14th-century architecture and lush gardens mingle with redbrick buildings and less postcard-popular ‘90s constructions. Just off King’s Parade but away from most of the tourists, Pembroke College is a pant-ruiningly attractive place to study. The place has a reputation for academic excellence and a wealth of extracurricular activities. Plays are put on in the grounds and the whole place is oozing with studyish enthusiasm. Students are well integrated with university existence, but things can get a bit insular. Sports and partying blow off steam.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 48:52 |
Founded: 1347 |
| Full-time u’grads: 400 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 294 |
Mature: n/a |
| State:private school: 54:46 |
Disabled: n/a |
| Academic ranking: 10 |
International: 8% |
Bar; Old Cellars theatre (cap 50); concerts in Old Library; student bands in Junior Parlour and New Cellars; bops twice a term; library (60,000 books); music room; 26 computers in a 24-hour lab; all rooms have an internet connection. CofE chapel. Newsletter ('Pembroke St'), Pem arts mag. Pembroke runs a community centre in South London (where students can also stay). Winnie the Pooh Society, plus sackloads of other socs. Especially good for the sporty, with popular rowing. Facilities include sports fields and courts, 24-hour gym; aerobics; athletics, and the oldest bowling green in Europe. All students live in college or college houses; the newest block, Foundress Court, has a Japanese garden for meditative types. Students eat in canteen, with optional formal dinner every night; good food and veggie options; great deli-made sarnies. Limited self-catering for those living in. Night porters, nurse; attack alarms and self-defence classes for women. Equal opportunities, anti-racism, green, LGBT and women’s Officers. Grants and scholarships available. Alternative prospectus online.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
Peter Cook (comedy god); Raymond Dolby (audio inventor); Thomas Gray, Edmund Spenser (poets); Ted Hughes (late poet laureate); Eric Idle (Monty Python funnyman); Clive James (writer, presenter); Jonathan Lynn (writer, director); Bill Oddie (comic and bird-fancier); Pitt the Younger (PM); Tom Sharpe (writer); Chris Smith MP (former Lab); Sir John Sulston (Genome project).