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What is Gonville and Caius like?

Any information or whatever about Caius would be appreciated. What is the college like? Accomodation? The people? I'm a maths student, is it good for maths? etc...

Reply 1

Noel

6

Hello, I have an offer for Land Economy at Cauis for this year. From what I have heard it is a really good college, however, I myself have never visited it as I was pooled from Catz. I have looked it up though, try this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonville_and_Caius_College%2C_Cambridge

I would say it is very good for Maths, as Steven Hawking is a college fellow and also the Universities Lucasian professor of maths ( a post once held my Isaac Newton!)

I think if my memory is right (it probably isnt) Cauis was ranked about 5th in the University for acamedic results i.e. Numbers of 1st and 2:1's, according to the Thompskin table??

Hope this helps! Noel :biggrin:

Reply 2

Willa

11

as usual i draw your attention to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/t100713.html
if you look there, caius does not have a reputation in any particular subject and you can see what it's stereotype is like since you clearly think that's important.

Reply 3

oldthrashbarg

7

inequality

Any information or whatever about Caius would be appreciated. What is the college like? Accomodation? The people? I'm a maths student, is it good for maths? etc...

I don't actually know much about it, but have some vague impressions:

Academic: Quite high up. Especially good reputation for medicine. Hawking is, as was mentioned, a fellow. It is quite a prestigious college in general, I think.

People: College in general thought to be very conservative (though as with all colleges these prejudices should be taken very lightly (if at all).

Accomodation etc: Most first year accomodation (I think) in Harvey court near the Sidgwick Site. This means close to arts faculties, but quite far from other faculties and city centre (though all distances in Cambridge are minimal). I have been in a room there, once, and it looked fine. Main college bits are more traditional and in the town centre with the other old colleges. Food is rumoured to be poor, and students are forced to buy tickets for hall.

Maths: No idea. My advice is not to focus too much on the academic reputation of individual colleges as amost teaching is done by the university as a whole.

Reply 4

inequality

OP

7

Willa

as usual i draw your attention to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/t100713.html
if you look there, caius does not have a reputation in any particular subject and you can see what it's stereotype is like since you clearly think that's important.

"Gonville And Cauis College: Boaties despise due to their dominance of male rowing in cambridge. Known as quite an academic college, and along with Trinity and St Johns, is known as one of the more "snobby" colleges".

That was helpful :rolleyes:

. I don't know what you've got against this type of thread, I'm getting much more useful information here than in your thread. How do I clearly think that the stereotype is important? All I want are some opinions.

Great information the rest of you, keep it coming... :smile:

Reply 5

Willa

11

ok sorry, it's just you can probably find what these people have said elsewhere on this site...the accomodation i know has been discussed somewhere already. The other thread did answer two of your questions though anyway...it does say that caius is supposedly good for medicine, and it does also tell you what the students are stereotypically like - those are two questions you've asked and you got straightforward answers. In reality no college is siginifcantly better than any other college at any one subject, and nor can you sum up what the students are like - some you wont like, some you will...it's a fact of life! The thread also provided a link to the tompkins table.

In general that thread gave all the information given here so far except highlighting that hawkings is a fellow (but i think it's wrong to presume that means it's good for maths!) and the other thread doesnt have any accomodation details...but as I said, I'm pretty sure that's been discussed elsewhere quite intensively.

Reply 6

Hoofbeat

14

Actually Will he didn't ask about medicine - he's a mathmo! :rolleyes:

Urghh Caius is a sister college to Brasenose (Oxford)....poor them! <hehe, just kiddin, I'm sure it's nice>. Out of interest inequality, have you looked at their website? When I was researching colleges I found their websites were often the most helpful as they usually have photos/virtual tours as well as loads of information. Also if you contact the college, I'm sure they'll send you their college prospectus which usually provides loads more info than the main Cam prospectus. Afraid, I can't help any more as I'm not even a tab!

Reply 7

Willa

11

Hoofbeat

Actually Will he didn't ask about medicine - he's a mathmo! :rolleyes:

what do you take me for! He asked about whether or not it was good for maths, that thread says that colleges tend not to differ much when it comes to subject standards, but if you must..then caius is supposedly good for medicine...i.e. it isnt particularly famous for maths!

I know it's reassuring for them to get direct answers to their questions, but with a bit of time they can usually find all the answers they need elsewhere on this site, or as you say, on the college websites. I'm just a bit grumpy today and my tolerance seems to be rather short, maybe cos i lost on the dogs last night....i stupidly decided not to bet on a forecast that was 16:1....and i got it right...ARGH i should always go with my hunch.
I'll go back to my chemistry and leave the others to answer. Sorry

Reply 8

inequality

OP

7

Willa

what do you take me for! He asked about whether or not it was good for maths, that thread says that colleges tend not to differ much when it comes to subject standards, but if you must..then caius is supposedly good for medicine...i.e. it isnt particularly famous for maths!

I know it's reassuring for them to get direct answers to their questions, but with a bit of time they can usually find all the answers they need elsewhere on this site, or as you say, on the college websites. I'm just a bit grumpy today and my tolerance seems to be rather short, maybe cos i lost on the dogs last night....i stupidly decided not to bet on a forecast that was 16:1....and i got it right...ARGH i should always go with my hunch.
I'll go back to my chemistry and leave the others to answer. Sorry

That's ok. You were only trying to help after all. I'm not researching colleges, I have a maths offer from Caius! I wanted to know whats in store for me next year if I get in! (I should have made that clearer at the start though, sorry) :redface:

Reply 9

Willa

11

well then you're in for a cambridge-o-rific time, regardless of which college you go to. It's a decent college, with no attributes to worry about. I'd sit back and let time tell!

Reply 10

Bezza

2

Anyone know if this story's true: There are 3 gates in Gonville and Caius inscribed 'Honoris', 'Virtutis' and 'Humilitatis', apparently someone wrote above the archway to the gents 'Necessitatas'

Reply 11

higherspeed

They're very strict about letting non College people into their bar, which is very frustrating if you just want to have a drink with a friend. I can't stand signing into places. I signed into Kings once, jsut to go to the bar and I think they gave my e-mail address to those Rumboogie people.

The people I know from Caius certainly seem to like it. I don't know any of the mathmos, although it doesn't make a huge difference where you apply for maths. I'd recommend against Trinity or Johns for maths though, there's too many of them and they tend to get competitive. That probably goes for Churchill as well.

Reply 12

Wasp39

I've been to Caius a couple of times as I have friends there, so here's my 2p. The accomodation in the 1st year is mainly in Harvey Court on the other side of Queen's Road. It's a realtively (on Cambridge timescales) recent building and could probably described as functional rather than pretty. The rooms are ok - standard study bedrooms, but bigger than what I've seen at other unis. Most of the rooms also have balconies which apparantly make a good area for socialising.

The rooms on the central site seem quite nice (I've only stayed in one though!), and seem to be bigger than the Harvey court rooms. The location in the centre seems excellent - right on King's Parade. I've also been in one of the College houses, which was a little way out (about 2/3 of the way to the station from the market). The rooms there were very nice, and still quite convenient for some of the science departments, engineering etc. - I think its mainly second years who live in the college houses.

All the Caians I've met have been really nice people - not particularly in line with their stereotypes. On the subject of Hall food, some people thinks it's awful, but I don't think it was all that bad - though they get through the courses REALLY fast, so you end up trying to eat far to fast :smile:

. All the students wear gowns to meals too which is quite entertaining.

That's about the limit of my knowledge of Caius I'm afraid - seems a nice enough place is all I can say!

Reply 13

Willa

11

that's obviously only formal hall you're talking about...now gowns needed for the informal hall...which isnt waiter served. That's the same at most colleges

Reply 14

khl31

inequality

Any information or whatever about Caius would be appreciated. What is the college like? Accomodation? The people? I'm a maths student, is it good for maths? etc...

welcome to caius.

my mathmo friend tells me that although trinity are far ahead in the mathmo game, the caians have had a resurgence lately and are hoping to challenge for supremacy... he's quite prone to exaggeration and bombast though :rolleyes:

, so i'd take that with a pinch of salt if i were you :wink:

but fact of the matter is, some of the recent years in caius have seen a number of mathmos come in the top 10 in the university with some consistency :eek:

, so...

caius is in general, quite an academic college though. not the level of christ's, or perhaps some of the specialist subjects in other colleges like downing law and trinity maths, but in general the people here are quite hardworking and *seem* less of the party-animal breed than other colleges.

college is fine. great even. what specifically do you mean when you say "college"? fellows? administration? buildings? what? coz here, "college" means different things depending on context.

accomodation is okay and getting better. first years in harvey court - not the prettiest buildings, but definitely very social and good for making friends and having a good time. most caians have fond memories of the place. 2nd years like to gripe about how far they have to trek to dinner everyday, but the rooms are much nicer than HC, and a lot closer knit, since a house has about 10ish people in it who you tend to get to know very well. 3rd years have it good, living right smack in the middle of town next to market square, and most 3rd year rooms are sets with a living room and attached bedroom! (i.e. plush). by the time you come, HC part 2 (a new building) will come up - that is meant for 2nd years, and promises to be lush. pity us here now who have to do all the fundraising for you lucky sods.

food's getting MUCH better. was borderline edible last year, palatable this year and still on the rise. apparently before you could throw your main course, whatever it was, at the walls and it would bounce back at you! :redface:

rowing's as good as it's ever been :biggrin:

5 crews (both men's and women's) in lents, 3 blades, of which 1 was the men's headship. may bumps promises to be even more fun... "blues" boat anyone? :biggrin:

(if we manage to convince all our resident uni rowers to come back, which is sadly, unlikely, we'll have something like 5 blues and 2 goldies and one random gimp from the lents headship crew).

i don't hang out in the bar much, so can't say much about that. looks busy before and after dinner though...

and the "gate of necessity" is not above the gents. it's an archway which happens to have the door that leads to the gents :p:

Reply 15

Wasp39

Willa

that's obviously only formal hall you're talking about...now gowns needed for the informal hall...which isnt waiter served. That's the same at most colleges

Sorry, I didn't make that clear

Reply 16

Ticki

8

There are some very fine young men at Caius. VERY fine... :wink:

Reply 17

khl31

Willa

that's obviously only formal hall you're talking about...now gowns needed for the informal hall...which isnt waiter served. That's the same at most colleges

no gowns for first hall, yes. but it *is* waiter served. :p:

EVERYDAY (except saturdays). 3 courses. :biggrin:

and i think we're one of the few colleges where no one raises eyebrows even if you turn up naked under your gown :eek:

(i.e. relatively "informal" formal.) - it has been done before as part of a drinking society initiation, i think.

great thing about caius hall, after having been to about 10 different formals, is the relaxed atmosphere - minimal head waiter/fellow interference with alcoholism and the various foolish side effects thereof. also, no alcohol limit!!! (some colleges restrict drinking, which might seem sensible when you're outside, but once you get here... :p: