Cambridge Or Edinburgh

[untilwhen]

DD2 has an offer from Cambridge to study classics. Even though she had applied to Cambridge, she had her heart set on going to Edinburgh where her older sister is studying and loves it.

She has been in love with classics since she was quite young, so in some ways, within last few months she has gotten a little bit over it and was planning on going to Edinburgh and switching to History and taking 2,3 different modules to study wider range of subjects.

She says she would like the independence of working (works at a local cafe at the moment) and cleaning and cooking for herself as full uni experience and Cambridge doesn't allow that.

She loves Edinburgh as a city but understands that Cambridge is Cambridge.

She intends to do Law conversion after her degree and we are based in London, so travel would be far easier to Cambridge.

Any advice, perspective appreciated. Thank you

Cambridge, far cheaper accommodation. Amazing reputation.

Cambridge is cheaper and the terms are very short - plenty of time to work in the holidays.

Edinburgh accommodation is a disaster at the moment (as is Glasgow area to be fair), especially in 2nd to 4th years.

Also the Scottish unis are less common around the big law firms because the law degrees aren't English law, so that might (but shouldn't) be an issue...

I was assuming your daughter was thinking if she went to Edinburgh then doing law conversion at Cambridge due to Scottish law being taught at Edinburgh.

The way Scottish modules work would make it really easy for her to have a varied choice in first and maybe second year at least. The new Lumo trains are lovely according to our DC and cheap. I'm using one next week and my return ticket is <£100. If you have air miles, flights are usually available if you plan in advance. You have to imagine that accommodation availability will have improved by next year, though it is expensive.

Edinburgh is in many ways the perfect city.

That said. Cambridge!

Cambridge is cheaper and the terms are very short - plenty of time to work in the holidays.

Summer vac yes (hopefully proper paying internships though!). Xmas and Easter not necessarily.
Many Cambridge colleges have at least some of their accommodation after the first year in houses or flats - the students don't have the hassle of dealing with private landlords but do cater for themselves. DDs second year house did have a cleaner (to our amazement) but I'm sure she could have done it herself (but why the heck would you?) . And she chose to rent privately in the 4th year anyway with some friends because of covid so not sure how true that 'Cambridge doesn't allow that' actually is in practise.

Just because Cambridge make you an offer doesn't mean you're obliged to take it. The terms and workload are intense. It doesn't suit everyone. I studied there and didn't particularly enjoy it, but it did open doors for me later on.
In her shoes I'd visit both cities (again, presumably) and go to offer holder days if they are running any. If, after that, history at Edinburgh is what she wants to do, then doing something she feels passionate about somewhere she is happy would be worth forgoing the advantage of Cambridge on the CV. As a city, Edinburgh beats Cambridge hands down.

Cambridge. Not least because of all the facilities in the city for a classics student. The cast gallery is a fantastic resource.

Also much easier to access London for summer or spring placements.

Longer holidays with tourist jobs for the vacations / seasonal work in the local area.

While you're not supposed to work in term time it is possible. My brother used to 'come home' every Wednesday for dinner. Really he was going back to our old school where he taught an evening class. Got paid pretty well for that and mum did his washing for him lol.

Both are excellent unis so she should go with the one that she thinks she will enjoy most. The only positive you’ve given for Cambridge is proximity to London for law conversion but presumably she doesn’t have to do the conversion in same place as her degree? So from what you’ve said, Edinburgh would be right for her.

I think Cambridge. It will really open doors for her, and also I would personally not encourage her to go to the same place as her sister. It's her choice though!

Law firms are still old fashioned - if she wants to be become a lawyer having the Cambridge name on her CV (assuming she gets a 2.1) will stand her in better stead than Edinburgh.

Yes to the above post about Cambridge name leaving doors open.

I’m going to go against the grain and say Edinburgh.

Uni isn’t just about career prospects afterwards and anyway Edinburgh has a fantastic reputation.

It’s about so much more and it sounds like she’d get so much more out of an Edinburgh further education experience.

1st choice Cambridge back up Edinburgh.

She likely won't get into Cambridge anyway so best not to be too set on it.

Not all Cambridge colleges have cleaners and full catering!

OP's Dd has an offer already for Cambridge

In her shoes I'd visit both cities (again, presumably) and go to offer holder days if they are running any. If, after that, history at Edinburgh is what she wants to do, then doing something she feels passionate about somewhere she is happy would be worth forgoing the advantage of Cambridge on the CV.

I'd agree with that. Edinburgh is also a world class uni.
Although my dd did decide to take up her Cambridge offer (engineering), she thought long and hard about the pros and cons between that and her other favourite. She loved cambridge but I'm sure she would also have loved the other option and it wouldn't have made that much difference to her subsequent prospects. Going to the offer holders events was part of the decision process.

I know people don’t always RTFT but you should at least read the first sentence of the first post 😭

No, conversion will be a separate thing to do after her first degree, so it doesn't matter where she goes now.

I think the choice between the two universities is less important than the fact that she isn't sure she wants to study Classics any more, which is what her Cambridge offer is for. If she goes to Edinburgh she shouldn't have to commit herself to her degree intention until third year, so she can do both History and Classics if she wants and decide between them later.

I know the conversion thing can be elsewhere and I would think for something like law getting Cambridge on the CV somewhere would be a big bonus😀.

certainly, next step offer holders day. Thank you.

Cambridge doesn’t offer law conversion, so she wouldn’t be able to do it there. London is her best bet for law conversion (City or BPP).

OP, I’d suggest she go for Cambridge. Travel from London much easier, accommodation and living costs cheaper in college, lots of opportunities available. She has the rest of her life to live separately and cook for herself, but Oxbridge collegiate life is a unique experience. She can always get a job in the vacations! And being on a long train several times a year is no fun.

haha, yes she is aware and hence the whole conundrum :)

Thank you, this is helpful :)

Also, most Cambridge colleges each have a law society and opportunities to do some networking in that even for non-law students. It’s also possible to change between subjects to do law: it’s rare and normally adds an extra year, but it does happen occasionally and the conversion course takes an extra year anyway.

Agree that bit about law conversion charges options . I didn't know that.