Dear all,

I am new here, I am in the process of applying for the Cambridge LLM 08-09.

I would like to inquire from past and current Cambridge students, which are the best colleges in terms of proximity to lectures and being social?

Socially, generally the grad colleges have a good name. They tend to have decent bars and because everyone is a grad student there's a big pool of people to get to know whereas in a mixed college you tend to end up segregated depending on whether you are a grad or an undergrad. If you decide to go for a grad college I would probably choose Wolfson or Darwin although be warned Wolfson while in a nice area and close to the faculty is quite a bit away from town. Proximity to lectures is sort of another question. Although Darwin, Selwyn, Newnham, Robinson, Queens and Wolfson are nearest to the faculty I have no idea where their accomodation is so you could end up living quite far away. Cambridge is however quite small so really other than Girton and probably Homerton most colleges are near enough to the faculty and Girtons accomodation is in the city centre anyway. As you can see from the other posts here the three colleges that I have recommended for the traditional Cambridge experience are Queens, Jesus and Trinity Hall. In any case no matter what college you end up in I'm sure you will have an amazing year. Best of luck with applying.

Thanks for your reply, its been very helpful.

I am quite interest in Darwin and Woolfson, if it is not to far away from town?

I was wandering, is there an active sports life such as a football team within colleges?

Hello,
The Cambridge University Association Football League (CUAFL) is the governing body of football in the University of Cambridge in England.
Football in Cambridge was being played on Parker's Piece as far back as the 1830s.
Leauge Winners:
1992-1993 Trinity
1993-1994 Anglia University
1994-1995 Downing
1995-1996 Fitzwilliam
1996-1997 Downing
1997-1998 Girton
1998-1999 Fitzwilliam
1999-2000 Jesus
2000-2001 St. Catharine's
2001-2002 Fitzwilliam
2002-2003 St. John's
2003-2004 Girton
2004-2005 Fitzwilliam
2005-2006 Churchill
2006-2007 Churchill
Now Churchill Collage team are one of the most successful clubs.
Really great team!

Cambridge centre.
Darwin College is within walking distance (10 minutes) of the Cambridge bus/coach station in Drummer Street.
( 200 Yards to Pembroke College )

As a grad student, do you think it would be better to be in an only grad college? Is there a big difference with respect to the other colleges?

It depends a lot on what you want. I found that going to a college with both grads and undergrads broadened my Cambridge experience but I was at the young age of the LLM class - 23 - and I also got very involved in college which isn't always possible. Grad colleges tend to be newer and as such often don't have the traditions of the older colleges, on the other hand they tend to have a big group of LLM students which is nice and also a bigger group of people all your own age which is also nice because sometimes the grad group in a mixed college can seem small... I think it is however safe to say that I've heard really positive reviews from people of nearly every college and that you can be happy at any of them.