Is a 15th century college with an architecturally famous 1960s addition New Court : Lasdun Building (aka 'The Typewriter') by architect Denys Lasdun
Newnham (women only college) (Emma Thompson).
Pembroke (William Pitt the Younger - the youngest UK prime minister, Peter Cook, and Eric Idle).
St Catharine's (Jeremy Paxman, Sir Ian McKellen, Richard Ayoade, Ben Miller)
are also also on the small side, some of which have already been mentioned.
Christ's (John Milton, Charles Darwin, and Robert Oppenheimer studied here. Is a 15th century college with an architecturally famous 1960s addition New Court : Lasdun Building (aka 'The Typewriter') by architect Denys Lasdun
Newnham (women only college) (Emma Thompson).
Pembroke (William Pitt the Younger - the youngest UK prime minister, Peter Cook, and Eric Idle).
St Catharine's (Jeremy Paxman, Sir Ian McKellen, Richard Ayoade, Ben Miller)
are also also on the small side, some of which have already been mentioned.
(edited 1 year ago)
On the May Ball point, it's worth saying that colleges that have balls every other year very often have arrangements with another college to alternate and essentially 'share' balls, e.g. Catz and Corpus. And alumni can also attend balls – I'm a few years graduated and could still have gone to Catz May Ball this year as an alumnus. Throw in the ability to go to another ball as someone's guest, I wouldn't consider frequency of May Balls in making a decision of which college to apply to!
Original post by Saracen's Fez
On the May Ball point, it's worth saying that colleges that have balls every other year very often have arrangements with another college to alternate and essentially 'share' balls, e.g. Catz and Corpus. And alumni can also attend balls – I'm a few years graduated and could still have gone to Catz May Ball this year as an alumnus. Throw in the ability to go to another ball as someone's guest, I wouldn't consider frequency of May Balls in making a decision of which college to apply to!
Yes I've taken out all the bit about May Balls now because it gave the wrong impression that had some bearing on the general ethos of that college compared to others.
(edited 1 year ago)
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