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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Choosing a Cambridge College.

66 replies

HappyAxolotyl · 05/03/2017 09:42

Ds has suddenly said he may try for a place at Cambridge, and I feel out of my depth!
No one in our family, or indeed our friends, has gone to such a university.
We have looked at the College websites, but it is all so confusing.
Are we on the right lines thinking Trinity or Peterhouse would be a good choice for an extremely introverted person from an ordinary background wanting to study a science subject?
We are hundreds of miles away with no family or friends down there to offer backup support if needed.

OP posts:

PetalMettle · 19/03/2017 23:11

I think wandering around is good - try this term/Easter as I can't remember when they shut the colleges for exams in summer.
I went to Pembroke, they had a good rent rebate scheme for financially disadvantaged students (not sure if this relevant for you or not). Mix of science and arts. Trinity seemed super posh to me. Ex was at Churchill, very sciencey, very male, bit out of town. Had quite a few friends at Emmanuel, from state schools and they loved it. I see you've had trinity hall recommended, and that did come to my mind as well. It just seemed very relaxed and although central sort of tucked away?
I chose my college partially on extra curricular stuff, partially as it had a lot of fellows in my subject and partially because it just felt right for me - I really liked the gardens and the space

jellybeanteaparty · 26/04/2017 13:25

My DD is at Cambridge and it wasn't on her radar until she started looking looking into the course content of the course she wanted to do at various uni's. She is from a state school and goes to a college with a "posh" reputation but says there is a real mix of people like in all the other colleges. As is often said everyone loves whichever college they go to and people do socialise between colleges.There is an alternative guide to Cambridge which may be worth a look.
Its one of 5 choices so worth applying if the course appeals.Good luck to your DS.

shockthemonkey · 26/04/2017 14:50

I would recommend you look at Selwyn.

The pool system is very efficient these days, however:

a) some colleges are better at successfully pooling their talented surplus applicants than others (eg King's and Trinity)

b) any college, weighing up two applicants they have deemed to be equally deserving, will offer a place to the one who applied to them directly in preference to the pool applicant. So there just may sometimes be a slight advantage to be had applying to a less popular college as long as you really like the place.

Point a) would suggest that you apply to a high-ranking college... point b) would suggest you play the numbers (looking at admissions stats by college). Which hardly helps you decide on tactics!

It's a good idea (don't know if this has been said already) to look up the research interests of the college fellows likely to be interviewing you -- and choose a college where you think you will have more to chat about at interview.

Best of luck!

LRDtheFeministDragon · 26/04/2017 15:04

That is not true.

All colleges are required to ensure that candidates cannot be given an advantage or a disadvantage based on their choice of college.

They will take candidates out of the pool in preference to candidates who applied directly, if those candidates are better.

glorious · 26/04/2017 15:14

Coming slightly late to this thread and nothing to add on college choice but I am a Cambridge graduate back in the city and would be happy to show you and your DS around OP. PM me if that would be helpful.

kdasani · 26/04/2017 17:17

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

shockthemonkey · 27/04/2017 11:23

LDR, I don't think you read my post very closely.

I said any applicants deemed equally deserving. EQUALLY DESERVING.

The reason for this is two-fold. Someone who applied to Trinity and gets an offer from Girton may prefer to take up an offer from Durham over the Girton offer... PLUS, Girton admissions, looking at two equally strong candidates, has every reason to say yes, that pool applicant is strong but we have a direct applicant just as strong who really wants to be here.

I did not say that they would take a weaker direct applicant in favour of a pool applicant.

shockthemonkey · 27/04/2017 11:27

In other words, shall we take the pool applicant who may not be happy here or may just say no, or shall we take the direct applicant who we are pretty sure will say yes.

This is in the case of two equally strong candidates.

Of course, if the pool candidate is stronger then colleges take from the pool.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/04/2017 12:02

It's not true, though.

I really do know - I've done admissions and I know admissions tutors at colleges that regularly take a lot of applicants from the pool.

They don't just prefer someone because that person applied directly.

jeanne16 · 27/04/2017 12:44

My DS has been offered a Cambridge place this year via the pool. He is very happy with the college that has taken him as he wasn't that fussed to begin with.

However I know of a number of people whose DCs were pooled but never made it out of the pool, so I'm not sure the pooling system works quite as well as they say it does. I guess there just are too many good applicants.

mousymary · 27/04/2017 12:59

Perhaps the odd person would rather go to Durham than a "modern" college, but really I don't think it's a common occurrence, and I certainly don't think admissions tutors would work on this assumption.

Jeanne16 - of course quite a few people didn't make it out of the pool. They can't take everybody!

Ds chose a college by wandering round (not on open day) and making an aesthetic choice. Then narrowed it down by reputation for subject and accommodation provision. Unless you are an extremely strong candidate give certain colleges a wide berth. Ds was set on Merton at Oxford but further investigation showed it was a highly academic college and students were under a lot of pressure there. The Student Room is a good resource, but as with every online forum (even this one!) you can't believe everything people say.

sassymuffin · 27/04/2017 13:10

My DD attends a college that she picked just because she went on a residential course that included a tour of that specific college. One of the organises of the course is a fellow there so they visited for one day. She loves Cambridge itself and the 1st year accommodation was a stones throw away from her faculty so she could literally roll out of bed and be in lectures within 10 mins.

In her first year she quickly realised it was quite right wing and had a very high percentage of private school students. On paper, had she read this she would of discounted it, but she absolutely loves it there and has made lots of friends.

Now in her second year her friendship group is expanding to those in different colleges and her closest two friends go to two separate colleges but study the same subject as her.

mousymary · 27/04/2017 13:18

The pros and cons lists of colleges are sometimes a bit black and white and they are looking for stereotypes simply so there are pros and cons!

I was talking to dn the other week who has just finished at Bristol. She was saying that initially she was crushed that she had been given accommodation in a "quiet hall" as opposed to the "party hall" she had requested and was at first pleading for a transfer. However, she says she met fantastic friends who she'd never have encountered if she had insisted on moving to where she thought she fitted in.

jeanne16 · 27/04/2017 18:33

Mousymary. The point I was making was that Cambridge make a big deal of how well the pool works and they say that everyone who deserves to get a place will do via the pool, so it doesn't matter which College you apply to.

While we have no axe to grind as the pool worked for my DS, it obviously doesn't work for everyone as lots of people are not taken out of the pool. So it is worth trying to to maximise your chances of a place by trying to guess which College will most likely take you.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/04/2017 18:45

How do those two things contradict each other, jeanne? Cambridge make a big deal of how well the pool works and say everyone who deserves to get a place will do so. Some people aren't taken out of the pool.

How do you know that those people were deserving of a place?

How do you know they were more deserving of a place than people who got in by 'maximising' their chances by doing what you suggest (which seems really pretty unlikely to maximise chances)?

It doesn't make sense.

boys3 · 27/04/2017 19:39

Some facts about the winter pool in 2016

 29 undergraduate Colleges pooled applicants.
 3,804 applications were pooled in total.
 221 pooled applicants were invited for a January interview.
 1,073 pooled applicants were made offers, and of these:
o 974 received an offer without being re-interviewed
o 99 received offers following a January interview
 220 pooled applicants received offers from the College that pooled them.

Seems to work pretty well to me

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