Fighting our way through 1st year uni (starting Sept 17)

[HSMMaCM]

Continuing the previous thread.

Exams, assessments, essays, etc.

Support, or lack of it.

Will they all get accommodation for next year and can they cook a balanced meal yet.

That's rubbish dingit

OK nobody was hurt and she has not lost any money, but still upsetting.

sendsummer - our experience with our DCs is that supervision in halls of residence is almost non-existent. Whether or not university accommodation works out happily is very largely a function of the group of students with whom you are sharing a flat/house/corridor ie mostly chance. Obviously the larger the group sharing, the more probability of sub-groups forming and conflict arising.

Indeed, the only supervision the DCs have ever mentioned was pest control and fire hazard inspections.

Yesterday my son saw an older person - PhD person who lives in the halls for lower rents and keeps an eye on things, helps people if they call in the middle of the night locked out of a room etc. It seemed a very good set up but I am just seeing it through the prism of children who have been lucky and it's gone well (one finished last exam today lucky thing and that apparently wasn't too bad). Home in about 3 weeks time.

Xenia, yes, a senior resident. But the current proposal is to do away with them and increase central welfare provision.

A pity for UGs, but also a pity for the post graduates, many of whom dont have a lot of money and might not be able to afford to live in Bristol otherwise. I have posted a link to their letter somewhere.

That's true. I am not sure centralised anything every works better than local stuff in most contexts anywhere ever but is often popular with people either wanting to build a power base or be seen to be doing something.

My daughters senior resident was crucial in getting her thorough last term and getting her moved somewhere more suitable.

Xenia, yes, a senior resident. But the current proposal is to do away with them and increase central welfare provision.

DD seems to think they have abandoned that idea now. I hope so, though I am cynical!

@dingit sorry to hear that, what a pain.
Some people are so horrible :-(

DD asked me to open some letters that arrived here for her - looking for her Big Weekend ticket for next weekend. One was that and the other was confirmation of her maintainance loan for next year so that was good to see. Will send both on to her with a little parcel her friend sent here too.

Ladies - I have to confess...I’ve lurking silently behind my keyboard for a very long time, but have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. I never felt that I had much to add to the conversation, but have truly gained an incredible amount of information from this thread from the moment I started reading, which was when someone suggested that I ought to start looking into universities for my DD. So huge thanks to everyone for the insight into this, at times, mindblowingly tricky topic. I am a mother of a Bristol student and have been very lucky in that she has had the greatest first year. She has fallen totally in love with everything to do with her uni and the buzz of the city itself (a much welcomed change from a school in the middle of the most beautiful countryside, in my view, in the middle of the dullest of the dull nowhere, her view). She has found herself a very close inner circle of friends, made numerous other friendships and has thoroughly enjoyed every single night out she has had. And boy has she had a few! Whilst she has had a brilliant year and appears very happy with life, I have, however, become increasingly concerned about the deaths and drugs that keep associated with Bristol and am finding it all rather sad and shocking. I have been lucky to meet some of DD’s uni friends and found them all gorgeous and charming. Being the mother that I am and very much working on the basis that my DD is not always remembering/divulging all possible details relating to more negative matters, my mind has been racing - a lot. Am I so clueless that I don’t see/hear the real story behind the smiles of the youth I’ve come across, do I not understand what’s really going on...Honestly, not being part of my precious DD’s life on a daily basis anymore has ramped up the concerned mother feelings quite a bit. Xenia I was delighted to read about your day yesterday and how you found your visit to your sons’ halls as that is exactly how I have found it to be when I visit DD - lovely hearing it from someone else and makes me think that indeed there are so many positives about Bristol too. Obviously, a lot of work needs to be done by the university and not sure if the new plans re senior residents are the way forward, but it is encouraging that they are taking steps. Incidentally, my DD was one of the guests yesterday and messaged me, with photos, to say what a wonderful occasion the confirmation had been and how much she had enjoyed it, so thank you. And no, I won’t breath a word of this conversation to her so not outing anyone. Very much of the opinion that us mothers need to stick together - otherwise we never find out the real story!

Hi earlgrey, glad you've been enjoying the thread and finding it helpful, as I do too!

And glad to hear of students enjoying Bristol as much as I did when I was there. In my experience it is a great student city :-)

I expect most Uni's have more in common with one another regarding both their opportunities and challenges than they do differences. I'm sure they can all learn a lot from one another too though regarding best practices, so I hope they will do that to see what they can learn and share for everyone's well-being.

Welcome!

DD seems to think they have abandoned that idea now

I think it said in a times article re Bristol last week something to the effect that by popular demand they were going to keep the senior residents. I can't remember which day, and only skim read it.

I was a 'senior resident' (though they didn't call it that, wasn't Bristol) when I was doing my PhD many moons ago - we had to help host a meet&greet at the start, check the flats weren't trashed at the end, and be around in between in case the undergrads needed help, but we were never actually called on to do anything.

Ah, a small world. I think it was lovely that both my twins' sets of friends all turned out, even though exams are going on, for probably the most bizarre occasion compard to most student party events - a confirmation - hardly a fun party and there was even incense thrown in. All their friends made such an effort and were so positive about it all. Many thanks to your daughter for coming.

You are right that there are probably things we don't see butwe are lucky that ours seem to be happy and doing okay. They also have an older sister who had to redo her first year exams in the summer holidays so even there are resits they know it's not the end of the world although it does spoil the summer a bit so I hope they don't have to do them.

there was even incense thrown in

Ah, so they did get some psychoactive substance. (there was quite a lot of discussion of the legality of church incense in relation to the rather idiotic 2016 Psychoactive Substances act)

Thanks Juggling - she completely adores the place and I’m secretly envious of all the fun times she has. Pleased for her, obviously, but wish I was still as young and energetic.

Errol - thank you. Keeping the senior residents would be a great idea. My DD found hers very nice to have around at the beginning when settling in and thinks it is a shame for the new set is students should they all go.

Xenia - we indeed are lucky and not knowing every detail of what they get up to is perhaps bliss...She genuinely really did enjoy yesterday and is much used to incense filled spaces.

These youngsters do surprise me sometimes....not long ago DD told me how she was listening to, ahem, Faure’s Requiem in her room and started singing along with not one, but two of her friends. That made me sit up for sure. Not quite the music I thought would be blaring out of her room. Normality restored a moment later with a good dose of D&B though.

The Senior Resident (aka PhD student with subsidised rent) is probably a good solution when the issues faced by students in their accommodation are minor. But no PhD student can be expected to be law enforcement officers or to solve issues arising from heavy drug use, consistent anti-social behavior etc.

While there are obviously lots of charming and well-behaved students who find one another, the fact that there are clearly students with major behavioural issues that impact the right to enjoyment of their place of abode of other students needs to be tackled. It is not for the victims to be "treated" by mental health professionals. It is for the perpetrators to be required to toe the line.

Agreed user. DD has a 3rd year living rent free looking after them. He's great for day to day admin, but made it clear he would report anything major to someone in student services / security.

I think senior residents are a good idea, the right person can be a friendly presence and may just help someone feeling isolated, overwhelmed, or stressed. Central support services are important too, such as access to counsellors, but it depends more on people asking for the support.

I’m sure Senior Residents are a good idea. Better law enforcement, so there were fewer major issues to deal with, would be even better. When I was at university we had “morality fines” and cleaners in halls of residence. I’m not suggesting we need to revert to that, but we certainly felt that our behaviour was being monitored by the authorities, which always keeps the worst issues in check.

Expecting up to 12 random 18 year olds to self-manage in a group flat is totally unrealistic. If it works, it’s luck.

DD's understanding is that the University still plans to withdraw wardens, but will retain some (all?) senior residents. I believe it is essential to have some presence on site, even if it is just a familiar and approachable face who can encourage and direct students to trained central help.

It is useful to remember that most students will be having a great time. But perhaps the contrast then makes it harder for others, who feel they are failing. Which is sort of why I have posted.

Unravelling DDs problems of last term, the biggest single thing the University could do is monitor attendence. The Bristol Tab has also picked this up as a real problem. If a student is not attending it is likely that they are either in trouble or causing trouble. After a month or so a non-attender in the latter category, even if they are registered, receiving a student loan and living in student accomodation, surely cannot be considered a student. So why should 18 year olds who have come, first and foremost, to study, be expected to share unsupervised University accomodation, with a non-studying, non working person. And indeed I wonder where the University might stand if a student felt their well-being or welfare had been put at risk.

But all behind DD now. Exams are in less than two weeks. She has found someone to revise with, which is good as there is a lot to know. She gets her new flat on the same day as she has to leave her old, and just after she finishes her deferred placements. So her current flatmates are lucky as she has offered to clean. She then plans to hang out in Bristol for a bit with friends visiting. It is a lovely city.

The thing about monitoring attendance is that it falls to university departments to do that. In my time at Bristol one of my departments monitored attendance and the other did not. Departments do not necessarily have any resources to devote to monitoring attendance, which is quite a complex task. I’m not at all sure it would be cheaper or more efficient than more supervision of accommodation.

Its much easier now. Building passes are electronic so they know who is there. Some departments just dont seem to follow up.

The bigger concern should be students who are so depressed that they dont get out of bed so dont attend.

I wonder if there's a difference between courses which are, by their nature, 'high contact hours' or not? Or unis which have a lot of tutorials ... I don't think it would be possible for DD to not attend (and engage in) her supervisions without it raising concern.