Before You Arrive

PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

About Accommodation

Many of you will be worried about when your accommodation will be booked given other university reserve halls a lot earlier

  • Once you have received your results in the summer and your place has been confirmed, College will send you an email asking you to fill in a form to reserve preferences on the type of room you want and write any additional requirements that mean you require ensuite.

  • Rooms are allocated after the 31st August deadline and will most likely be sent to your Cambridge email address around mid September once you have set it up

  • There are 8 bands in which rooms are priced at, bands 7 and 8 are ensuite which include all of Bull and Gostlin blocks (around 50 rooms)

  • You can find out more about what the rooms look like over on the accommodations page where there is a Google Drive with pictures of accommodation. Freshers are housed in Bull, Gostlin, Sherlock and Hobson.

Get a bank account

Immediately! There are long queues, and accounts can take a few days to get sorted. The following have student accounts:

  • Barclays (35 Sidney St)

  • HSBC (63–64 St Andrews St)

  • Lloyds TSB (95–97 Regent St)

  • NatWest (56 St Andrews St)

Sometimes they don’t allow internationals to open a student account, but you should at least be able to open a basic account with a card, and (for some of the above) without monthly fees. Make sure you know what you have to bring to open an account. You may need a letter from College confirming you’re studying here – if so, ask the porters.

If you’re interested in more ethical ways to bank check out these resources: Guide to banking, How to switch, or go to the Environmental and Ethical page!

Register with a GP (General Practitioner) Surgery

You’ll get free medical treatment on the NHS (National Health Service).

The surgery most students register to is Trumpington Street since it is right in front of the college.

Trumpington Street Medical Practice
56 Trumpington Street
Cambridge
CB2 1RG

Tel: 01223 361611

However others are available that are also close by.

Go Shopping

If you don’t want to struggle with millions of suitcases, buy some things (cutlery, sheets, clothes-horse) when you get here. For bedding and household items, there will be good student sales at John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Tesco or Argos.

For the best value/ more environmentally-friendly gown, see information on the Freshers’ groupchat or ask the Freps how to order them. Alternatively, gowns are available in store or online from the Ryder and Amies.