College Guide

Christ's

Christ’s is a medium-sized college with around 130 students per year, meaning that you are always bumping into people you know. We have a lot of open garden space hidden in the centre of the busy city and the Fellows’ Garden is a beautiful place to study or relax in and is home to the college beehives and outdoor swimming pool! The two college cats (Finch and Baines) can often be found wandering around college and enjoying the outdoor space too. Christ’s was founded in 1505 and is well known for being the college at which Charles Darwin studied in the 19th century.

Introducing your JCR Access Officer!

Georgia Halliday

Hi, I'm Georgia, a second year studying Psychological and Behavioural sciences from Liverpool and I am Christ's JCR Access Officer. I love being a Christ's representative, giving tours of college, helping with the bridging course and working on University wide open days. I am particularly keen on making sure every student has the information they need when applying to Cambridge, regardless of their background. I am passionate about making sure people from historically underrepresented backgrounds at Cambridge are supported to promote diversity and inclusivity in our outreach work.

Key Facts

~125 UG students per year

~£5200 median yearly rent (2022-23)

Free gym (with a variety of machines but no weights)

Music practice room (equipped with grand piano, drumkit, amplifiers etc...)

Inclusive prayer space available

Vegetarian, Vegan, Halal, Gluten-free meals available daily

Gender expression fund available

Limited accessible accommodation

Q&As

What is your favourite thing about Christ's?

Formal dinner. I really enjoy getting dressed up to eat and spend time with my friends.

Describe your first year accommodation.

Rent can be anywhere from around £1400 to £2400 but you can specify you'd like a cheaper room. For example, in my first year I asked for a cheap room and I got the cheapest type of accommodation. Kitchen facilities can vary in size and amount of people you share with (anywhere from 3 to 12) but they will all consist of hobs, fridge, microwave, toaster, kettle, sink and cupboard space.

What is the food like?

Food in Upper hall (the everyday dining hall) is nice and affordable. They also do themed food nights every so often e.g. Chinese, BBQ.

Does Christ's provide additional funding?

Academic & Extra-Curricular Grants

Flexible Grant Scheme – you are entitled to £1200 over the course of your degree. You can withdraw up to £400 of this per academic year. This grant can be used for many things, including staying extra over vacation, study materials, academic activities, language courses, unpaid internships, as well as extra-curricular activities (e.g. societies).
Long Vacation Residence in College – grant available for any student wishing to stay in college over summer (for any period of time), mainly for unpaid placements or academic study.
Old Members' Sporting Awards – grants varying in amounts for students involved in blue or half-blue sports.
Levy-Plumb Fund – grants for humanities students for research, extra studies like language courses, long vacation residence.
CULP Language Course Support – Students who successfully complete a language course at the University Language Centre may apply to have 50% of the costs reimbursed.

Travel Grants

Long Vacation Grants – over 20 different grants available for travel over summer, varying in eligibility criteria.
Easter Vacation Grants – 5 different grants available for travel over Easter. To qualify, you must study Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Architecture, History of Art, History and Modern Languages, Linguistics, Modern and Medieval Languages, or Theology.

There is also a College Hardship Grant for any student experiencing financial difficulties. The College is very good at supporting students financially in particularly hard times and through awarded bursaries and grants.

These are all in addition to the Cambridge Bursary that is applicable to home students from all Cambridge colleges.

What welfare provision does Christ's offer?

We have JCR welfare officers who offer weekly drop in sessions that are a safe space to take time out of your day if you need someone to anonymously speak to. They also do socials several times a term with activities, drinks and snacks to have a break from work with your friends.

What are the facilities like at Christ's?

The gym has two treadmills; two elliptical trainers (or cross trainers); an exercise bike; various weight resistance machines; a large exercise ball (also called a stability ball or a Pilates ball). Our Yusuf Hamied Theatre is a performance space in College and is used throughout the year for both plays and lectures or large meetings in College.It seats a friendly-sized audience of 119 people in the fixed, tiered seats, leaving a flexible space in front of the stage which can either be used either as performance space or to seat additional audience members. It has up-to-date audio visual equipment. There are around four accessible rooms in college. Two are in New Court and two in second court. In the room ballot process, disabled students needs are considered and get the rooms fitting for their accessibility needs.

What would you change about Christ's?

I think a bigger library with more study spaces. Our library is open 24/7 which is really useful but at certain times it can get quite busy so would be great to have a few more study spaces. Luckily in Cambridge we have access to a lot of libraries and study spaces so this isn't a major issue.

Other resources

JCR website (Undergrad community)

College website