Cambridge is a small city that behaves like a large one because of what is in it. The university is not a campus on the edge of town; its colleges are the town, scattered through the centre behind gates you walk past on the way to the supermarket. That produces a specific atmosphere — bookshops, cheap student food, bicycles everywhere, and a population that skews young and international for most of the year.
The scale is the practical argument for studying here. Cambridge is walkable end to end and genuinely cyclable, which is how most people get around; the city is flat and built for it. You are not spending an hour a day on transport, and the money a student in London puts into travel goes somewhere else here. London itself is close enough for day trips, by train from Cambridge station in about an hour, which means you can use the capital without paying to live in it — the trade that decides this city for a lot of students.
What Cambridge gives a language learner that a bigger city does not is repetition. In a city this size you see the same faces, use the same three cafés and are recognised by the people who serve you. That is the condition under which classroom English turns into conversation, and it is much harder to arrange in London or Toronto.
The Backs — the stretch of college lawns and gardens along the river Cam — is the image the city is known for, and punting along it is the standard thing visitors do. Free and genuinely worth the time: the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Botanic Garden and several college chapels. King's College Chapel at Christmas is broadcast internationally and queued for locally.
Two things are worth weighing. Cambridge is calm rather than loud — evenings are pubs, college events and walks along the river more than clubs, which suits some students exactly and sends others to the London train at weekends. And being close to London keeps rents firm, so accommodation is the largest line in the budget here.
Studying here. Topstudy works with four schools in Cambridge. Kaplan Cambridge and LSI Cambridge each offer General English, Semi-Intensive English and Intensive English. St Giles Cambridge offers General English, a General English – Afternoon timetable, and Intensive English — the afternoon option is the one to look at if you want your mornings free. EC Cambridge offers General English and Intensive English. Between the four, every weekly load is available in a city small enough to walk across.
Accommodation. Alongside host families, the schools use purpose-built student residences in and near the centre. Kaplan Cambridge places students in Tripos Court, Study Inn, Student Castle and Nido Cambridge; St Giles Cambridge uses Castle Street and The Lensfield. Because the city is small, the distance between a residence and your school is usually a short walk or a shorter cycle, which removes the calculation that dominates accommodation choice in a larger city. Host families here are often within the same ring, so choosing one costs you less in travel time than it would elsewhere.
Who it suits. Students who learn by being recognised and spoken to rather than by disappearing into a crowd; anyone who wants London within reach but not underfoot; and students who would rather spend their budget on tuition and a good room than on a travelcard.
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