As Lent term gets into full swing, after-lecture chats become a humiliation ritual of listening to everyone discuss their post-graduation plans. And whether you’re succumbing to the panic masters propaganda, feverishly jumping on the graduate job search, or resisting the urge to disappear off to Australia as soon as that diploma hits your hands, one city seems to remain the centre focus for most: London. But how valid is the Cambridge-to-London pipeline, really? And is it time we stop neglecting our other Great British cities?

“Why [do] so many of us consider ending up in a Northern or, God forbid, Scottish city a sub-par destination?”

It goes without saying that Cambridge graduates end up all over the world, and yet there is a distinct pattern of London being the first step. Just think back, not only to the trajectory of your recently graduated friends, but to those who have populated yearbook spreads for generations. It’s been the destination of floaters for decades, and if you just listen to the shroud of actors and writers who hailed from Cambridge in the 90s, they’ll remind you: just follow the tide of people to London, and everything will work out! But it’s not so easy these days, you can’t just pile together into a basement flat and find a job just like that. Nowadays, it’d be four to a bed, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-style, where turning the heating on is treated as a cardinal sin and rationing olive oil is a non-negotiable. Yes, house prices feel unaffordable no matter where you look in Britain right now, and yes, the job market is daunting in every city, but you can’t ignore the many reports shouting that London is one of the most expensive places to live in all of Europe. So there must be something else drawing us there – but what is it?

There seems to me to be an unspoken attitude that comes from the South, one that says leaving the London-sphere for anywhere else (perhaps barring a chic European city or Japan) is a ‘step down’. Of course, this connects to a long history of North-South divides. The feeling of disenfranchisement is nothing new – fuelled by a tumultuous history of class wars, Westminster-centred politics, and engrained cultural pride from both sides. But surely we should be taking a long hard look at why so many of us consider ending up in a Northern or, God forbid Scottish city, a sub-par destination?

Is it unreasonable to question London’s status as the be-all and end-all when most Londoners you meet in Cambridge would die on the hill that it is the place to be? They have a strong argument: I mean, there’s nothing quite like the vibe of a capital city, and the culture and diversity of London has long been the pride of England, but does never being more than 10 minutes from a Blank Street really make it worth the hype?

“Does never being more than 10 minutes from a Blank Street really make it worth the hype?”

I merely implore you to look wider, to seriously consider some of the gems that the UK has to offer. On top of getting you far more bang for your buck, Liverpool boasts a huge friendliness and a unique sense of community, not to mention being less than two hours from the Lake District. Glasgow – with an affordable, if limited, metro system and world class music locations, from the Barrowlands to King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut – is a whopping 20% cheaper to live in than London! What’s more, life in the capital can be incredibly isolating. When it doesn’t live up to the expectations created by hearsay wealthy influencers and TV idealisations, the constant business and intense competition can lead to everyone carrying around their own parcel of pressure, getting lost amongst the bustle of suits and sirens. The don’t-you-dare-disturb-me vibe you get when you make the mistake of smiling at someone on the tube is no joke, and not to mention the dating scene of despair with its commitment-phobia epidemic and soul-destroying Hinge culture.

I am in no way discounting everything London has to offer (I couldn’t, the list is too long to tackle in one article), but attempting to challenge some of the closed-minded attitudes that Cambridge tries to instil in us. Moving to London may not actually be the right choice for you; it might just seem like it as graduation looms. It’s important to remember that the world, and the UK, is bigger than the capital, and to really think about what kind of city suits each of us individually.