Why apply to Homerton

Homerton is bustling and busy, with exciting and interesting activities always going on.

If you join us you will find you make friends for life; with neighbours on your corridor, with people in the same subject, with those who share the same interests and have joined the same societies, and with those you just happened to sit next to at a Formal Hall- that's what a College is.

Our student body is one of the most diverse in Cambridge and we are the largest college in terms of undergraduate numbers. Every year Homerton welcomes academically able students, whatever their background might be. We have students here from every part of the UK, as well as from a wide range of countries from Europe and from further afield.

We are delighted by the diversity of our students. Homerton is a friendly, open college, where students quickly settle in and begin to think of Homerton as 'home'.

 

Why apply to Homerton

Accommodation

Our student rooms are right here on site at Homerton. Most undergraduates live in either the two purpose-built student halls, West House and South Court, or in the oldest Victorian part of the College. All of these offer individual study bedrooms with en-suite facilities and access to a shared kitchen with a hob, microwave, toaster and fridge.

After the first year we have a few rooms with shared bathrooms that are a bit cheater but all incoming students are guaranteed a room in West House. Rooms are designed to work in as well as sleep so there is a desk, space for books and, of course, everything you need to get online. They are safe places with their own card key system for getting into your hall. 

Homerton also offers good value for money- there are no extra charges for high speed internet connection, cleaning, bedding and towels. Even access to the gym is included in your room price! We offer rooms for term time, without charging when students are away back home. This makes Homerton and Cambridge University a relatively inexpensive place to live for students. 

The Porters lodge is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and there is always someone close in contact in case of worry. Our Porters are willing and able to help in any way they can. 

Eating and Socialising

Colleges are communities and one vital part of this is eating together. Every day there is a cafeteria lunch and dinner with a diverse choice of food, and there's always breakfast in the Buttery, and a weekend brunch for late risers.

Once a week we have 'formal halls' in which dinner is served by candlelight. Fellows come dressed up in their academic gowns, but this is optional for you. Sometimes Tutors take the opportunity to invite their new students to 'Formals' to meet them and each other. We eat in the splendid Dining Hall, an open and generous building completed in 2022. However, once a year we use our Great Hall for dining as part of our legendary 'Harry Potter Formals', a grand vaulted Gothic space seen at its best when real owls fly over the heads of delighted diners.

We also have a buttery (for breakfast, snacks, hot drinks, sandwiches and cakes etc.), a Bar, where we host events like pub quizzes, casino nights and comedy sessions, and a JCR (Junior Common Room) where you will find our College Student's Union (as well as Sky TV to show all the major sports events).

Our students have a real say in setting the costs of accommodation, eating and socialising, working with us to keep the standards high and the costs low. 

Facilities

Homerton Library is a bight, spacious, calm place to work. The building is modern and elegant with access to all the material required for most subjects in the first years of your course (the rest will be found in Faculty libraries or in the University Library- to both of which our students have full access). We have a good and ever-growing collection of books with some very special collections, most notably a collection of children's literature of national importance- and regular use. The Library staff are happy to answer your questions about finding your way around reading lists and research requirements from your supervisors. The Library has good IT provision and is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

We also have an IT suite which has most of the software that you will need for work (and is the same as that used in Faculties and Departments). You can also plug in or use Wi-Fi from your own room and with your own laptop. The IT department are always ready to help you with technical problems.

If it's health and fitness you are into we have a well-equipped gym onsite, which is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, as well as a dance studio. Homerton also has sports fields on campus and has recently developed a brand new site, close to College, with all-weather pitches.

Clubs and Societies

Sports

Homerton has active rowing, rugby, football, and hockey clubs (all for both men and women), and burgeoning tennis and lacrosse teams, too. We also do pretty well at Ultimate Frisbee and Quidditch.

Drama

Homerton has a strong drama scene and has its own drama society, the Homerton Amateur Theatre Society. HATS put on shows both in Homerton and in town, and have even taken plays up to the Edinburgh Fringe. And of course, Homerton students are able to perform in University drama societies, and are extremely active in Footlights (the comedy society), and in the Amateur Dramatic Club (the ADC). This long standing University-wide club has its own theatre in the centre of town, and you will nearly always find a Homerton student in one of the productions there.

Music

Homerton has a variety of music societies to suit every taste. The Charter Choice, created in 2010, is the main College Choir. It has developed a very good and rising reputation in a Cambridge filled with excellent college choices. We also have a non-audition choir. The College has an un-audition orchestra, a jazz band (HoJO) that regularly plays in the bar after Formal Halls, and the steel pan band 'Absolute Pandemonium'.

Support and Welfare

All incoming students are allocated a Tutor who is there as a friend and a helping hand if you need it in all kinds of pastoral maters. They are usually chosen from a different academic background and, if possible, are a different gender from your DoS, so that you always feel you have got somebody you can approach whatever the problem. Homerton also has a Dean (in charge of making sure rules are kept), a trained counsellor, and an on-site Student Health Advisor (qualified nurse).

Help is also available through the Homerton union of Students, whose welfare offices are often the first port of call for troubled students. The union also organises a special mentoring system that starts before you even arrive at Cambridge. You will be allocated student 'parents' who will welcome you to the college, show you around, and give you advice. 

All Colleges offer academic and personal support to their students. At Homerton we like to think we do it very well.

Life after Homerton

A unique offering by Homerton is our Changemakers programme, helping you to connect who you are with what you do. The programme will equip you with the intellectual force, energy and edge to become an ambassador of change. Changemakers events are open to all students at Homerton. There's no minimum requirement and no assessment.

Homerton also has regular events for former students to come back to, including a very popular dinner the year after you graduate. While you have been a student here, your Tutors will have encouraged you to visit and make use of the University's Careers Service. Homerton students overall have a superb record: 96% are employed or in further study within 6 months of graduating. Getting a degree from Cambridge pays off not just in terms of starting salary, but in terms of real choice about which career you want. 

Find out more

How to apply

How to apply

Subjects and Courses

Subjects and Courses

Access to Higher Education

Access to Higher Education

Open days, events and visits

Open days, events and visits

Admissions Events

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