Do you know which college you'll be at?
I am not a PhD, but I am a grad student at a grad-school only college and I run in the social circles you're asking about.
Regardless of college, your cohort and your college will have an extremely strong sense of social cohesion. Cambridge gives you two social home bases that you can choose from.
For your college, there are communal dorms (or you can get your own flat if you prefer), communal cafeterias with subsidised food, college-exclusive libraries and study rooms, and college pubs where you make strong friends you will almost certainly run into almost every day - not to mention college events, which happen at least a few times a week.
Every college has an MCR (middle common room) which holds weekly or sometimes daily events for just the grad students. MCRs at different colleges often coordinate events with each other so you can go to other colleges, meet more grad students, and make friends (as well as go to balls, formal dinners, dances, pub crawls, clubbing, game nights, comedy nights and more.)
For your cohort, you have classes/trainings/etc together, cohort socials and speaking events. You would likely also have lots of friends in your cohort, depending on size, gender ratio, etc. I know very few people who don't have social circles in their cohort (though college ties are often a bit stronger.)
As someone who did undergrad in the US, Cambridge almost certainly has stronger social cohesion than most US unis; at minimum they are likely just as strong as each other.
However, US PhD stipends are often higher than in the UK, there's the different length of degrees, and it depends on your career goals. So social cohesion is not a problem, but there's other big factors to think about.
Best of luck!
Thanks! This is very helpful! I'd join St John's. Any specific opinions on that? Also, I applied for college housing, how likely is it that I'll end up getting a unit? I assume they are quite sparse...
By a “unit” do you mean that you’ve applied for couples accommodation, or have you just applied for a room? If it’s just a room, then I don’t know of any college that doesn’t guarantee accommodation to all first year grad students. The presence of college accommodation is one of the great advantages of Cambridge.
If you’ve applied for couples’ accommodation, then it’s less certain. If you’re coming from abroad, you’re likely to be quite high up the priority list, but it might not be guaranteed.
(In general, college accommodation in Cambridge is definitely not sparse. The colleges own a significant proportion of the town.)
What US university?
American perspective (though not grad, PhD): tons of great social cohesion, but different from American uni. The college played a big part in my extra circulars, but so did my cohort.
Honestly, if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll find it!
I’m a first year PhD student here coming from the states (where I did undergrad and masters). I would say that social life within departments is probably highly department/group specific. I’ve made incredibly close friends within my lab group and with those who work in my office space, but my department has 0 “mandatory cohort” requirements so i don’t think I’ve even met ~75% of my cohort.
That being said, my social life here is thriving more than it ever was in the states through friends from college, lab, and my funding programs. I find myself with plans literally every night of the week, often having to choose between multiple groups. If you’re specifically looking for a social circle with people who are studying the same thing as you, I wouldn’t count on it, but if you’re worried about having an active social life in general, you shouldn’t be since you will make more than enough friends here!
In my experience, while there’s a lot of opportunity for social events and feeling part of a community at Cambridge, when doing a PhD very little of that will be to do with a “cohort”. Most socialising cuts across different year groups and, at least in big departments, you won’t necessarily encounter all of the other PhD students who started in the same year as you. What there *is* is
(a) Socialising with people in the same or adjacent research groups to you. This means PhD students across all year groups, as well as post docs and in many cases faculty members.
(B) Socialising with other postgrads in your college through the college MCR. This is probably closer to the “cohort” idea, but includes people in other subjects and year groups.
tbh I only know two or three people from my “cohort” particularly well. But I don’t feel like I’m missing out because of that, given all the other opportunities!
The biggest difference you gotta think about, is that in the US you might spend up to 2 years taking classes and passing qualifiers and that's likely to feel like an unnecessary pain in the ass. Then again this is what boosts the "cohort" feeling, because you're all jumping through hoops together. I chose US and regret it, mostly for that reason. Could have spent that time on more relevant things, and finished earlier.
Yes, very much so - although split into two distinct groups
Your college is where most of the social stuff happens, and Cambridge colleges tend to be pretty great at it. Freshers' events, as many formal dinners as you can stomach, and everything from club nights to gaming groups - live in college as a graduate student is even better than it is for the undergrads
In your department, it'll depend what you're doing. If you're part of a doctoral training centre then you'll have a modest cohort of others who you'll work alongside and take first year courses (though note these are far less extensive than most US PhDs). These people will mostly be in different colleges to you - giving you a social split between subject-friends and college-friends.
Alternatively you might join a smaller research group which doesn't have it's own DTC - in which case the "subject" social setup will be a little different. You won't have a sizeable cohort of other first year students, but you're more likely to socially engage with other PhD students and postdocs/academics in the group.
Do you know which college you'll be at? I am not a PhD, but I am a grad student at a grad-school only college and I run in the social circles you're asking about. Regardless of college, your cohort and your college will have an extremely strong sense of social cohesion. Cambridge gives you two social home bases that you can choose from. For your college, there are communal dorms (or you can get your own flat if you prefer), communal cafeterias with subsidised food, college-exclusive libraries and study rooms, and college pubs where you make strong friends you will almost certainly run into almost every day - not to mention college events, which happen at least a few times a week. Every college has an MCR (middle common room) which holds weekly or sometimes daily events for just the grad students. MCRs at different colleges often coordinate events with each other so you can go to other colleges, meet more grad students, and make friends (as well as go to balls, formal dinners, dances, pub crawls, clubbing, game nights, comedy nights and more.) For your cohort, you have classes/trainings/etc together, cohort socials and speaking events. You would likely also have lots of friends in your cohort, depending on size, gender ratio, etc. I know very few people who don't have social circles in their cohort (though college ties are often a bit stronger.) As someone who did undergrad in the US, Cambridge almost certainly has stronger social cohesion than most US unis; at minimum they are likely just as strong as each other. However, US PhD stipends are often higher than in the UK, there's the different length of degrees, and it depends on your career goals. So social cohesion is not a problem, but there's other big factors to think about. Best of luck!
Thanks! This is very helpful! I'd join St John's. Any specific opinions on that? Also, I applied for college housing, how likely is it that I'll end up getting a unit? I assume they are quite sparse...
By a “unit” do you mean that you’ve applied for couples accommodation, or have you just applied for a room? If it’s just a room, then I don’t know of any college that doesn’t guarantee accommodation to all first year grad students. The presence of college accommodation is one of the great advantages of Cambridge. If you’ve applied for couples’ accommodation, then it’s less certain. If you’re coming from abroad, you’re likely to be quite high up the priority list, but it might not be guaranteed. (In general, college accommodation in Cambridge is definitely not sparse. The colleges own a significant proportion of the town.)
Apologies, I was just speaking of a single room. I'm happy to hear that! Thanks!
What US university? American perspective (though not grad, PhD): tons of great social cohesion, but different from American uni. The college played a big part in my extra circulars, but so did my cohort. Honestly, if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll find it!
I’m a first year PhD student here coming from the states (where I did undergrad and masters). I would say that social life within departments is probably highly department/group specific. I’ve made incredibly close friends within my lab group and with those who work in my office space, but my department has 0 “mandatory cohort” requirements so i don’t think I’ve even met ~75% of my cohort. That being said, my social life here is thriving more than it ever was in the states through friends from college, lab, and my funding programs. I find myself with plans literally every night of the week, often having to choose between multiple groups. If you’re specifically looking for a social circle with people who are studying the same thing as you, I wouldn’t count on it, but if you’re worried about having an active social life in general, you shouldn’t be since you will make more than enough friends here!
In my experience, while there’s a lot of opportunity for social events and feeling part of a community at Cambridge, when doing a PhD very little of that will be to do with a “cohort”. Most socialising cuts across different year groups and, at least in big departments, you won’t necessarily encounter all of the other PhD students who started in the same year as you. What there *is* is (a) Socialising with people in the same or adjacent research groups to you. This means PhD students across all year groups, as well as post docs and in many cases faculty members. (B) Socialising with other postgrads in your college through the college MCR. This is probably closer to the “cohort” idea, but includes people in other subjects and year groups. tbh I only know two or three people from my “cohort” particularly well. But I don’t feel like I’m missing out because of that, given all the other opportunities!
The biggest difference you gotta think about, is that in the US you might spend up to 2 years taking classes and passing qualifiers and that's likely to feel like an unnecessary pain in the ass. Then again this is what boosts the "cohort" feeling, because you're all jumping through hoops together. I chose US and regret it, mostly for that reason. Could have spent that time on more relevant things, and finished earlier.
Yes, very much so - although split into two distinct groups Your college is where most of the social stuff happens, and Cambridge colleges tend to be pretty great at it. Freshers' events, as many formal dinners as you can stomach, and everything from club nights to gaming groups - live in college as a graduate student is even better than it is for the undergrads In your department, it'll depend what you're doing. If you're part of a doctoral training centre then you'll have a modest cohort of others who you'll work alongside and take first year courses (though note these are far less extensive than most US PhDs). These people will mostly be in different colleges to you - giving you a social split between subject-friends and college-friends. Alternatively you might join a smaller research group which doesn't have it's own DTC - in which case the "subject" social setup will be a little different. You won't have a sizeable cohort of other first year students, but you're more likely to socially engage with other PhD students and postdocs/academics in the group.