Firstly, check the Colleges fact files on the Cambridge website. These will provide you with a great overview of each college. All colleges at Cambridge offer Medicine. You will then want to consider your age, as some colleges will only accept students over the age of 21. You should also consider your gender, as there are two colleges that will only accept applications from female students. Bear in mind that this does not mean you will have a greater chance of a successful application if you are female and apply to a female-only college, and they are not an ‘easy’ route into the university. You should consider the size of the college, the atmosphere and design of the college – whether it is a newer building or older building, for example. You might also want to research which facilities are available at which colleges.
Colleges that are for mature (over 21) students only are Lucy Cavendish, Wolfson, Hughes Hall, and St Edmunds. Female only undergraduate colleges are Newnham and Murray Edwards – Lucy Cavendish is female only as well.
Cambridge University actively encourages students to not base their decision on location of college, explaining that all colleges are well located in what is a very small city. However, in practice many students will make their decision based on location, and this is understandable. With that in mind, the colleges located outside the city centre are Churchill, Fitzwilliam, Murray Edwards, Selwyn, and Girton. Girton is notably further out of the city centre than any other college – however, it is nonetheless an excellent college and in reality easily reached from anywhere else. Students at Cambridge are famously reliant on their bikes, which will make distances seem much less than they otherwise would.