Would you be concerned or is this ok ? 12 undergrads placed with 200 post grads in halls ?

[IsthisOK12]

Can anyone make sense of this ?will it be ok ?

DD has been put into halls 15 mins from her campus but it's with 200 postngrads and I wonder what others think of this ?

The halls themslves have not got good reviews and I wonder if is it a safeguarding risk and or will she have a normal undergraduate first year experinece ?

Would you leave it or try and change it ?

Quite.

When I started university in my first year, I didn't manage to get a hall place of my choice.And I was putting a whole block with primarily third years. They were really nice.

Why would they? Most people don’t stay on at the same uni for postgrad courses! Many will be there full time for one year only, so all starting afresh like your daughter.

Have they put the undergrads in a flat/flats together because ime people from different flats don’t necessarily mix that much. I accept that this may vary depending on how the halls are set up but they’re normally quite separate from each other. So each flat may have a communal area but no communal area for the 200 overall people?

if the postgrads are in halls they are likely new to the area as otherwise they’d be more likely to be in a house share….so no they probably won’t have friendship groups formed already. It’s not unusual for postgrads to move to a different university than their undergraduate.

however many universities do say postgrad accommodation is for overseas students only….manchester uni certainly do. So I suppose there’s a potential for there being 200 Chinese students and a small number of non Chinese students. Which could potentially impact on mixing more than age might.

But most friendships will be made on the specific course, from clubs and societies as well as the individual flat. So still plenty of opportunities to make loads of friends.

18 year olds with over-protective parents have, yes, but there are plenty of tough nuts about too. I despair too.

I remember my uni not having enough halls spaces available and some students were put in shipping containers in the car park and others were in some sort of hostel accommodation on the top floor of a really big pub in town. Like 3 to a room! Was only for about six weeks until they completed a new halls of residence but there was uproar. They all survived.

When I was at Bristol in the early 90s friendships were primarily made on courses and in societies. It’s not a campus university so people are dispersed around the city, and the chances of finding your tribe in your hall or house are small. There are so many places and ways to meet people that where you sleep is pretty irrelevant. The libraries used to be where we all met to study, but we roamed all over the city for things to do, places to meet and ways to socialise. It’s a very going-out city with no town and gown distinction, so we mixed a lot with local people at music venues and drinking places. I lived there for years a few years after graduation and it was still the same then.

People perhaps with different interests but not a risk.

The approach to the university from your DD is worth a try.

@IsthisOK12 I ended up at University as an undergraduate housed with third years.

From a safety point of view I probably had a much safer experience- first years are more likely to be wild, playing drinking games, daring each other. The older students were a bit boring really, settled down, working hard, but perfectly pleasant.

I could understand being worried she might be a bit more bored in this situation, but not more vulnerable really. The older students tend to find the younger ones a little immature for dating, if that's what you are thinking!

I really think you need to step back a bit OP. She’ll socialise where she socialises. She’s 18. Old enough to deal with this herself, she’s an adult. You’re very over involved.

Midly surely it's bigger to find the tribe in halls if everyone is so spread out ?

But surely you need to meet people to roam with ?

@IsthisOK12 i think you need tomrelax

1- I don’t know anyine who made friends with people in theur flat in the first year. People make friends with people in their course,mthe activités tgey do. Much much more rarely linked with their 1st year accommodation

2- the rating is likely to be about the condition of the building and rooms than anything else. And the fact it’s further away from the Uni

3- I have dc who has just finished his master. The other going into his 4th year.
Students are mixing all the time regardless of the age when they’re doing their various activities. Whether it’s sport related or a society etc…. Dc2 is housesharing this year with someone who’s starting his second year. They met through their sport.
You really dint have tge age separation you have at school.

You don’t find your tribe in galls. Seriously, it’s not where she will find ‘her’ people

Lots of people drop out on the first year so it’s worth seeing if she can go on waiting lists to move, as I said my daughter was in the same position and made friends she ended up living with in years 2 and 3 and really struggles with friendships due to shyness.

When I was at uni, my friend had a postgrad in her flat in halls. She socialised with us all the time and we even went to stay at her family home for a night away. Only difference was age (2/3years older) and the fact she had more uni commitments than the rest of us. She didn't have friends already as she had studied her undergrad elsewhere.

As for the friends in halls thing, that didn't happen for me or most people I know. I made one friend in mine who knew said friend I mentioned but very few went out as "flat" groups. It was all via courses or friends of friends etc.

I was put in the international and mature student halls in the 90s. The mature students outnumbered us internationals. Some were undergrad, some were postgraduate. It was werid, I didn't really make friends but everyone was lovely and we all got on ok.

@IsthisOK12

On my first night in halls, before lectures started, I just went out with who ever was around on my floor.

I was in a shared room. Im still in touch with the person I shared with, but none of the others.

She will go to freshers events, meet people, make arrangements, ditto when she starts lectures.
Who you 'roam' with in the first week usually bears little resemblance to who your friends are at the end of 3 years.
My son has friends from his course, football club, gym, Christian union.

I’ve read someone else asking this in another thread.

I agree that the others in halls do not necessarily become your friends.

My DC in Edinburgh only socialised with one member of the eight in his halls flat, she was two years older than him and he went to stay with her in India for a month. Being Scotland many students were 17 (some just turned) when they arrived. He made friends through drama and dance groups not those he lived with or studied alongside.

Going back to my halls, none of us had anything in common at all, not even the same course, 15 of us on our floor. The girl I shared with was as far the opposite as me, in every way. Halls were just a random selection of people, all ages, all courses, all interests.

The place where I did my degree also did teacher training degrees and PGCE's. Consequently there were quite a lot of mature students on the same courses. It made for a better more interesting mix frankly. At 18 I often hung around with people 3, 5, 7 years older. People who'd been out in the world, some single parents returning to education meant it was a wider mix of views. Also I learnt how to skin up properly.

Undergrads and postgraduates mix all the time. They are often their teachers. And they date. And they shack up together. And fall out with each other. And yes some are naive undergrads and some are naive postgrads. They are all adults and it will work itself out one way or another.

(My first serious boyfriend was a postgraduate, 4 years older than me, and we met in our first term. We didn't stay together but we did both survive the ordeal 😁)

Edited to add: she should ask to move if she doesn't get on with her accommodation, but the postgraduate thing is a red herring. Most freshers don't immediately click with those in their halls.

Yes, as I say, on your course or in the societies you join - these mean you have interests in common!

Halls are totally random. Your course and the clubs and societies you join mean you already have a self-selected group of people you have things in common with.

This.

I have 3 graduates. Only one of they became friends with people in their flats. All made their close friends through sports, societies, and / or subject.

Also, as other have said, post grads are unlikely to have ready made friendship groups - they will either have come new themselves to start their Masters or PhD, or, if they have stayed on, then their undergraduate peers will likely have left.

Thanks some really helpful replies.
I am feeling much better about it.

I can't envisage how the uni works at all really as it's all spread out and there is no student uni.
@SlothCat as above the whole uni is spread out 15 mins is good apparently for closeness to her course ?
I've no idea how far it is to anything else.

We went to see a few unis with her and some she went with friends.
Personally I thought bath was a much better fit and set up esp as she said she's worried about making friends !

There seems to be far more scope for that at bath as it's all one campus and all the acmd is on one spot!
So easier to see and rexognise people from the course or club ....

I cannot fathom how she will do this at all in Bristol and she will only have either 3 flatmates or 6 to go to frehses with .