I have just arrived home from a two-night residential course in the Humanities at Gonville & Caius College at Cambridge University and, I've got to say, I'm impressed by the sheer prestige of the university. The majority of us have some general knowledge of Cambridge's (and Oxford's, let's not forget) reputation, but experiencing it firsthand brought it to a vivid reality for me.
I have visited Cambridge four times in my life (discounting this course), but they have only been day trips either spent in lecture halls or around the city itself. After having the opportunity to live and study at the university for a couple of days -thanks to the generous benefactor, Thomas Young - I found myself struggling to come to terms with the reality of actually studying at an institution like Cambridge.
For starters, you are guaranteed accommodation for the entire duration of your degree which is unusual for many universities in the UK, who normally provide first-year accommodation in halls and then demand that students make their own arrangements for the remainder of their degree. I had the chance to live in first-year undergraduate rooms during my stay and the idea of a grotty student flat couldn't be further from the true experience at Cambridge. All rooms were equipped with a standard single bed, a desk, chair, stationary and SEVEN bookshelves. Needless to say, with an allowance of 30 books a term (which, unlike other universities, is only 8 weeks), they expect you to be doing a lot of reading...
I have visited Cambridge four times in my life (discounting this course), but they have only been day trips either spent in lecture halls or around the city itself. After having the opportunity to live and study at the university for a couple of days -thanks to the generous benefactor, Thomas Young - I found myself struggling to come to terms with the reality of actually studying at an institution like Cambridge.
For starters, you are guaranteed accommodation for the entire duration of your degree which is unusual for many universities in the UK, who normally provide first-year accommodation in halls and then demand that students make their own arrangements for the remainder of their degree. I had the chance to live in first-year undergraduate rooms during my stay and the idea of a grotty student flat couldn't be further from the true experience at Cambridge. All rooms were equipped with a standard single bed, a desk, chair, stationary and SEVEN bookshelves. Needless to say, with an allowance of 30 books a term (which, unlike other universities, is only 8 weeks), they expect you to be doing a lot of reading...
I was told by one of the supervising undergraduates that second-year accommodation is often in college-owned housing, or even villas, which often reside within grand old buildings or, conversely, ultra-modern accommodation depending on what your college owns. According to a third-year History undergraduate, Melissa, there is a rumour that "you could walk from Cambridge to London on the land that Trinity [College] owns". That is the kind of wealth we are talking about when it comes to Cambridge University.
Evidently, there are numerous perks to this. The facilities available to students are simply astounding. For example, the access to books (one of the most basic commodities of a university education) is likely unprecedented anywhere else in the UK. Each college has its own library, and Caius boasts a collection of over 100,000 books and academic journals alone. In addition, each faculty has its own library and - if that were not enough - every student has access to the University Library which holds copies of everything that has ever been published in Britain. In the almost impossible event that you need to purchase a book because neither of these libraries has a copy of it, your college will reimburse you for half the price. And, after visiting the Cambridge University Press bookshop in town, I can tell you that that is a priceless asset when some of the texts you need cost over £100. In fact, Cambridge will not allow any financial matters to become an obstacle for its students at all; if a student suddenly cannot afford their college bill or similar necessary expense, the university will pay for this.
Now on to the food. Every meal I've had for the past two(ish) days has been an absolute banquet and, whilst a current Caius student told me that the normal breakfasts weren't quite the spectacular buffet that we were given, all the meals were generous, filling and rich. Caius is quite a formal college and so it is common for students to eat all meals together in the Great Hall, with a typical three-course dinner in the evenings.
Yes, it's called the Great Hall.
There are even 'Formals' when all students are required to wear formal student gowns to dinner. Cambridge tends to encourage students to opt for the full three-meals-a-day package each term in order to avoid students preparing their own meals which, I'm guessing, they see as some kind of extra stress that could detract from studying. All students are actually forbidden to get a job during term-time for the same reason; the absolute number one priority at all times is studying and even with regards to extra-curricular activity, most students are told upon their arrival at Cambridge that it is advisable to pick only 'one other thing to do'. Any more and it could detract from your work.
Personal testimonies from students have suggested that this could be 'one of those things' that they say that most ignore, however it appeared to me that students were able to try many different things over the course of their degree, but could only really turn their attention to one thing at a time. Time is tight in an 8-week term, after all.
After looking around at all of this, I couldn't help but think how the outside world must initially seem so...uncooperative after a Cambridge degree. With all your meals cooked for you, a constant financial safety net, the available funding to explore whatever you may be interested in and a limitless access to resources, it seems that Cambridge may be the most comfortable student experience (unimaginable stress momentarily discounted).
What do you think? Would an Oxbridge degree environment be perfect for everyone?
Evidently, there are numerous perks to this. The facilities available to students are simply astounding. For example, the access to books (one of the most basic commodities of a university education) is likely unprecedented anywhere else in the UK. Each college has its own library, and Caius boasts a collection of over 100,000 books and academic journals alone. In addition, each faculty has its own library and - if that were not enough - every student has access to the University Library which holds copies of everything that has ever been published in Britain. In the almost impossible event that you need to purchase a book because neither of these libraries has a copy of it, your college will reimburse you for half the price. And, after visiting the Cambridge University Press bookshop in town, I can tell you that that is a priceless asset when some of the texts you need cost over £100. In fact, Cambridge will not allow any financial matters to become an obstacle for its students at all; if a student suddenly cannot afford their college bill or similar necessary expense, the university will pay for this.
Now on to the food. Every meal I've had for the past two(ish) days has been an absolute banquet and, whilst a current Caius student told me that the normal breakfasts weren't quite the spectacular buffet that we were given, all the meals were generous, filling and rich. Caius is quite a formal college and so it is common for students to eat all meals together in the Great Hall, with a typical three-course dinner in the evenings.
Yes, it's called the Great Hall.
There are even 'Formals' when all students are required to wear formal student gowns to dinner. Cambridge tends to encourage students to opt for the full three-meals-a-day package each term in order to avoid students preparing their own meals which, I'm guessing, they see as some kind of extra stress that could detract from studying. All students are actually forbidden to get a job during term-time for the same reason; the absolute number one priority at all times is studying and even with regards to extra-curricular activity, most students are told upon their arrival at Cambridge that it is advisable to pick only 'one other thing to do'. Any more and it could detract from your work.
Personal testimonies from students have suggested that this could be 'one of those things' that they say that most ignore, however it appeared to me that students were able to try many different things over the course of their degree, but could only really turn their attention to one thing at a time. Time is tight in an 8-week term, after all.
After looking around at all of this, I couldn't help but think how the outside world must initially seem so...uncooperative after a Cambridge degree. With all your meals cooked for you, a constant financial safety net, the available funding to explore whatever you may be interested in and a limitless access to resources, it seems that Cambridge may be the most comfortable student experience (unimaginable stress momentarily discounted).
What do you think? Would an Oxbridge degree environment be perfect for everyone?