Cambridge colleges - any advice / experiences please?

[Zahra1]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone might be able to provide any insights into the various Cambridge colleges as DS is thinking of applying, as open days don’t really start until June. Just thinking ahead, but it’s all a bit bewildering! Specifically -

• I know Cambridge state your chances of a place are equal regardless of which college you apply to (or not in the case if an open application), but csn this really be the case?

• What are the reputations of various colleges (if any)?

• DS was thinking of applying to Kings, but noticed they take about 85% from state schools every year. Fair enough obviously and in line with national statistics, but, in his case, would he have more chance elsewhere if applying from an independent school eg. St John’s, where the balance is more 50/50?

• Are some colleges eg Trinity and Christ’s considered more academic than others and therefore the bar is higher for entry?

• Do the further out colleges, ie Girton and Homerton, receive less applications and are they therefore easier to get in if you apply to them?

• How can the “pooling system” work effectively when colleges interview differently and some require you to send in some essays prior to interview, while others don’t. How can it be as standardised as they claim?

Does any of this makes any difference to anything? Any advice welcome?

We are kind but we are also enjoying it.

It's like watching Grantchester or Harry Potter and saying knowledgeably 'ooh yes, and that's Garrett Hostel Bridge/King's Chapel/whatever.

I will say, anyone who treats choir as 'a career with a degree on the side' will be an almighty pain in the arse of their DoS. They can absolutely be required to stop choir (or anything else) if it's impacting on work.

Trinity is the biggest college. IIRC Pembroke is the only college that doesn't admit in Geography (?). One plus of Trinity is bursaries, again, because it is so rich.

@spangle1 - TBF, it could also be the issue someone mentioned upthread, where King's (and lots of colleges) take students from state schools that are in practice pretty selective/fancy and may not seem or feel very different from private schools.

Sorry, I just saw, and forgive me if I'm misunderstanding - you mention Trinity and Trinity Hall and there being three colleges asking for written work. You know Trinity and Trinity Hall are different places?

I was polled into Christ’s just over 10 years ago (eek). At the time they were very much not too of the Tompkins table but they were before and are now so it was a bit of a blip overall potentially. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone and don’t think they were more academically selective than other colleges (at least at the time) since that seems to be a concern.

I do think the best thing to do is visit your short list and pick the best “atmosphere” - not worth overthinking and trying to game the stats as it does vary a lot from one year to the next!

@SarahAndQuack

Exactly!

Sorry it’s Trinity Hall want two essays. Then Trinity, Kings and Christ’s want one. They’re all merging in my head...

I think I read something somewhere (maybe on MN) that Christ’s are doing away with them having to sit the pre-interview aptitude test as well. That would be very odd though, surely?

I’ll check that again.

Yes here it is from the website

I can’t work out if this means just Christ’s or this is a new policy.

If you are pooled though, other colleges wouldn’t have much to go on would they, if you hadn’t sat the aptitude test? Surely you would be at a disadvantage in this case?

Or maybe Christ’s will get a flood of applicants now as they’re the only ones not to make them pass the written pre- interview test?

Wouldn’t it make everyone’s lives easier if all the colleges just did the same thing?

This list suggests there aren't pre-interview assessments for Geography as a course in 2020. Is that the test you mean (for me the attachment you posted doesn't show up)?

www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/cambridge-pre-interview-assessments/

Thanks for that Sarah - that looks like good news then, as it would seem they’ve dropped it for the course as a whole across all colleges? It says “this is a change from last year...”

I’m sure they used to have ii for History, HSPS and most Humanities? I could be mistaken though.

Well that’s one less thing for people to factor in at least.

Might already have been mentioned but a high priority for me would be somewhere that has its own director of studies in the relevant subject. People I know who didn’t have that, the teaching and overal academic guidance wasn’t so good

I agree with that, but, be aware DoSs can change, sometimes quite frequently and seemingly unexpectedly.

A huge proportion of academics are casual staff on short-term contracts. You could easily find that the person who was DoS when you applied has moved on to something else by the time you start your studies, or that the permanent college/faculty member has been replaced by a stream of temporary DoSs.

DDs DoS was on sabbatical in her first year, but the stand-in (a post doc from another college iirc) was very good.

I went to Downing a million years ago (20). I chose it because I liked it; they had a women's football team photo in the prospectus (I ended up captaining it) and I met the admissions tutor on an informal visit and he was delightfully eccentric and I could imagine myself fitting in.

It really helps at the interview to have genuine reasons for applying that show you care about the college and haven't applied because you've tried to calculate which college gives you the best chance.

I never met anyone from King's in the three years I was there. It has a reputation for being a bit different. I believe that's where David Baddiel went. Not sure that helps very much!

I worked there rather than studied there. I used to have to drop things into colleges for staff - Clare was lovely! Trinity and St Johns felt 'too big'. St Catharines has a nice feel. I think it's a bit like buying a house - some feel more like home!

@Zahra1, the link colleges for the London boroughs are listed here:
www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/area-links/greater-london

I get that about the changing of DoS, but if you pick a college with a senior and well established DoS that risk is much less. It depends how bothered they are about the course. IME doing the subject somewhere with a senior DoS and with quite a few other students doing the subject (even for minority subjects) means you get access to excellent supervisors. Dp and i both did the same small subject but at different colleges. I got taught by big names (senior DoS) whereas he had a lot of junior supervisors and still feels a bit sad about that.

I went to Trinity Hall back in the day. It is a fantastic small college. It has I think a student choir and a good music scene.

I don't think there's a wrong answer. Most people like their college once they have got there and if there's some facility they don't have you can just join it in another college or a university wide society.

I should say I sang in the chapel choir at Trinity Hall and they are still inviting me to reunions 30 years later.

Has nobody said Queens'? If he can get to an open day and have a good look around I'm sure he'll find a college that feels right.

Getting back to choirs, he should also be reassured that there is an absolutely thriving musical scene and he truly won't be short of opportunities to sing, even if he doesn't go for one of the big name choirs. Chapel choirs are far from the only option.

DD1 at Cambridge has no singing qualifications whatsoever. She has grade 8 on 2 instruments, so is a good musician and an especially good sight-reader. However, she spent the last 5 years at school in a mixed choir plus 3 years in a mixed chamber choir. She has sung Evensong & other services in several cathedrals around the UK and Europe with the school.

Because she's a scientist, she didn't have time in her 1st year for her college's choir (not listed on one of the previous posts but very much up & coming). In her 2nd year she auditioned but because she was also coxing, she agreed with the Director of Music that she couldn't put in the time in that choir. Whilst she was there, the DoM rang the college down the road and sent DD there to try out as that choir has fewer services and rehearsals. DD has now done almost 5 terms in it. One of her younger sister's schoolfriends has also gone to that college. She too sang at school (same school, same choirs) and auditioned for the college. She was unsuccessful but DD urged her to come to the 2nd college choir and she has also joined that one.

To the list further up the thread, I would like to add Trinity. One of our oldest friend's DD sang with them and we went to listen a couple of times. They are brilliant. Selwyn College also has a very good choir. I think Newnham is also included with them as they don't have their own chapel.

Absolutely not knocking temp DoSs, @ErrolTheDragon. I was one. It just really struck me when doing it that some people build a huge amount on it, thinking you must be permanent. It's the same as anywhere else - people move on. Sensible to look at what the current people are doing, but also sensible not to build too much on it.

I have a friend who is quite senior in one of the colleges mentioned above. His mortgage for a tiny house on Mill Road is crippling. He is currently looking for opportunities in an EU country.
When I was working in Cambridge I don't remember senior staff moving on, or considering it - they all lived in massive houses, more junior staff in lovely houses. I do wonder how anyone can afford to live in Cambridge on an academic salary, or an average salary.

I didn't think you were, Sarah. also re being taught by 'big names' or not, maybe it depends on the field but DD reckons some of the best supervisors are PhD students who've done the course themselves not long ago.

Yes I agree! I was a phd supervisors and to be honest I worked hard at teaching. It’s just one thing to throw into the mix - I loved being taught by some of the top people of the day and it really enriched the experience for me. Many students wouldn’t care, of course!

The thing is with subjects where there are just a few in college, (finally spotted the geography) your academic support may well be more pooled across the Department, for instance and you might have supervisions based elsewhere for some parts of the course. But that elsewhere might be practically next door. They aren't silos. It's a clunky system of having to choose prefernces where it doesn't often make much difference in the end.