Month: December 2021

Applying for Cambridge

For those who are interested in applying, the statistics for admissions can appear daunting (but don’t worry, Think Tutors can help). This year 22,788 students applied to the university, but only 4,245 offers were given. But for those with the intellectual ambition to run the gauntlet, the prize is more than worth it. If you’re a mathematician, you’d be studying in the footsteps of Newton, Ramanujan and Turing. If you’re a scientist, you’d be joining a pantheon that includes Bacon and Darwin, Watson and Crick, Oppenheimer and Hawking. If, like me, you’re more into the arts and humanities, you’d be rubbing shoulders with the legacies of alumni such as John Milton, Lord Byron, John Maynard Keynes and Stephen Fry. Nor is it all dead white men! The university’s alumni include Dame Emma Thompson, Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, renowned zoologist Jane Goodall, and noted author Zadie Smith. Indeed, the university has put a much greater emphasis in recent years on diversifying the admissions process so that there is much wider degree of representation than ever before.

Once admitted, students become a member of a college (in fact, students apply to a specific college and not to the university as a whole). These colleges are a bit like the different houses that comprise Hogwarts in Harry Potter, but they are even more self-contained. Your college is the main hub of your time at university. Indeed, it is your home. College is where you live and eat, study and socialize. Though you may leave for lectures at the faculty or do things like lab work elsewhere (not to mention going to pubs and clubs), your college is the main point of contact within the Cambridge community.

Choosing a Cambridge College

There are thirty-one colleges in Cambridge and each has its own unique history, cultural identity, academic focus, and student experience. Don’t be alarmed by the array of choices, however, as there are no ‘bad’ colleges. Some are large and spacious; others are small and quaint. Some are especially well suited to sports, while others are known for their advanced academic rigour. The best way to find out about them is to visit their websites  (https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges) and watch their admissions videos—or better yet, visit them. Likewise, Think Tutors is always happy to talk things through with you.

My college is/was (you become a member for life) Sidney Sussex. Founded in 1596 by the Countess of Sussex, Sidney is situated in the centre of the city. It’s slightly smaller in size, with roughly 350 undergraduates on about five-to-ten acres of land (including beautiful gardens), which makes it a much closer-knit community. Some colleges are massive by comparison, but that only makes for increased variety.

Cambridge College Life

My favourite parts about life at Sidney were the weekly candle-lit, waiter-served formal dinners, where everyone dresses smart and wears black robes; attending evensong at the stunning, ornate college chapel; and the fun of seeing friends in the college library and the JCR bar. That said, I also deeply enjoyed activities outside of college. While studying for my master’s degree I became active in the Cambridge Union (where internationally renowned figures come to speak) and got involved in the university’s various wine societies. I also greatly enjoyed visiting other colleges’ events and dinners, which is quite easy to do once you’ve made a few friends from outside of your college.

Naturally, it’s not all socialising at school. There is a lot of work to do and the short terms at Cambridge (3 x 8 weeks), coupled with high academic standards result in some very intense periods of study! That said, there is something exhilarating about studying at the pinnacle of higher education and being surrounded by like minds. The course work that you do is highly gratifying and it pushes and expands your mind in so many interesting and unexpected ways.

In short, Cambridge is more than worth the challenge and at Think Tutors we’re well position to provide support and guidance on everything from Cambridge university entry requirement and writing your Cambridge personal statement to even providing personalised tours. Contact us to find out more.

Applying for Oxford and Cambridge

When choosing between the two you’ll find they have a lot in common. Just consider the following:

Oxford was established roughly 930 years ago, while Cambridge was founded 113 years later, populated in part by Oxford faculty and students.

Oxford has thirty-nine colleges, with the oldest continuous college, Balliol, dating back to 1263; whereas Cambridge has thirty-one, with Peterhouse harkening back to 1284.

Oxford has 72 Nobel Prize winning alumni and faculty, among them the physicist Roger Penrose, the economist Joseph Stiglitz, and the author V.S. Naipual. Cambridge, by contrast, has won 121 Nobel Prizes but funnily enough includes amongst their laureates both Joseph Stiglitz and Roger Penrose.

Oxford’s notable alumni include everyone from Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson to Stephen Hawking, Tim Burners-Lee, J.R.R. Tolkien and Mr. Bean! Not that Cambridge lacks by comparison. It boasts such luminaries as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Alan Turing, Zadie Smith and Prince Charles.

From even this cursory survey it’s obvious that Oxford and Cambridge have a lot in common. They likewise share many similarities, which range from beautiful quods and stately courts, gorgeous gardens and meandering rivers, cavernous museums and a mind-boggling array of student clubs and societies (which vary from blind wine tasting and sky diving to fencing and orchestras). There, are however, some important differences that prospective students should keep in mind.

The first of these is size. The city of Oxford is much larger than the ‘city’ of Cambridge, and they both have quite a different ethos. Cambridge has more of a ‘town’ feel, replete with cows grazing in city-centre fields; while Oxford feels both denser and more intense. Neither is good, neither is bad: it’s simply a question of preference.

Second, while both universities have top-ranked departments across every academic discipline, the atmosphere at Oxford tends to bend slightly towards the arts and humanities (no doubt as many prime ministers have attended it). Meanwhile, Cambridge is somewhat more oriented around mathematics and the sciences. That does not mean that you would be out of place studying something like history at Cambridge or biochemistry at Oxford. I studied political thought and intellectual history at Cambridge and never lacked for anything in anyway—but the profile of the arts and humanities is a little more entrenched and outspoken in Oxford. Likewise, I have many friends studying in the sciences at Oxford and there is nowhere else they would rather be.

In total honesty, however, I loved studying at both Oxford and Cambridge. I don’t have a favourite in the traditional sense of the word. I tended to prefer my time in Oxford for the beauty of its libraries (the Rad Cam and Bodleian are stunning) as well as for its pubs; while I favoured the pastoral qualities of Cambridge (especially the river and the College Backs) and the grandeur of attending evensong at Kings College Chapel. But I made amazing friends and incredible memories at both. The quality of my education has likewise been outstanding at each university.

Oxbridge Application

I would recommend that you personally visit each university in order to sample them. To maximize your time, focus on a few different colleges that you would like to see in person and inquire about their visiting hours and admissions events. Unfortunately, both geography and the current pandemic can pose challenges for those visiting from abroad. But do not worry. The team at Think Tutors is well equipped to find innovative and personalised ways to bridge these problems and help guide you through the application process.

Likewise, the next blog in this series is all about studying at Cambridge (followed by one on studying at Oxford).