Why Robinson College?
- Word Salads
- May 12, 2020
- 3 min read
It’s not easy to summarise the wonderfully rewarding three years I spent at Robinson into three simple reasons. So I went around the college asking what people felt were the best things about the college, particularly things they wish they knew more about when they applied.
Apart from “Everyone’s super nice” and a customary mention to the bricks, answers included anything from cheapest pint in Cambridge to our twenty-four-hour library, to the condition of our rooms, our gardens and our convenient location to various sites. I will try to summarise these below.
1) Convenient location
Our easy access to the University Library and the Sidgwick Site makes us well placed for humanities students, whereas our proximity to the West Site and the Centre for Mathematical Sciences make us highly attractive to STEM students too. Many note that the walk to West Site and to central Cambridge are both incredibly scenic and relaxing. Many students have a bike and store them in our safe bike sheds. Our location also gives easy access to various sporting facilities, including the Sports Centre, where we enjoy a discounted gym membership, and the University Athletics Track. However, not being in central Cambridge also means we rarely have tourists in our college.
2) Excellent facilities and lovely staff
Robinson enjoys the highest ratio of bathrooms and balconies to students. A large proportion of our rooms have bathrooms en-suite or shared between two, and even the least expensive rooms are reasonably large. We enjoy the services of a dedicated housekeeping and maintenance team, who make sure everything is as they should be. Since we are a modern college, our beds are comfortable, showerheads of good pressure, walls of decent sound-proofing. Our balconies look out towards our beautiful gardens, which are maintained by our lovely gardeners. (Unlike some other colleges, you can walk, rest and study on our grass. Frisbee and croquet are common. Snowball fights occasionally.) Our food, both at formals and during daily catering, is known to be good across colleges. Weekend brunches are particularly looked forward to. Our catering department cares about ethical sources and providing quality food for a diverse range of dietary requirements. If you prefer to make your own food, there are fridges and hobs in the shared kitchens. In later years, you may live in houses or flats which have access to an oven.
3) Friendly people; positive vibe
More than a place to learn and grow, I have come to love Robinson as a community, where you’d struggle not to find a friendly face. One of the ways we benefit from the college’s design is that a lot of mingling can occur on a daily basis. We enjoy a balance of tradition and pragmatism, which means that we observe the fun elements of the Cambridge essence, such as formals and May Balls, without losing the “chill vibes” we are known for. Our Common Room and Red Brick Cafe (open till 11pm every day) are always brimming with activity. Mario Kart Wii and Pool are among the most popular ways students destress on a daily basis. Bops (college-wide, student-run, themed live-DJ parties) happen weekly, while ceilidhs, Open Mic nights, quizzes and film nights occur on a semi-regular basis. With RCMS concerts, evensongs in the Chapel, excellent music facilities, and our very own Brickhouse Theatre productions in the college auditorium, cultural life is rife. We have active sports teams for all genders in rugby, football, hockey, lacrosse, frisbee, netball, badminton and squash, but most of these are incredibly friendly and non-competitive. We also have active LGBT+, International, Christian and Video Games sub-communities, to name a few. In general, students are very good at looking out for each other, and the student-run Welfare Team, College Nurse and the College Counsellor are there to provide support to anyone who needs it. If a strong community is what you are looking for, this is the right place for you.
This article was written for Robinson College for the University of Cambridge Virtual Open Days 2020. The alternative prospectus 2020 is also available here.
If the reader has any queries or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with access@rcsa.co.uk. Photo credits to Sophie Tran, my lovely college wife.
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