University of Cambridge

Tucked up in East Anglia along the M11 and not far from London (one hour north east by train), the University of Cambridge has a very distinct feel about it that separates it from much of the country. Despite a reputation for tradition, Cambridge is very much somewhere you would go to study the cutting edge of your chosen subject. As many will tell you, you’ll often be taught by the professors who wrote the books you’ll be reading.

Cambridge is a collegiate university, meaning that you join a college, which in turn is part of the university. Some are graduate only, others theological in slant, while others are women only, but generally the majority take all comers. The colleges are: Christ's, Churchhill, Clare, Clare Hall, Corpus Christi, Darwin, Downing, Emmanuel, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Gonville and Caius, Homerton, Hughes Hall, Jesus, King's, Lucy cavendish, Magdalene, New Hall, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Queen's, Robinson, St. Catherine's, St. Edmund's, St. John's, Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, Trinity, Trinity Hall, Wolfson.

The list of notable alumni from Cambridge is extensive, and reaches back hundreds of years, but some recent alumni of interest include Prince Charles, comedian Stephen Fry, authors Salman Rushdie and Sebastian Faulks, and the radio presenter Sandi Toksvig.

"I spent my first months at university convinced that I was about to be found out. Everyone else seemed so much more confident, knowledgeable, academically able and in charge of themselves. With the help one night of the Student's Friend (cheap and plentiful alcohol) I discovered that a group of friends I had made thought exactly the same about themselves. Ridiculous! They were so at ease and so self-confident, weren't they? Then another group and another and another, until I realised that we ALL felt the same. Of course we did. Obvious really, but you'd be amazed how many students live in fear and trembling, convinced that everyone else has The Answer. As soon as I realised that we were all equally afraid, equally insecure, I started shyly to attend the odd society meeting and drama audition. It still wasn't until my second term that I started acting and contributing to student newspapers. I suppose I just want to say this: don't ever, ever feel that it's easier for everyone else, that other people have the key that unlocks - some people may be good at presenting confidence and self-assurance, but everyone is marshmallow underneath. So be confident in that if in nothing else.." Stephen Fry, University of Cambridge

"My parents stopped their Rover car on the south carriageway of Hyde Park and screamed at me 'You will get into Cambridge!' If you do not, you will be cut off, abandoned to fate, thrown out into the streets. I'd never seen two people so determined to influence another. Perhaps I knew they were right. Perhaps I was scared. I decided to go to Cambridge. I went up aged 17 in October 1953. They gave me a butler who bought hot water in an earthenware jug in the morning and put it into a bowl so I could wash.' On my first outing an undergraduate came towards me with an apple impaled on the end of his umbrella. 'Why have you got an apple on the end of your umbrella?'' I asked.' 'I'm walking up and down to see how many of you ask that' was the reply.' I thought 'This is the right place for me.'' And I was correct.' I greatly enjoyed it. Even came away with an honours degree in law and economics." Michael Winner, University of Cambridge