How to choose a Cambridge college - factors to consider

Choosing a college is often one of the most confusing and difficult parts of the Cambridge application process. There are a very large number of different colleges at Cambridge, each of them with their own reputations, characteristics, specialities and facilities. There can be big differences between colleges which can make the decision process of choosing a college even more difficult for applicants.


In this post I am going to give a couple of my top tips to consider when choosing a Cambridge college. These are not the only things you should consider when choosing a college at Cambridge but they are a good start.

Big vs small

One of the broad differences between Cambridge colleges is the size of the college. Here I am referring to size in terms of student numbers. The number of students in each year at a college can vary greatly, from under 100 to over 150. Small colleges such as Corpus Christi will have a very different feel to larger colleges such as Trinity. At smaller colleges, you will know a large number, if not all of the other students by name. This creates a different college atmosphere to at larger colleges where you will know a smaller proportion of the students there. I do not think that the size of the college makes that much difference but I would broadly favour larger colleges over smaller ones.

College location

Another key factor to consider when choosing a college is the location of the college. This is important and varies greatly. There are quite a few central colleges which are right in the heart of Cambridge such as King's, Caius and Trinity. These will likely be very near to your lectures which is very convenient. They are also near to all the local Cambridge town shops and amenities which is useful. In contrast, some colleges such as Homerton and Girton are far out from the city centre. These are not as convenient although some people might not mind being far out of the city. If you go to one of these you'll probably end up doing a lot of cycling to get to lectures or if not then you'll end up getting the bus. This is not as convenient and creates a different sort of environment where you have to commute in for lectures then leave to go back to college in comparison to central colleges where you can go in and out of the city in a few minutes very easily. I would say it is definitely preferable to be at a central college to a far out one. However since central colleges are on the whole more popular with applicants, they might be more difficult to get into which you'll need to take into consideration when choosing a college.

How to prepare for a Cambridge interview (Part 3)

If you haven't already, read the Part 1 and Part 2 posts on how to prepare for a Cambridge interview first.

In this post, I'm going to talk about how you can give yourself the edge in preparing for a Cambridge interview. Every year thousands of people do successfully make it through the Cambridge interview although even more are unsuccessful. All these people know what the interview is like, what went well, what didn't, how to could have prepared better and what they wish they'd known prior to the interview.

One of the best things you can do is try to find people you know who've been through a Cambridge interview, either successfully or unsuccessfully and speak to them about how they found it, what it was like and what questions they were asked. They'll be able to give you a first hand explanation of the whole process.

In an ideal situation, you should try to find someone who applied for your subject and in an ideal world, who applied to the same college as you are. This is because they'll be able to give you a real insight into how the specifics of the admissions process at that college for that subject works. It is normally the case that the same people carry out the interviews for a subject at a college every year. It'll usually be the Director of Studies at that college and maybe some other fellows or supervisors at that college who carry out the interview. The Director of Studies is the person who'll be in charge of you academically if you manage to get in.

So if you can find out what it was like for someone else who's been through the interview then you'll know better what to expect. The other thing is that the interviewers will often use a very similar interview format every year so if you can find out what this is, this will help a lot. Some interviewers even reuse the same interview questions so if you do know someone who's had an interview at your chosen college for your subject, try to find out EVERYTHING they were asked at interview. This will help you to know the sorts of things that might be asked and help guide your interview preparation. The exact same questions might not come up, or they might, but either way you'll know the kinds of questions likely to be asked.

For people at good schools with a tradition of sending people to Cambridge, getting in touch with Cambridge students to ask questions will not be a problem. But for people at worse schools, this can be difficult. There is not easy solution to this. You can try to find out if anyone from your school has applied to Cambridge before (successfully or unsuccessfully). If you can't find anyone, you could try contacting college JCRs (college level student unions) and asking to be put in touch with someone who does your subject at that college. The JCRs are student run and will usually be quite helpful so it's worth giving it a try if you don't know anyone.

Overall, it is possible to get in without knowing anyone who's done it before, but it is a lot easier if you can actually speak to students and people who've been through the process successfully and find out how they did it and their advice.

How to choose a college at Cambridge (reader question)

One of the main difficulties people have when applying to Cambridge is in choosing a college. Most universities don't have the college system and it can be quite confusing and difficult to tell the differences between colleges and decide which college to apply to.


In this post I'll be answering a message I recently received asking about how to choose a college:

Hi, I was just looking @ your blog and it looks really good and wondered if you could give me a bit of help about college choice - I'm stuck between 3.
My main +'s is the accomodation as I will be spending alot of time there, and lovely gardens, food - + good supervisors, apparently have fellows within the college is better (PPS), rather than being shipped off to another college you do not have any?
The three are Sidney, Downing and Jesus.
Sidney plainly because the gardens are lovely but the accom is (N) and not en suite which I really want and apparently the food is not good.
Both Jesus and Downing have en suite which is brilliant but jesus says on its website that its the best and all have received the top grades with scholarships. Downing's accom is slightly better and the food too as it rents out a lot, but only has 1 DOS and no fellows which means moving me around, as Jesus has all of them on site - college fellows.


So I'm a bit stuck :/ What would your advice be?

Thank you so much :)

Thanks for the question, this is my advice:

Choosing a college is difficult. It’s good that you’ve managed to narrow it down to 3 already.

Having more fellows in college for your subject is generally better as they’ll probably supervise you. However the main thing you need is for your college to have a director of studies in your subject. You might be supervised by your DoS and just because there are not fellows does not mean you’ll necessarily have to go to other colleges for supervisions as you might be supervised by PhD students in college.

I wouldn’t worry that much about there not being fellows since you might have to be supervised at your department off site anyway and Cambridge is really small so moving around for supervisions is not that much of a big deal. Obviously fellows in college is preferable but doesn’t matter that much.

Regarding food, both Downing and Jesus ranked highly in a student survey of food quality (Sidney weren’t included in the rankings) so they’re both a good bet for good food (click the images below to read the full student survey on food quality at different colleges).



Downing and Jesus both have nice, large grounds as well although they’re mainly grassy.

You mention Jesus might be tough to get into. Looking at how difficult colleges are to get into, I’d have a look at the application statistics for PPS if that’s what you want to apply for. I’ve had a look and over the past 4 years, the average chance of getting into the college you applied for has been:

Jesus: 12%
Downing: 22%
Sidney: 13%

The over chances of getting in are (this includes, say applying to Jesus, getting pooled and getting another offer from a different college):

Jesus: 17%
Downing: 25%
Sidney: 17%

As you can see, you have similar chances statistically of getting into Jesus or Sidney, but significantly higher at Downing. I strongly advise taking admission statistics into account when choosing a college although the “official” advice is not to. How much weighting you give to the statistics would depend on how confident you are of getting in. If you go to a good school or are very confident of getting in you don’t need to worry about statistics as much, however if not (this is the majority of people) then I'd advise thinking about them.

It seems to me that you’re torn between the 3 colleges. They all seem like they’d be a good fit for you. However, since your chances statistically are significantly higher at Downing, I’d recommend going for that one. Ultimately you want to maximise your chances of getting into Cambridge and since you seem to like all 3 colleges similar amounts, I’d go for the one that gives you the best chance of getting in which is Downing - good food, good accommodation, nice grounds and a better chance of getting in.


It's great receiving questions so if you have any, leave a comment below and I'll try to answer them.

How to prepare for a Cambridge interview (Part 2)

If you haven't read it already, read my first post on preparing for a Cambridge interview which covered the first part of the interview which usually involves questions such as "why Cambridge", "why this subject" and so on.

So once you've prepared for all the generic questions I talked about in that post, you can move on to preparing for other things you might be asked about such as your personal statement or A levels.

After the generic introductory questions, there are several different directions that the Cambridge inteview could take. One of the things you might be asked about is your UCAS personal statement so you need to be prepared to talk at length about that and expand on all the things you've mentioned in it. If you've mentioned outside interests, books you've read or parts of your subject that interest you, expect to be asked about those and be prepared to talk about them, give examples and back up your points. I was not asked about my personal statement at all and it seemed like the 2 interviewers hadn't actually read it prior to interview but other people have been asked about theirs sot you need to be prepared to be questioned on it. It should be quite easy to prepare for and if you are asked on it, it shouldn't be too hard to answer the questions if you've prepared well and thought about what you're going to say.

Apart from your personal statement, you might be asked about your A levels such as why you chose them, what you enjoyed about them and so on. They probably won't go into that much depth on your A levels but you might be asked a few things about them. You are unlikely to be asked about your GCSEs unless there's something particularly notable about them (like a really bad grade or they're amazingly good, by which I mean at least about 11 or more A*s, or straight A*s). Otherwise they probably won't ask you about them.

Apart from personal statement, A levels and general questions, the bulk of the interview will probably be based around testing your knowledge and thinking skills. If the subject you've applied for you've already studied, such as maths, then the interviewers will probably give you problems to work though related to that subject. However if you've applied for a new subject like computer science then they might give you general thinking skills problems to work through. This is really what you'll be judged on and what you need to be best prepared for.

You need to have done lots of outside reading around the subject, be up to date on any relevant current developments and news stories related to the subject and most importantly have a very high level of knowledge in your subject. This last point is something I hadn't really realised when I applied and is the most difficult to prepare for. If you are doing the subject you apply for at A level, I'd recommend at least learning the material for the whole A level prior to your interview. The interview will be in December so you need to know the rest of the year's material before the interview which won't have been taught yet. This might seem like a lot of work but if you really want to get into Cambridge you need to do it. It might be possible to get in without it but you'll be chancing it.

In fact I'd also recommend having a look at the first year Cambridge course material in your chosen subject. If you can read through some of this, it will help a lot. Some subjects have the lecture notes available online whereas others you might need to get the course text books and read through those. Doing this will really help to get you up to speed for the interview and give you the best chance of getting in

How to prepare for a Cambridge interview - list of interview questions

The final stage of the Cambridge selection process is the interview. If everything else in your application is up to standard, you'll almost certainly be called for an interview some time in December.

The Cambridge interviews are a crucial part of the selection process. If you've made it to interview, the fate of your selection pretty much hangs on how the interview goes so you need to be very well prepared. At Cambridge, you might have anywhere between 1 and probably 3 interviews, depending on which college you chose to apply to. It's quite likely that you'll have 1 or 2 interviews, each of which will be around half an hour long. There are several things that you might be asked at interview. In this post I'll cover common interview questions but you'll also be asked things to do with A levels, GCSEs, your personal statement and so on.

There are common interview questions that are likely to come up. These include questions such as:
- Why have you chosen to apply to Cambridge?
- Why have you chosen to apply for Natural Sciences/Medicine/English etc. ?
- Why did you chose to apply to this college? (Note on this: this question should not be asked because it disadvantages people who made an open application. However that does not mean it won't be asked. I know for a fact that someone was asked it at Oxford recently and so it could come up at Cambridge as well.)
- Why have you chosen to take a gap year?
- Why have you chosen NOT to do a gap year? (Yes believe it or not they do sometimes ask this)
- What did you do during your gap year?
- Why did you choose those A levels?
- What areas of Maths etc. do you enjoy most?
- What do you do in your spare time (extra curriculars)?
- Do you do any sports/play any musical instruments?
- What experience do you have of the subject you're applying for? (eg. do you have any programming experience for computer science)
- Do you have any work experience in the subject you're applying for? (common for medicine and veterinary medicine)
- What books have you read related to your subject?
- Have you read any news articles related to your subject that interest you?
- How much reading have you done outside of your A level curricula?

These are the most common interview questions. You will very likely be asked a couple of these to kick off the interview. They do not count for much but you don't want to mess up any of the answers before the interview properly gets going. I'd recommend that you had prepared answers to at least all the questions I've given here if you want to maximise your chances of getting in.

In preparing answers, you don't have to have scripted answers for each one, but you do need to have two or three points that you'll cover for each and be able to expand on these if required. For example, if you're asked about your outside reading, you need to have a few books you've read in your subject that you can mention. You might then be asked to elaborate on them, for example by giving your opinion on them, what you found interesting, what you didn't like and so on.

What are Cambridge lectures like?

A lot of people might be wondering what life at Cambridge is actually like. If you don't know anyone at Cambridge and haven't visited for any significant amount of time (at least a couple of days) you probably don't know what it's like. In this post I'll talk a bit about Cambridge lectures. They're quite different to how you're taught for A levels or GCSEs and are the main form of teaching at Cambridge, although you'll also get small group teaching (supervisions) through your college.

For most subjects you'll have lectures during the morning. You usually have 2 or 3 hours of lectures but you might even have 4, for example from 9AM-1PM. Lectures are typically 50 minutes long, they start at 5 past the hour and end at 5 to the hour to give you 10 minutes to get between lectures if needed. Some arts subjects have lectures in the afternoons but this is not common in the sciences. You might have lectures 6 days a week, yes that means including Saturdays. First year natural science students have 9AM lectures on Saturdays and some might end up having 9AM lectures 6 days a week. In second and third year you're less likely to have Saturday lectures and will probably only have them Monday to Friday.

Lecture attendance is not compulsory and not checked at all. There is no register or anything like that. Cambridge literally don't care in the slightest if you go to lectures or not - it's totally up to you and they don't know if you go or not. The lectures are not like classes as they are not at all interactive. No one asks questions or talks to the lecturer. It is very common for the lecturer not to know the name of any of their students, even at the end of the course which is a bit of a shame. Basically you just turn up to lectures, get given some notes, make your own notes on what's said, then leave. You don't learn (or even understand) that much in lectures and you'll have to go over everything again on your own to understand it for the exams.

Overall then, Cambridge lectures are much more of a passive learning experience than the active classroom based approach used in schools. They can be interesting, but require you to go over the material again in your own time an really only provide an introduction to the subject, the rest is left for you to teach yourself.

The UCAS personal statement

The personal statement is a key part of your UCAS application. It will be sent to all the universities to which you apply. It may be more important for the other universities (apart from Cambridge) because they will probably not interview you whereas Cambridge almost certainly will.

The personal statement is approximately one page page long of typed text in which you'll talk about why you want to go to university to study a course and why you should be admitted. It will be read by the people making admissions decisions. When you apply to Cambridge, the amount it is used varies greatly. Sometimes you'll be asked about things you mentioned in your personal statement at interview, although I wasn't and it seemed like they hadn't read it because the interviewers didn't have a copy at interview and didn't ask anything about it. So it might be the case that it's not mentioned at all, although sometimes interviews will focus around things you've said in your personal statement you it needs to be good just in case.

The general structure I followed was:

Interests in the subject I applied for
Other academic interests and achievements
Non academic extra curricular activities
Brief summary referencing the first paragraph

That is, over half of my statement was based on academics as opposed to non academic extra curriculars. This worked for me and is what I'd recommend because you are ultimately applying to read an academic subject at university. Extra curriculars are important, and you should have several that you can mention along with evidence of achievements. For example, sporting achievements such as winning competitions or representing teams are worth mentioning, as are music achievements such as grades, competitions, diplomas and so on. However in the end the main thing you want to show is your interest, ability and achievements that relate to the subject you're applying for. If you've taken A levels early or got particularly good GCSEs you might want to draw attention to them in your statement.

This is easier for some subjects than others. For example, if you've studied a subject at school and are applying for that subject at university, you'll be able to mention outside reading and work you've done in that field as well as achievements you may have through school such as UKMT maths challenges or Olympiads.

There used to be an additional Cambridge statement where you could talk about why you chose that college and college choice but that's since been got rid of. Since your UCAS statement goes to every university you apply do, you can't really talk about college choice here. Anything Cambridge specific should be left out as well.

So the main thing to sell in your personal statement is your interest and ability in the subject you're applying for. Also mention lots of outside interests but focus on what you're applying for as that is predominantly what you'll be judged on.

What GCSE grades do I need?

One thing you might be wondering when you are thinking about applying to Cambridge is what GCSE grades you need to have a chance of getting in. The first thing to say is that good GCSE grades are an important prerequisite for getting into Cambridge, but they are not usually a deciding factor. A level results are much more important but that does not mean GCSE grades don't matter. If you are thinking about applying to Cambridge, you probably already have GCSEs that are good enough to apply. However Cambridge are very unlikely to use GCSEs as a deciding factor when making admissions decisions.

Now onto what exactly "good" GCSEs are. To be seriously considered when applying, for most subjects you want to have at least about 5 A*s at GCSE, with the rest at mostly A grade level. You can get away with the odd worse grade, for example one B is not going to rule you out. I also know of someone who got into Oxford for physics with 3 A*s at GCSE. However the more A*s you have, the better. Medicine is notoriously difficult to get in for and the AVERAGE student has 8 A*s at GCSE, which means you really cannot have much less than this if you want to do medicine or veterinary medicine. Emmanuel only took 2 people out of 30 who they interviewed in 2006 for veterinary medicine and so the competition for these subjects can be fierce.

The grades I've given here (4/5 A*s for most subjects, 8 A*s for medicine) are really just enough to get your application to be considered. If you only just meet these, you'll need to make you application stand out in other respects. If you want your GCSEs to be a big plus, you'll need to be doing better than the average admitted student.

How high your GCSEs can go will largely be determined by your school. If you go to a comprehensive, you'll be doing well to get 8 A*s but if you go to selective state (grammar) or private school you might well be able to do a lot better. For example I know someone who got in for law with 12 A*s and 2 As at GCSE. However I also know of someone who got rejected with 11 A*s and 2 As at GCSE for economics so GCSEs are not really used as a deciding factor.

If you don't have amazing GCSEs, for example no A*s then Cambridge may ask questions as to why this is but so long as you've got several A*s and As, it doesn't make much difference as to whether you've got 6 A*s or 10 A*s. At this point the decision will probably be made more on other factors, such as the interview and personal statement. Different colleges may also give different weightings to GCSEs.

In summary, so long as you can get several A*s and the rest mainly As, you'll have good enough GCSEs to be seriously considered for a place at Cambridge.

College differences

In a previous post I talked about how much college choice mattered when applying to Cambridge. In this post I'll be giving an overview of some of the differences between colleges.

There are 31 colleges at Cambridge from which to choose where to apply. However you can rule out Darwin and Clare Hall as they only admit post graduate students. Three are women only (Murray Edwards, Lucy Cavendish, New Hall) and four are mature students (over 21) only (St Edmund's, Wolfson, Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish).

So there are 23 mainstream colleges to choose from. They vary in many different respects. Firstly is age. The oldest college is Peterhouse which dates from the 13th century whereas newer colleges such as Robinson and Churchill were only founded in the 20th century. The age of a college impacts on the architectural style of the college as well as the accommodation style. Older colleges such as Trinity and King's have far more impressive grounds than newer ones such as Robinson however the accommodation in older buildings can sometimes be worse. You are more likely to be able to get en suite accommodation in Robinson than in some of the older colleges.

The age of the college is also correlated with the size of the college's endowment, that is how rich it is. The wealth of a college impacts its students in several ways. Older colleges tend to be richer than newer colleges. For example St John's and Trinity are the richest colleges. However there are exceptions, for example Queens' is 15th century however is not that rich in comparison to the other old colleges.

Rich colleges can afford to give more money to its students. For example there will be more money available in the form of things like travel grants and book grants. Some colleges such as Trinity will reimburse printing and binding costs for things like dissertations, others such as Robinson will pay for students' languages courses (which cost around £100 for students). Colleges also reward students' good exam results with scholarships and the size of these varies greatly between colleges. For example, Queens' gives £75 to people who get a First in their first year whereas Trinity gives £250 and St John's gives £400. The only problem with choosing to apply to an older, richer college is that many people will want to go there and so it might be difficult to get in.

Colleges also vary in the facilities that they have available to students. For example Jesus has its own astro turf sports pitch, most have gyms (although these are poor quality on the whole), some such as Churchill have squash courts, St John's has its own snooker table, some colleges on the river Cam have their own punts and so on. If you are interested in sports, it is worth checking out what will be available at your chosen college.

The location of a college is another factor to take into consideration. Colleges range from being right in the center of Cambridge, such as King's, to 3 miles out of the city (Girton). Girton and Homerton are far out from the city and since no one in Cambridge drives, it means you'll have to walk, cycle or get the bus every day to lectures, which might be quite a distance. I'd strongly recommend applying to a central college unless you have some reason not too. You may want to pick a college near to your faculty or department buildings, where you'll have lectures. For example, Churchill is particularly popular with computer science applicants, in part due to its close proximity to the William Gates Building where 2nd and 3rd year computer science lectures are held.

Overall, I've given an overview of some of the main differences between colleges here but there are more which you might want to look into such as their reputation for your subject, how easy it is to get in, music, arts and drama opportunities, library facilities and so on.

A levels

In this post I'm going to talk about A level choices and how they affect your chances of getting into Cambridge.

Firstly, when I applied was before the new A* grade had been brought in and so the top A level grade was an A. Back then the standard offer from Cambridge was at least AAA. However, since the new A* grade has come in, offers will normally be at least A*AA and there has so far even been one case of an A*A*A* offer being made but this is not yet commonplace.

If you do get an offer, you've got through the toughest part of the selection process (in most cases) and you'll have from January until the summer to make sure you're up to standard on all your subjects to ensure you meet the offer. There are a few exceptions, mainly maths where you might get a STEP offer which is a LOT tougher than A levels.

With regards to which A levels to pick, Cambridge recommend doing 4 or 5 AS levels and then 3 or 4 full A levels. They say those doing 4 ASs will not be disadvantaged against those doing 5 however I would not agree with this. Overall you want your application to stand out as one of the best and doing more A levels helps with this. Basically 3 A levels is not enough. The average entry qualifications (before the A* grade) to Cambridge was AAAAa (4 As at A level and an A at AS level). This means you should be doing at least 5 ASs and 4 A levels if you want to be at the average entry standard.

If you are able to do more A levels then all the better but once you start going past 4 you need to make sure you're still going to have enough time to do interview preparation. I know multiple people who got in with 5As at A level and one who got 6As at full A level. Doing this many is not necessary but it does help you to stand out.

Doing A levels early also helps to make you stand out. For example doing all of one or even two A levels by the end of Year 12 will show your work ethic and motivation. It will also help to take the pressure off in Year 13 when you need to prepare for the Cambridge interview. I would definitely recommend this if you're able to do it.

I do not know what standard offers will be like now the new A* has come in, but it used to be the case that Cambridge said the standard offer was AAA but they'd do things like making an offer of As in further maths, physics and chemistry which is effectively a AAAA offer as you have to get an A in maths to get an A in further maths. AAAC offers were commonplace if you were doing 4 A levels and AAAEE was commonplace for 5 A levels.

With regards to subject choices, Cambridge provide a list of subjects that are recommended at A level when applying to different courses. For your chosen course, anything that is essential or highly desirable you should definitely be doing at A level if you want any chance of getting in for that subject. Different colleges have different subject requirements which may influence which college you choose.

When picking the remainaing subjects, you want to choose hard, difficult, academic subjects like maths, physics, geography, english literature and so on. You should not be choosing easy subjects like media studies, business studies, theatre studies. These are looked down on by people at Cambridge which you don't want.

In summary then, I'd recommend doing at least 4 full A levels and preferably 5 if you can manage it, all at at least A grade level, in hard subjects that are relevant to your chosen course. If possible, try to complete 1 or 2 full A levels by the end of Year 12.

Does college choice matter?

Cambridge make out that college choice is no big deal and doesn't matter that much. In this post I give my views on whether college choice matters when applying.

When you're filling out the UCAS application forms to apply to Cambridge, you'll need to choose which Cambridge college you want to apply to. If you do get in, your college will be where you live, eat, socialise, have supervisions (small teaching groups) and much more. It is a huge part of your life at Cambridge.

When I was applying, I found choosing a college quite difficult since the information Cambridge provide officially is very generic and not that helpful in differentiating colleges. You can read the official line on selecting a college. It's a good starting point but by no means the best advice on how to choose.

The problem is that the university has to remain impartial with regards to colleges. They cannot say one college is better than another for a subject, even though there are vast differences between colleges.

If you read the offical advice, you'll see:

Don’t agonise too long over choosing a College. They have many more similarities than differences and most students quickly settle in and really enjoy their College, wherever they end up!

This is not completely true. Colleges are HUGELY different and make an enormous difference to your time at Cambridge. If you do get into Cambridge, most of your friends will be in your college, you'll eat, sleep and live there and spend the majority of your time there. Although this does not help with choosing a college, you need to be aware that it is a much bigger decision than the university like to let on.

Since the university has to remain impartial to all colleges, it can be very difficult to tell the difference from the website and prospectus. If you go to a school that sends a lot of people to Cambridge, you'll be able to get the scoop on different colleges but if you don't you might not be able to tell the differences.

On the official advice site you'll see:

How NOT to choose a College

Based on application statistics

* Many applicants think, or are advised, that choosing a College that attracts fewer applications or making an open application will increase their chance of getting an offer. In fact, careful analysis of our admissions statistics shows that, for equally well qualified applicants, College or open application choice does not affect the chance of being offered a place at Cambridge. This is because we have rigorous procedures in place to compare all applicants for each subject before selection decisions are finalised.
* Also, Colleges would rather admit a strong applicant from the pool than a weaker applicant who applied directly to them. Through the pool, strong applicants who’ve been squeezed out by the competition at their original College can be made an offer by another College.

That is they say you shouldn't choose a college based on how many people applied there in previous years for your subject. This advice is not that helpful and the statements below are not completely accurate. They mention "careful analysis" of admission statistics showing that college choice does not make a difference, but give no explanation of the analysis carried out. It also doesn't explain what the "rigorous procedures" are. In fact this is not true because before pooled applicants are made offers, other people already get offers so all applicants are not compared before selection decisions are made.

On the second point, whilst it may be true that colleges prefer to take stronger candidates from the pool than weaker direct applicants, the fact is that colleges must make decisions on their direct applicants before they can see the pool. They do not turn down direct applicants, look at the pool and then go back and make offers to rejected people because the pool was worse than they expected.

So in summary, yes, college choice matters a lot if you care about getting in and your Cambridge experience if you do get in. The main points to remember are that college choice is an EXTREMELY important part of your application. It greatly affects your chances of admission and will determine your complete university experience if you do get in.

In future posts I'll explore the differences between colleges, admission statistics and how to go about choosing a college.