Which Cambridge College for Maths

[Cratos]

My DS wants to apply to Cambridge for Maths. He is a state school student. He is social and he plays football. He likes the look of older colleges. He is struggling to choose one to apply. We would like to choose a college that is not too expensive as well -accomodation and food wise. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Ah sorry @Cratos posted on your other thread!

Maths has quite a few students at most colleges.

some colleges have a reputation for taking mostly or only state school students. Does he want to be around mostly other state students or doesn’t he care?

King’s is very state school (and politically active and right-on as well). Churchill, New Hall (they’ve renamed it something I forget what) and Fitz are all new colleges but have a lot of stem students and heavily state.

all colleges will have several football teams.

New Hall is now Murray Edwards, I think.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/application-statistics

This link (much better on larger screen, not phones) takes you to a lot of filterable stats on application, offer and acceptance numbers for colleges over the last few years.
Added a screenshot so you can see what it looks like when you click through - I picked “domicile and uk region” then. “Uk” then filtered on maths and 2024.

I would think they’ll all be good for maths - it’s a major course. Trinity is probably the best known for maths, I think??? but it also makes it one of the most competitive ones.

Loads of them have old buildings, apart from a few - Churchill, fitzwilliam (mix but mostly more modern). You should check each individual college page for entrance info as it can vary, though I don’t know if it will change much. Accommodation is generally v reasonable compared to lots of other places as the uni is rich and has lots of accommodation to offer at a good range of prices.

I noticed Jesus college has a lot of playing fields right next to the college, as does Churchill (but that’s more modern). Might be good for football? Plenty of them will have sports pitches available though. Good luck, it’s stressful picking. But remind him that almost without exception, students are happy with their college and wouldn’t swap so it pretty much always works out. And I don’t think there’s a huge amount to be gained by stressing over the stats and which is most popular, as it will vary each year.

It is. But it’s also women only so probably not suited to OP’s DS.

Heh, a fair point.

Trinity for maths.

I’d be wary of “liking the look” of older colleges.

Many are beautiful but can come with significant disadvantages in respect of the accommodation.

They are listed buildings so they can be hot in summer and cold in winter. WiFi can be variable. Bathrooms mainly shared. Some are tourist destinations.

The “glamour” can wear off pretty quickly if you live in them.

He’d be better off thinking about distance to the Maths Department and if he wants to be in the city centre or a bit further out.

DS was Churchill but that’s about 20 mins from the Maths dept, however as a more modern college the facilities are much more practical and being out of the centre there is much more outdoor space and its tourist free.

Thank you. Sorry I deleted my first thread since I forgot to give it a name.

The “glamour” can wear off pretty quickly if you live in them.

It’s definitely something to consider, but as a counterpoint, I was at an older, medium tourist level college and I just loved it, walked through it each day thinking “I can’t believe I get to live here” and the colleges are usually pretty good at keeping tourist levels down especially at important times.
Agree with the accommodation points - more modern buildings often have much more spacious rooms. But there’s usually plenty of choice even in the older colleges.

Thank you @Octavia64. I think as long as he is not in the minority as a state school student and therefore not disadvantaged he should be OK.

@Talipesmum thank you so much for this. I will check it out properly tomorrow evening. We have seen this but I didn't realise we could see the info on a graph etc. Thank you for your advice.

Very good point and I completely agree. I will tell him about this. Thank you

No problem.

The clincher for DS was the WiFi.

The older buildings with thick stone walls can present a problem in that respect.

Some friends in the older colleges found this a big PITA depending on their subject.

The older colleges are spectacular buildings and as a pp said some of the rooms are lovely but it is a trade off and DS was very happy he chose function over form so to speak.

Some older colleges have better endowment funds and more able to give bursaries etc.

I don't think it makes much odds for maths.
Go for a college he likes the look and feel of.

Trinity have the most mathematicians but they also get the most applicants, in the 2024 cycle more than 300 applications and they made 65 offers. I would be cautious about applying there as they get so many applications that good candidates end up in the winter pool and get offers from undersubscribed colleges. Of course with Maths a lot of students end up in the summer pool because they have just missed the STEP grades but quite a number of them get in to a different college at that stage as well. I am sure you are aware that they make about twice as many offers as they have places and then set the STEP grade boundaries such that the right number get in.

Lectures are in the middle of town for first year and I think second year as well, supervisions can be at your own college, other colleges or in the maths dept. Cambridge is quite small and easy to get around. Almost all students end up loving whichever college they end up. Don't overthink it!

@Cratos Why would he be in a minority as a state school student? And so what? Do the privately educated have 2 heads and are they universally dreadful people? Privately educated students - around 25% . So he will be in a large majority! He also needs to start accepting other students as just like him - interested in their subjects. He needs to get out of his bubble and learn to accept all sorts of people - or is it your prejudice here? I’d get over it.

@TizerorFizzhttps://cliffordthurlow.com/2021/08/18/rules-of-the-bullingdon-club/

This tiny minority will be irrelevant to most students (especially I suspect those doing maths).

Students who went to private school are in a minority at ALL Cambridge colleges.

My (state grammar educated) DS said no one asks or cares what type of school you went to - perhaps the private school students do, but there are fewer of them. He's on a STEM course and there are high numbers of foreign students.

He also applied to a completely different college and was pooled, so I wouldn't get hugely fixated on college.. he had 11 As, 4 A stars and an A star in his EPQ...so I don't think his grade profile was the issue - there are just lots of very qualified applicants, regardless of school profile!

@Numbersaremything so they should be, only 6% of kids in the UK are educated privately so if 25% of colleges are privately educated then they are over represented by 19%…

In response to the OP who was concerned that her DS would be in a state school minority. Yet another myth busted

Churchill is Grade 2 listed!

What's wrong with going to an undersubscribed college? The real risk is getting rejected from Trinity pre-interview.
E.g. https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6804758