Visiting Cambridge to look at colleges

[CovidCorvid]

So Dd wants to do a Masters at Cambridge. She says the open days are all virtual.

We thought we’d book a night in Cambridge and spend a couple of days mooching around. I believe we can tell the porters she’s a prospective student and they’ll let her into the quad for a quick look…..is that literally all she’s likely to be able to see? So no going in any buildings, etc?

That's all we could do pre-Covid, hence the need for open days. But you can get a bit of a feel for a college and its location by turning up there.

However, I think you can stay in some Cambridge colleges on a B&B basis. So if you can narrow down your shortlist virtually, come on day 1 and stay in college 1, then do sightseeing and stay in college 2.

What subject is your DD studying? If Arts/Humanities, proximity to the Sidgwick site is helpful. If science, then lots of departments have moved to West Cambridge. However, it's all pretty quick by bike.

Hi, yes we’re staying in st Catharines overnight.

She’s planning to study architecture.

So not sure where architecture will sit geographically at Cambridge …probably in arts/humanities?

I’ve found the architecture building, it’s near the Fitzwilliam. So would students have all their teaching there no matter which college they go to?

Does it matter which college they go to? Can they choose any college? We’ve been looking on the postgrad architecture page and it just talks about applying for the course….no mention of different colleges. Whereas for UG courses from what I know it’s very much about applying for a college. Is PG different?

I'm not an expert on architecture but I know someone who graduated 2 years ago. For most subjects, it really doesn't matter which college they go to. I think for PG as you say, you apply for the course and then ask.

My DD will be doing a PhD but did her UG and integrated Masters there so her college was already sorted. She applied for the PhD and when she applied, she was asked to choose 2 colleges. Because she is not good at getting up, she chose her current college and the one nearest the PhD department, which is also quite reasonable in terms of room costs. Her current college wanted her to stay, so the decision was easy.

For UG teaching, some is done by department, but supervisions (tutorials) are done in college or for small departments perhaps in another college. Most of DD's Masters teaching was in her department. I have just asked her and she suggests choosing a college where there is a Director of Studies in Architecture. Their profiles are all on the college websites so if your DD has a particular interest, perhaps that's a way to choose.

Having visited my DD a number of times, the central colleges (Kings/Trinity/St Johns) are all wealthy but their location means that they get lots of tourists around and dropping off is a bit of a nightmare. DD chose one in that area but was luckily pooled to one slightly further out where there is some parking onsite for parents dropping off. There are some colleges just for graduate students but I don't know much about them and Murray Edwards and Newnham are female only. Girton is a bit of a hike away from the centre but Homerton would be ok.

Hope that helps. Happy to answer anything else if you think it would be useful.

That’s brilliant thank you. Will get looking at the profiles on the college websites.

If architecture is at Fitzwilliam then actually Girton would be closer than Homerton

@SeasonFinale, I think @CovidCorvid means that it's near the Fitzwilliam Museum rather than the Fitz college. I know it's not too far from Newnham College as that's where my former student ended up.

Yes, Fitzwilliam museum.

Aha yes then Peterhouse is perfect!