If you put a gun to my head, for undergraduates, I would guess that about 5% of students regret going to Oxbridge. Oxbridge is an extremely intense academic experience. Lots of people think that they want it in the abstract, and most of them are perfectly happy. But a small but statistically significant chunk get there, realise that they may have bitten off more than they can chew, and have a pretty miserable experience, and/or drop out. Many of them end up getting stigmatised with a low degree from Oxbridge whereas if they had attended another university with a more measured pace, they might have been a high flyer there. It is one of the (many) reasons why admissions tutors take so much care to try and scrutinise applicants for people who they think are likely to thrive in the environment. But sadly no application process is perfect.

Many years ago I got a PhD offer to study biomedical sciences under a very renowned prof (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) at Cambridge. I was at that time completing my MSc from the U of Toronto in Canada and was also given an opportunity to further on my PhD there.

Initially, the department I applied to at Cambridge convinced me that I probably would get a good package of scholarships likely from the Gate Trust plus some assistantship supplemented as a stipend from my supervisor. So as an international, non-EU student, I would likely be able to fund my very high tuition fee and living expenses there, like what I received in Toronto.

But when I received the offer letter in the summer, I suddenly found out the funding given to me could barely pay off my tuition fee due to a sudden fee increment for which the department and my supervisor forgot to put me in the waiver programme which could lift off the extra fee imposed to non-EU students.

When contacting my professor again to ask for a higher stipend, he was hesitating to do so but he promised he would increase my stipend if he was able to secure another operational grant expected to come in next year. I was told by my colleagues there’s no way a research student should use their own resources to fund their PhD studies which itself makes really no sense as apparently, we are already in a wage loss venture having to take up the graduate program subsisting on minimal allowances.

I ended up declining Cambridge’s offer and continuing my PhD in Toronto on a full scholarship, but in a different field. I still cannot fathom why the UK universities, as well known as Cambridge, still are not able to give full scholarships to their research students like most other good universities in the world do.

The worst part about Cambridge is that they don’t care about your mental health. If I could go back in time I would rather have gone to any other university.

Cambridge was not the best decision for me. There are some positive aspects like your CV, money etc but in reality, Cambridge is crazy expensive. If you are a foreigner then you will see a different treatment.

I was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1988-1991, where I read Law.

I have mixed feelings about the experience.

The university is overwhelming impressive: its architecture, libraries and museums are awe-inspiring. (Though, oddly, to me the architecture was somewhat disappointing; I went to a particularly beautiful high school to which I had a strong emotional attachment.)

The quality of the teaching varied but some of it was outstandingly good. We were taught in pairs and there were times when I felt strongly that I was in the presence of greatness. (My constitutional law tutor, for example, occasionally missed our meetings because he was away drafting constitutions for emerging countries.)

The students often didn’t seem particularly brilliant themselves, though some were clearly considerably above the rest of us.

Walking across Great Court at night, wearing a suit and gown, to attend Formal Hall (a served three course dinner) was an other-worldly experience. Once you passed through the gates, it was like going back in time. I felt hugely privileged and the feeling of awe at the whole thing didn’t wear off for about a year. “I’m attending the same college as Newton and Byron!” I thought. Wow!

My peer group did develop a ludicrous sense of our own importance: we were undergraduates at Cambridge and were, therefore, absolutely at the centre of things. Presidents and prime ministers would come and speak to us. We were all, therefore, clearly destined for greatness. (As it turned out, we were not, of course!)

It was a difficult place to be psychologically. At high school we had all been top of our class. We had been the brilliant ones that the teachers all loved and who had won all the prizes. That status was lost at Cambridge: most of us turned out to be fairly normal academically and only the truly brilliant excelled. As a result every sphere of activity was hypercompetitive: we were desperate to be the best at something.

Socially it was difficult, too. I went to a private high school, but not an A list one. I didn’t know how to be friends with people who hadn’t been privately educated and the ones who had been, but at the A list schools, didn’t want to associate with people from lowly schools like mine. There was a lot of snobbery.

Having a degree from Cambridge has been invaluable in my career. When people find out, they immediately respect you and think you’re clever. It has undoubtedly helped me get jobs that I probably wouldn’t even have got an interview for otherwise. (And I’ve had some pretty good jobs, though I now work for myself.)

Yet I also regard going to Cambridge as the biggest mistake of my life. I wasn’t happy there. I read the wrong subject at the wrong university. And I did so because I was a stuck-up teenager who was desperate for the “best”. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I’d listened to my teacher at school, who begged me not to go. He was right, I’m pretty sure of that.

Hi everyone- I’m a postgraduate student that studied in both Cambridge and Oxford. And cannot seem to choose between Oxford or Cambridge for my PhD.

Having said that, I also don’t know if I want to work as an academic after graduating. If I decide to pursue a career in consulting then I believe that Oxford is probably better for me. When I was in my Bsc we received no employability support at Cambridge. I had no idea for example of the amount of options available. However, the Cambridge network is OK probably not as good as the one I developed at Oxford.

However, Cambridge is known to put a lot of emphasis on the social life of students and always cares about how you spend your free time at University. The student union offers more than 200 clubs/ societies based on any hobbies and interests students have and clubs for all kinds of sports that a student might want to take up. However, with the covid, the union decided to close all campus events.

During my master’s, I spent a lot of time training as part of the University’s rowing team. I had a fantastic time there so if you are into sports, that is something you should consider.