Cambridge college choice - any advice?

[Bookridden]

DD wants to read geography. She has selected some universities she's keen on, and would like to have a go at applying for Cambridge. She's state school educated from a postcode with very low HE participation. No one from our family has ever attended uni before. DD has 9 As at GCSE and is predicted 3 As at A-level.

Secondly, all the colleges look amazing and basically the same. She's not particularly fussed about location, but would prefer a college with a reasonable intake of other geography students. Any recommendations for someone who thinks they all look fab but doesn't want to put in an open application? Thanks.

This site has all the information that is available, including numbers per college, if you dig around!
www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics

My DS is trying for Cambridge. I know a bit about the system. For a very simple starting point, ask your DD whether she would prefer Old or New, and Big or Small. Those are the two main variables in my opinion! (Then I'm sure that MN folks would suggest some places to consider.)

In particular if you select a year and a course (Geography) at the bottom of the page, leaving "College" blank, and click "Show Graph" you'll get a snapshot of applications, offers, and acceptances. You can hover over the bars to get numbers.

I suggest going to an open day, and wandering around the colleges. In particular try to meet the director of studies (dos). They’ll be leading your education, so if you get on with them, it’s like getting on with a form tutor at school.

The colleges are very similar! A few are further out, which can be annoying. Also, if it’s female-only, I imagine that makes a difference. But I never met a Cambridge grad who didn’t think their college was the best. It’s something you very quickly become loyal too, and will proudly boast its good points.

And finally, don’t stress too much. I applied to Clare College but was accepted by St Catharine’s (where I was very happy). Cambridge has a system called pooling where if the dos thinks you’re good enough to go, but not his/her favourite candidate, they send your application to any college with spaces and they’ll take you. I’m not certain for Geography, but for my subject, I had interviews at two colleges - the one I chose, and one randomly assigned. So when my preferred college couldn’t take me, the second college did. If you’re good enough, you’ll get in, no matter where you apply.

In addition to what @Lucy211 has said, even if you can't make it to an official Open Day, your DD can use the magic words "prospective applicant" and the porters will normally let her in to look round. We did this earlier in the summer and DS instantly felt more at home at one college than the others (although applicants can be re-assigned). Good luck with the whole process!

All the colleges are great and have their own pros (and cons) and most will have a group of geography students. I went from a state school in the Midlands with no history of sending people to Cambridge, applied to Queens and was pooled to Newnham. I wasn’t sure as it was all girls but it was actually fabulous.

Things to consider include:

• Whether you click with the Geography DoS / particular research interests of the college geography staff - the lecturers all swap with other colleges for supervision but it’s nice if you can have some supers in your own college
• How much accommodation there is and how it’s allocated and priced. Does your daughter like the idea of living in college for 3 years? Some colleges run a ballot system where everyone pays the same and has an equal chance for the best rooms - others better rooms are more £££. Living in can be great as means you have access to college facilities, dining room, friends etc
• If she loves a particular hobby whether that exists at a college level - college music and sport is a great way to make friends and less pressured than uni level
• Location - being in the centre vs further out and proximity to facilities

wishing her all the best!

A friend who's very analytical encouraged his state-educated kids to apply to a Oxford colleges with traditionally a lower intake of state-ed students, as they'd be more motivated to accept his kids to improve their stats. They both got in, but of course might have done anywhere. And his kids are v upper middle class and used to hanging out with private school kids, so a posher intake didn't bother them. Probably not a good strategy if the posh kids would be intimidating for your DC, or if the more-private-school colleges are also the hardest to get into generally - so avoid Trinity, probably, but maybe Sidney Sussex or somewhere would be a good shout (get ChatGPT to create a league table of state ed vs private, and another of applicants per place, and see what that tells you).
However, I'd say a good director of studies who's a real advocate for their students, and a decent number of Geographers in your college are the priorities. After that, choose a college that guarantees college-owned accommodation in all years, preferably centrally located and clustered around college. I was at Jesus and it was fab for that.

Just going to cut and paste this here from the Oxbridge thread, where nobody seems to know the answer. It's about Cambridge college choice, so hopefully isn't too much of a hijack:

Is there a current list of Cambridge colleges that are doing in-person rather than online interviews for 2025 entry?

Last year there were only six (Peterhouse, Pembroke, Kings, Trinity, Selwyn, Caius). DS definitely prefers the prospect of in-person and has already discounted Catz and Queens because they're still going to be online, but there are many colleges that he can't currently find info for, so is that available anywhere?

@Rhinoc this page lists the colleges doing in-person interviews https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/after/cambridge-interviews

Is she in going into year 12 or 13? If she is going into year 12 quite a few of the colleges run summer programmes to encourage people like your dd to apply. So that might give her a taste of which college she might like.

I have an idea that Trinity offered some sort of bursary for all state school applicants, but maybe that has stopped.

Also don’t try and play the system and apply for a college she doesn’t like because it looks like fewer people apply. Colleges are quite happy to take everyone from the pool if they think their own applicants aren’t good enough - so you might see that last year there were 15 applicants for 10 places for example and think that’s good odds, when in fact they took 2 of the 15 and the other 8 from the pool.

I went to Cambridge.

Definitely choose a college with a decent number of geography students; it's good to have people who share both your subject and your college, although she will of course make friends in college who study other subjects, and she might make friends with other geography students too.

I went mostly to state school and didn't pay much attention to the stats when applying; went to a college with a higher proportion of private school students, but in hindsight would probably have found more like-minded people in a college with a higher proportion of state school students.

As PPs said, does she have any hobbies or interests - some colleges are particularly good for different sports, for drama, or music (St John's if she's into jazz, for example).

Dd is choosing Pembroke because the porter was nice to her when she asked if she could go and look in the grounds as a prospective student and they’re also (she says) accredited by Coeliac U.K.. 😁. They had a sign up about coeliac U.K. anyway. So she’s hoping they might not poison her if she goes.

@TheHomeEdit my nephew is applying for Trinity to read maths and has been told if he gets in there he’ll get a bursary. I’m not sure if it’s subject dependent but he is a state school pupil. I know my brother said not all colleges offer this so DB is hoping DN gets accepted into Trinity 😁

Trinity (my old college, so I’m biased) is extraordinarily rich and has a wide range of bursaries available for those from less wealthy backgrounds. I’m a private school kid but plenty of my mates at college weren’t and, quite frankly, the people I hung out with couldn’t have cared less (quite rightly!). But it’s also huge so you could get lost in the crowd (which she might or might not like).

@CormorantStrikesBack I went to Pembroke a long time ago and our porters were always very friendly (very very accommodating for the number of times I locked myself out of my room) and the food had a reputation for being particularly good at Pbroke! I was very happy there so I think that your DD has made an excellent choice 😃

Sometimes you do just get a positive vibe for a place that manages to get through the 'omg I'm at CAMBRIDGE!' feeling.

What year is she in? If she is about to go into Y12 sounds like she would be eligible for one of these next summer- https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/summer-schools

I remember consulting a little hard copy alternative prospectus by students…. Can’t remember where I got it from (90s)… but there’s something like it online now - it has info by college to help you get a further feel for each one.
www.cambridgesu.co.uk/access/alternative-prospectus/

As others have written, try not to get too hung up on the "which college?" question. My DD applied to one college because she had attended a course there in y12. She was interviewed by them, but on the day offers came out, she had an offer from a college we'd never even heard of. She wasn't sure, so in February half term, she and I went to have a look around. They were so lovely to both of us that she accepted, got the grades and went in 2017.

She graduated in 2021 and as we were walking for dinner after the ceremony, a scruffy guy on a bike called out to her then screeched to a halt. She introduced us and explained her was the Admissions Tutor for her subject in her college. His comment was "one of the best choices I've picked from the winter pool". Proud mum!

@Malbecfan I totally agree about not getting hung up on a specific college. I ended up at a different college from where I applied and in the third year my college tutor was v chuffed to tell me the original college I'd applied to regretted not taking me. By that stage I completely loved where I'd ended up and the thought of being at my original choice made me shudder! My daughter was also redirected and loves her college (which bizarrely was my college which she refused to apply to as I'd been there!!).

@Bookridden Over the last couple of days I've being doing some analysis of Cambridge colleges and success admissions rates for my god-daughter. Cambridge has a new facility for analysing their admissions data.

Well worth a look - you can't easily download into a spreadsheet though I did with a little bit of perseverance (though not for Geography)
https://tableau.blue.cam.ac.uk/t/InformationHubPublic/views/CambridgeUndergraduateAdmissionsStatistics/Home?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y

You can select for different admissions years, different school types, colleges and courses.

Good luck.

If there is a particular area of geography your daughter is interested in it is useful to see whether it is a specialism of any of the Directors of Studies. Based on my experience they ask about their favourite areas at interview. Good luck.

I have a soft spot for Downing College. It’s a green oasis in the middle of the University.

We missed an open day as my DD only decided to apply after she got her A level results. But we went to an open college day (so nothing about the academics it was purely to visit colleges).
I'd say the colleges are quite different, some more so than others. She had a short list and we planned to go around 4/5 if possible. We went around three. She wasn't concerned about whether others were on her same course, and she chatted to each guide about what they were doing and how they felt about it and the general workload etc.
After she visited Newnham she was sold and said she didn't want to look around any more. So I suggest your DD goes and just gets a 'feel' at a few and see what speaks to her.
Unfortunately my DD did not get an offer. And be warned, my DD had three A stars in hand plus an A star EPQ and very good PS and reference. I thought she was a great match to the college and teaching system but they obviously felt otherwise. So be sure yours has other unis she can be just as enthusiastic about. Mine was devastated and it took some time for her to get over it.

My brother had a great time at Queens' College but he didn't pick a college when applying and left it to chance.

I absolutely loved Pembroke too, but I don't think they do Geography, unless that's changed. It was a while ago.
The other thing is some are a bit further out from the centre but so long as you cycle that's fine.
I don't know anyone that didn't like where they went.

Trinity is large by Cambridge college standards, but tiny compared to your usual Higher Education institute. Large enough to find your group of people within it, but students do mix across colleges. Trinity doesn't have very many Geography students at all, but is very generous with an additional Trinity Maintenance Grant for anyone qualifying for the Cambridge Bursary.

DH went to Cambridge, his mates that were located in the very central colleges found the tourists very irritating.

One thing to realise is that everyone is so unbelievably clever people can go from being the shining star of their school to just a regular student.