Lawned and leafy Jesus College, built on the site of a 12th-century convent, is five minutes walk from King’s Parade. Its chapel (built in 1140) is the oldest University building in Cambridge and its sculpture-dotted lawns – some of which are the burial grounds for the long-dead nuns – are among the University’s most spacious and pleasant. It’s seen as a rather posh, trendy college and combines sporting enthusiasm with a liberal, if not radical, ethos. The bar is the social suction point and is usually full by nightfall.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 55:45 |
Founded: 1496 |
| Full-time u’grads: 489 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 270 |
Mature: n/a |
| State:private school: 57:43 |
Disabled: n/a |
| Academic ranking: 7 |
International: 6% |
Bar, cliquey but well-equipped with TV screen, pool table, games machines; classical concerts in the chapel (250); active choir with largish scholarships; annual May Ball; music practice room. Two libraries (30, 000 books); 26 computers (24-hour); Ethernet in all rooms. CofE chapel. Excellent sports; squash and tennis courts, sports fields (four acres) and pavilion on site; boathouse and successful boatclub. Football, hockey and cricket especially strong. All students can live in (£73–£138 a week); second and third years in desirable converted houses on College perimeter. Formal meals five nights a week; self-catering facilities. Night porter, CCTV and entry-phones keep things secure; nurse; physiotherapist; subsidised rape alarms; women’s and welfare officers. Bursaries, hardship fund and travel grants available.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
S.T. Coleridge (poet); Alistair Cooke (late broadcaster); Thomas Cranmer (former Archbishop of Canterbury); Ted Dexter (cricketer); Prince Edward; Fulke Greville (poet); Lisa Jardine (historian); David Hare (playwright); Geoff Hoon (MP); Nick Hornby (author); Richard Lacey (food safety guru); Thomas Malthus (economist); Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (writer); Roger Scruton (philosopher); Laurence Sterne (‘Tristram Shandy’ author); Raymond Williams (lit crit); Tony Wilson (journalist, Factory Records founder).