I have spent the last weeks thinking about accommodation. After exchanging some emails with my College and reading many opinions and discussing forums I realised I should consider other options.
Here are my thoughts on college accommodation:
- Bathroom – 4 people in a house sharing a bathroom is not very nice. From what I heard, some college owned houses have some troubles in having hot water;
- Kitchen – Often too small and badly equipped. Trying to cook things more complex than toasts can be a problem;
- People – I’d probably have to share a house with students from other programmes. Will I have anything in common with them?;
- Rent – To tell you the truth, rents for college accommodation are not that low. For the same rent I can go for private accommodation.
Weighting all these factors I came to the conclusion I’d rather rent a house and share it with some fellow MBAs. At least they will be people I can relate to and of course, the house itself will be much better. Kitchens are often fully equipped and there is always more than one bathroom in a 3 bedroom house.
Even the fact of not being living in college doesn’t change my Cambridge experience as I will be living with other colleagues. Probably, it will be much better because we can invite other colleagues in and have parties or socials diners.
I do believe having a comfortable place to live in is very important. The year will be intensive and hard and being well settled is essential to seize all that Cambridge has to give.
