The Student Room Group

Need info on Darwin Collsge, Cambridge

Hi all, I’ve been offered a place at Darwin to study my MPhil starting in Autumn (2025/2026). Darwin was not my first two choices and after spending some time on an internship at Cambridge and being around Darwin here and there, I was not very fond of it at all. However, I would like to make the best of the situation and would like to find out more. I had a good read on the colleges website but would like to confirm some things.

1. What dining agreements (if any) does the college have with other colleges? I.e what other colleges can we eat at without any problem or without being accompanied.

2. Does anyone have any pics of the gym? Is it busy? What are the best times to visit? How many cross training machines are there?

3. Does anyone have pics of the library?

4. Do any members of the college live at another college accommodation, if so where? And what reason did the other college seem fit to request this?

5. How much is rent at The Old Granary

6. How much are formals dinner tickets followed by guest tickets.

Thank you very much!

Reply 1

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi all, I’ve been offered a place at Darwin to study my MPhil starting in Autumn (2025/2026). Darwin was not my first two choices and after spending some time on an internship at Cambridge and being around Darwin here and there, I was not very fond of it at all. However, I would like to make the best of the situation and would like to find out more. I had a good read on the colleges website but would like to confirm some things.
1. What dining agreements (if any) does the college have with other colleges? I.e what other colleges can we eat at without any problem or without being accompanied.
2. Does anyone have any pics of the gym? Is it busy? What are the best times to visit? How many cross training machines are there?
3. Does anyone have pics of the library?
4. Do any members of the college live at another college accommodation, if so where? And what reason did the other college seem fit to request this?
5. How much is rent at The Old Granary
6. How much are formals dinner tickets followed by guest tickets.
Thank you very much!

Here are my comments:

1 - Students are not allowed to dine in another college unless escorted by a student member of that college. You have to understand that a College is a combination of an academic environment and a residential area. You wont be pleased if random students came to your dinning hall a lot without controls.

Having said the above, many colleges have ‘swaps’ where colleges formally exchange students to visiting for Formal Hall (i.e. fancy dinners).

2 - No idea but it would probably be best for you to use the University gym. Many college gyms are small with few equipment.

3 - Search on the internet.

4 - This is extremely rare (see point 1). However, some students do live in other college accommodation because their colleges run out of rooms. In those cases, students reach out to the other college with their case and formally request the room though nothing is guaranteed.

5 - Check the college website

https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ROOM-PRICES-FOR-WEBSITE.pdf

https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/study/accommodation/

6 - Check the college website

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Ball_in_Cambridge

Finally, Darwin is a popular college and one of the most social PG college community.

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi all, I’ve been offered a place at Darwin to study my MPhil starting in Autumn (2025/2026). Darwin was not my first two choices and after spending some time on an internship at Cambridge and being around Darwin here and there, I was not very fond of it at all. However, I would like to make the best of the situation and would like to find out more. I had a good read on the colleges website but would like to confirm some things.
1. What dining agreements (if any) does the college have with other colleges? I.e what other colleges can we eat at without any problem or without being accompanied.
2. Does anyone have any pics of the gym? Is it busy? What are the best times to visit? How many cross training machines are there?
3. Does anyone have pics of the library?
4. Do any members of the college live at another college accommodation, if so where? And what reason did the other college seem fit to request this?
5. How much is rent at The Old Granary
6. How much are formals dinner tickets followed by guest tickets.
Thank you very much!

As a former member of Darwin:

1.

I’ve never had any problems with this. We are next to Queens’ and we can go in whenever we want with our student ID, same for other colleges like Selwyn and Homerton. Most colleges don’t mind student from other colleges coming for meals unescorted. Having said that, I found our food is generally quite good.

2.

Gym is generally not too busy. It’s small but brand new. There are a few cross training machines.

3.

You can look at the library’s instagram account although it’s not updated often and there are few pictures of the library itself. It is modern, has lovely views over the river and has lots of natural sunlight but it’s quite small compared to other libraries. It does get quite busy.

4.

Generally no, although the college did have some students live elsewhere temporarily during refurbishments. I loved my accommodation on site and problems were quickly resolved by maintenance.

5.

Don’t know the exact prices but Old Granary is the most expensive and only has a couple of rooms available as most are reserved for the Students’ Association leadership and guests of fellows.

6.

Can’t remember formal tickets exactly but reasonably priced although guest tickets are higher.

What were you first choices, may I ask? I’m sorry you didn’t get your first two choices but I do think you were quite lucky to be pooled to Darwin and not some of the other colleges that get a lot of students who didn’t get their preferred choices. I know of a few visitors who have said they wished they were allocated Darwin instead because of our rich social and community life.

I absolutely loved my time at Darwin. It has a laid back and friendly vibe and there are loads of student events and a real sense of community and fun. It’s quite common for alumni to keep coming back for events even when they’ve moved away. It’s not as flashy as the older colleges but I do think it’s more of a case of substance over style. I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Original post
by Wired_1800
Here are my comments:

1 - Students are not allowed to dine in another college unless escorted by a student member of that college. You have to understand that a College is a combination of an academic environment and a residential area. You wont be pleased if random students came to your dinning hall a lot without controls.

Having said the above, many colleges have ‘swaps’ where colleges formally exchange students to visiting for Formal Hall (i.e. fancy dinners).

2 - No idea but it would probably be best for you to use the University gym. Many college gyms are small with few equipment.

3 - Search on the internet.

4 - This is extremely rare (see point 1). However, some students do live in other college accommodation because their colleges run out of rooms. In those cases, students reach out to the other college with their case and formally request the room though nothing is guaranteed.

5 - Check the college website

https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ROOM-PRICES-FOR-WEBSITE.pdf

https://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/study/accommodation/

6 - Check the college website

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Ball_in_Cambridge

Finally, Darwin is a popular college and one of the most social PG college community.


Just to clarify, some colleges allow other students to eat in their dining halls for normal meals but not formals. I know my own college (Sidney Sussex) does this it costs a little bit more but I think the difference is only VAT for other Cambridge students. I've eaten at Churchill as it's near my department and I think a few other colleges do similar things, too.

Reply 4

Original post
by melancollege
Just to clarify, some colleges allow other students to eat in their dining halls for normal meals but not formals. I know my own college (Sidney Sussex) does this it costs a little bit more but I think the difference is only VAT for other Cambridge students. I've eaten at Churchill as it's near my department and I think a few other colleges do similar things, too.

Is this without the invitation of a college member? That’s interesting.
Original post
by Wired_1800
Is this without the invitation of a college member? That’s interesting.

Yep, I went completely alone. Churchill even has a system where other Cambridge students can get a card that allows them to get Churchill student prices

Reply 6

Original post
by melancollege
Yep, I went completely alone. Churchill even has a system where other Cambridge students can get a card that allows them to get Churchill student prices

Thanks for the clarification.

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