Cambridge or Oxford For a Year?

Academic course not relevant at all, just cost of living and partying possibilities?

Oxford's a bit of a bigger town than Cambridge. There are more nightclubs in Oxford than in Cambridge. Both towns are a similar distance to London, though the trains take you to different parts of the city. Really, I don't think there's much between them in anything else that you mention. Both towns are small enough that it's easiest to get around by foot or on bicycle, which is why you'll see so many bicycles in the streets.

I can choose to study for a year in either Cambridge or Oxford.

You are very lucky. These are two of the finest universities in the world, and both are great cities to live in. However Cambridge is more successful at spin-off business than Oxford, creating a cluster of high-tech business around the city which is unmatched by Oxford, even though the latter is a substantially bigger city with an industrial tradition.

Also, how will prices for rent, consumer goods, transportation, etc., compare?

Little difference. Both have a high cost of living by British standards.

trains to London

I would say that Oxford has the better transport offer, though these things can end up depending upon which precise journey it is you particularly need to make. From Oxford, there is a highly competitive market for buses to London, such as exists from no other city in the country. Even though the core journey time may be longer, that can be set off against the potentially more useful places the buses depart and arrive. They also help to discourage the rail company from overcharging you, at least at off-peak times. A new train service by a different route, and operated by a different company, taking about the same journey time as the present service, starts running from a new Oxford Parkway station in October, and will be extended into the main railway station sometime next year. This is bound to increase the level of competition, as well as richness of the offer. Cambridge also has 2 railway services to London by different routes, but one is rather slower than the other one.

If you are going to either Oxford or Cambridge, I would imagine your rental accommodation will come in the form of Halls of Residence at either university. My sister studied at Oxford University and did not move out of Halls for the entire three years, as it seemed they discouraged students from moving into shared houses etc as they wanted them to keep their grades up etc.

From what I remember, her accommodation costs were high, and I'd imagine it's similar at Cambridge.

I would imagine your rental accommodation will come in the form of Halls of Residence at either university

The various colleges have differing ratios of hall accom to students, so varying proportions may have to live out, though never in their first year, and in general they have tended to reduce the living out proportion over time, at least among undergraduates. On the whole, there isn't very much hall accommodation for post-graduate students, so a lot of post-graduate students live out.

There are quite a lot of curious "satellite institutions" in Oxford and Cambridge, of varying strength of connection to the universities, and which tend to be a major source of the presence of overseas students in town. For example some prestigious foreign universities keep an "annex" there, specifically to provide a facility for their own students to have an Oxbridge placement for a period of time, and these vary in the extent to which they provide those students with accommodation, and level of interchange with the university there. There are also some small independent educational institutions which locate themselves in town, just to use the name of the town, completely unconnected to the university, and marketing themselves to foreigners; but the most dubious of those have been closed down by the government because they were basically a mechanism for getting visas under false pretences.

Thank you for the comments and information. 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I'm leaning towards Cambridge, however. Only because of the specific program.

Both are great cities. It doesn't really matter which one you choose, in terms of social life/amenities/rent. Dive in and make the most of it!

unlike the others, my automatic assumption was that you were a language student!

friends at uni who share houses say that each person in a 3 person house will pay 450mth in cambridge. a friend roomed in a house in a village 25 minutes from the centre; private room, ensuite, two daily meals, 650/mth. i suspect oxford will be slightly cheaper. in cambridge, the university owns most of the centre of the city, and green belt land locks in the rest, so housing is in high demand.

most transport is by cycle. learn the road rules. you must legally have front and rear lights on your bike. it's unlikely you'll be fined for not having them, but don't come crying here when someone runs you over at night because you're invisible.