MBA Prep (Accommodation)

I have been offered a membership at Darwin College. However, I could not secure college accommodation (as the college has very limited accommodation for families/couples).

The next step in the process was to search for apartments/flats. The University's Accommodation Services team consists of a group of very helpful people who make every endeavour to help the students find a suitable place to live. They provide a list of accommodation options (University accommodation and private accommodation).

We (Aidah and I) were offered a one-bed room furnished flat in the West of Cambridge (about 2.6 miles from the school) at GBP 665 per month. It is a new flat (by Cambridge standards) that was constructed around 2004. One draw-back is the distance from the City Centre. We never got a chance to see the place before we signed the tenancy agreement (However, I got some pictures of the flat from the current students and it looks quite good).

The other option (especially for people who can go to Cambridge personally and view properties) is private accommodation. Many in my classmates have opted for this option and have found some pretty neat places in the city centre (with the help of estate agents in some cases).

If I were to list an order of preference (a personal choice) it will be
1) College accommodation - some colleges might not have enough flats/rooms to accommodate every student (especially families/couples) and in some cases students might want more privacy and might not opt for college accommodation.
2) University Accommodation - a good option for families/couples. These are a bit more expensive than college accommodation and could be far from the City Centre.
3) Private Accommodation - need to be careful on this one (in terms of finding a good landlady or reputed real estate agent) but could be a good alternative.