You only need to be a 6/10 to be Fit For Cambridge
Just as long as you can hold a conversation
It’s the phenomenon that sets Cambridge apart from all other universities. It’s not the ridiculous amount of bikes, awe inspiring architecture or even the intimidating intelligence of tens of thousands of academically enlightened students.
Fit For Cambridge, otherwise known as FFC, means the semi-cool kids at school, the six out of 10s are now strictly a nine. The most confident, most normal students are the peak of beauty and develop a cult following for being the fit ones.
If you’re blonde, take care of your hair and carry yourself with an ounce of self-confidence into social situations, you’re Fit For Cambridge.
As a boy, if you dress like you’re going for an internship at an up-market creative design firm, suede brogues, leather bag and turned up jeans, shirt and blazer, rolling around on a brightly coloured bicycle with a basket, you’re Fit For Cambridge.
The girls can be more quirky, not constrained by the limits of a Gant window display. They’ll have more of a fashion sense in other words.
Annie Jenney, a 19-year-old second year, fits the Fit For Cambridge mould. She admits she dresses “a bit like a chav” – in a crop top, leggings or jeans, trainers and rucksacks, topped off with a vintage jacket and maybe some hoop earrings.
“Back in London all my friends dress like me, but here all my friends think I’m out there.
“It’s definitely a thing, Cambridge standard hot. Someone who would be a six in London is a nine in Cambridge.
“In the day in London while you get a car beep, here you might just get someone ringing the bell of their bike at you.
“In Cambridge when I go out clubbing I definitely get more attention. Often it’s not difficult to pull in Cambridge, but if you’re hotter they want to stay in contact with you. If you’re not FFC people will ditch you quicker.”
Fit people garner fit mates, according to Annie, particularly if you are normal and know how to make friends. And so being involved in a sport or the Union immediately puts you up the scale.
They catch the eye of every student. They’re more sought after than hearing the words “well done” from your tyrannical supervisor.
James Wells, a second year, said: “If you’re slightly weird, a bit more street or just unusual, you typify the Cambridge aesthetic.
“Someone in my lectures always wears American Football clothes, so everyone naturally thinks he’s cool when really it’s just bizarre.”
Another Cambridge student told us their friend has developed a cult following for fitting this mould. Partly because he’s good at football and uses new age words like “mad” and “rogue”.
In Cambridge, there is a man who sits in a bin almost every day. He plays the guitar from that bin and he’s one of the coolest things there. There’s also a clock with a giant locust on top, with lights that tell you the time. In a place where the random stuff you laughed at aged 14 typifies cool, it’s no wonder being able to hold a conversation with something other than a brick wall makes you fit.