As a postgraduate, your college plays a different role in your life than for the undergraduates.

In general, your college plays a support and community role – much of the actual teaching happens in your department or at the college where your supervisor is based. I’d generally start my day by visiting the MCR to make a coffee and have a chat, before heading to my department to work. Pembroke’s library is also extremely useful, and had a huge number of books I needed for my politics and international relations papers (and they will always try and order hard to get books for you!).

I chose Pembroke as a postgraduate student for two main reasons. First, so many of its Fellows were engaged in the sort of research I wanted to pursue myself, and there are opportunities to get involved in discussions of their work. The Changing Character of War Centre, for example, is based at Pembroke, which gives students with an interest an opportunity to hear from leaders in the field. The other reason is Pembroke’s strong graduate community – its MCR – I had heard (correctly!) that it was extremely active and welcoming. It has been a great experience.