Freshers

Congratulations! You’ve got your place, you’ve got your exam results, and you’re now a member of Girton College. Welcome to the next three (or more) years.

A bit about Girton

Founded in 1869, Girton was the trailblazer for higher education for women. Girton was the first higher education establishment for women in the UK. Women were not awarded degrees until 1947 - an important event in the history of Girton, and of women‟s rights, which is honoured in the graduation feast in the 3rd year of study. The college went mixed sex in 1979, and it is now the very beautiful home of one of the most mixed undergraduate populations in Cambridge with an almost exact 50-50 gender split.

We are around 2½ miles from the town centre, but this means that we are set in about 50 acres of grounds which include all our own sports pitches, gorgeous gardens and our own swimming pool, as well as keeping the tourist-packed centre of town at a safe distance. Also, being a little further from town gives Girton (the third largest college in Cambridge) the fantastic community feeling associated with smaller colleges, and means that we have some of the most active college societies and sports teams in the University.

Welcome to a college with a proud history of inclusiveness, equality and community spirit!

A message from the JCR president:

"Hi everyone, I'm Alex Wessely and am President of the JCR Committee at Girton. The JCR committee are your student representatives, and are here to help and to relay any issues you have to College staff. I'd really encourage you all to run for a JCR committee position at some point during your time at Girton. There are all sorts of roles available, with lots of different levels of responsibilities. It's great fun, you can really affect how life in College runs, and there's plenty of perks as well. In the meantime, I live in A9 and will have JCR office hours throughout Fresher's week, so come and speak to me at anytime you want, to talk about any issues with College life, or just to have a chat.

See you soon"

Alex

When you arrive

Most Freshers will arrive on Saturday 1st October. Try to get to Girton early, preferably before 4pm to give you time to settle in before the evening. If you will be arriving early, or have any difficulties making the move-in day please drop us an email at aw499@cam.ac.uk , so we can get someone to meet you and get you involved in Freshers' Week! When you first get to college, you will be directed towards the Stanley Library where a friendly Freshers' Committee member will show you to your room, and possibly give you a brief tour around college. The
most important thing on any tour will be the Porters' Lodge, where the Porters are always happy to point a lost Fresher in the right direction. If you have any questions and can‟t find a friendly Freshers' Committee member to ask, the Porters will probably know the answer, so get to know them!

After you have unpacked, you can go down to the JCR Common Room where you can meet other Freshers, and where members of the Freshers' Committee will be if you have any questions to ask. There will be tea, coffee and refreshments served for Parents & Guardians in the Great Hall; giving them a chance to rest up after lugging all of your stuff up to college and giving you a chance to mix with other Freshers and get used to the place!

Dinner will be available in the Great Hall from 6-7:30pm – you should be able to pay on your new UniWare card, which you will receive when you arrive, but bring some cash too, just in case. Afterwards, at 8pm there's a chance to meet the Freshers' Committee and the JCR (the college student body) in the Stanley library before either chilling out in the JCR common room or heading down to the bar for more music and meeting new people. The bar only accepts cash so another reason to ensure you have some when you arrive.