Which college(s) should we visit at Durham Uni open day tomorrow?

[Mykingdomforanickname]

Off to open day at Durham University with DS tomorrow. DS does not know yet which university will be first choice and obviously we don't know yet which universities will want him! But working on the basis that he might end up at Durham, it seems sensible to look at colleges that he might end up applying to if he does decide he'd like to go there. (I believe tours of St Hild and St Bede are already fully booked, so can rule that one out for visit tomorrow.) If he does go to Durham, DS quite fancies the idea of a college with older buildings rather than all very modern! Beyond that he doesn't have strong views. Anyone have any recommendations? If he does go there, it will be to do a modern languages degree. In terms of interests, DS is quite an "all rounder" - likes playing guitar, acting in school plays, sports (on casual basis). Anyone know Durham Uni and have any thoughts?

Great place albeit I was there more years ago than I'll admit to.........

The hill colleges are closer to the science facilities and are newer so I'd go for a town college or HB. Most of the colleges will play sports and do a range of clubs.

Enjoy the trip!

Thanks GU24Mum. Coleoptera, if we find ourselves at Josephine Butler College, I'll report back!

I honestly wouldn't bother about looking at colleges, stick to the subject facilities.
If you apply to Durham and are accepted you are by no means guaranteed to be at the college you have asked for. The college system is not the same as Ox / Cambridge.
Colleges are allocated in late spring after you have accepted the offer.

Hoozz (or anyone else), do you have an idea of what proportion of students get the college they have asked for? Are some colleges much more popular than others with the result that if you ask for College A your are much less likely to get it than if you ask for College B?

For traditional buildings you need to look on the Bailey - Castle, Hatfield, St Chad's, St John's and Cuth's.

Loads of activities at every college

Be warned though - going to Castle does not automatically equal living in a castle. Bailey colleges have more twin rooms than the Hill colleges do.

Just because Hild/Bede tours are booked doesn't mean you can't go for a look.

Colleges are not involved in admissions. You can express a preference on the UCAS form but you are not automatically guaranteed your preference.

DH is working the open day tomorrow and is the source of my info

Proportion wise - about 40% who express a preference get Castle/Chad's. 50% Mary's, 60% John's. At the other end, 95% Aidan's/Van Mildert/Trev's/Grey etc.

That's only this year though

Van Mildert and Hild/Bede also have no shared rooms. Nor do Stephenson, Snow or Mary's.

Cuths is a great college.
Collingwood is, I think, one of the best. Very cosmopolitan and great food when I was there.
Van Mildert was fun, as was Aidan's.

Bailey colleges are a bit more posh/rah. Depends what you like!

I went to one of the Hill colleges and loved it, but the buildings were more modern - well, modern-ish! The Bailey colleges would have been much handier for my lectures, and I think that would be the same for modern languages. The only thing I would say, and this is a bit of a sweeping statement, is that in my day (20 years ago!) the Bailey colleges had many more students from a private school background, and the Hill colleges tended to have more state school students. Don't know if that's the same now though!

DS didn't like Josephine Butler - felt it was all a bit too modern, the rooms rather cramped, and seemed too much of a 'party college' for him!
I agree with other posters - very few applicants seem to get their first choice of college - less than 50% of DS's friends. He was offered St. Aidan's which is 40% shared rooms and he decided not to firm Durham because of the accommodation (amongst other things).

For MFL (and because I went to one!) I would look at the Bailey colleges. Hild/bede is a bit out on its own and having to walk from the hill colleges into town every day would have annoyed me after a few weeks, when I could have been living right there. However hill colleeges are closer to the library. My personal recommendation is Hatfield 😊

PS A shared room is how I met two of my best mates. It's not all bad. We had some proper capers in our first term, before we went into our single rooms. Most only share for a term. The shared rooms are HUGE and extremely good for party hosting.....

I was St Cuths several years ago but I was a mature student. They were very supportive and I was happy there. I was just allocated a college but the people I knew who had applied to it were happy. I seem to remember it was quite competitive to get into Castle. Everyone I knew loved the college system.

Cuths was always a cracking place, lovely bar and really friendly.

Is there a party/non party divide between colleges? I see someone has mentioned Josephine Butler seemed partyish - was that just an impression or was there concrete evidence?!

Which colleges do people think might suit the 'quieter' types?

I'm really surprised there are so many shared bedrooms - is that true at any other university nowadays (I don't mean where you're sharing a sitting room with own bedroom - quite different!)? Do they get sent a questionnaire asking whether they prefer to share with someone who stays up all night playing heavy metal, or with someone who does not?

"Do they get sent a questionnaire asking whether they prefer to share with someone who stays up all night playing heavy metal, or with someone who does not?"
We did back in 1997. The person I ended up sharing with is now one of my best friends.

I shared in my first year with someone who became my best friend, although I did know others who didn't get on so well with their roommate. With me, there were things that we'd written on our UCAS forms/applications that the college had clearly used to match us. I really liked immediately having someone to go and do all the freshers week kind of stuff with, and we lived together for the rest of uni as well.

I wouldn't say there are party colleges and quiet colleges really - within each college are party people and quiet people, and soon enough they find each other!

Are you the person I shared with :)

Thank you all (and YoureAll's DH!) for very helpful info

Mary's was quiet when I was at Durham, but it's gone co-ed since so I bet it's very different!!!

Hi Stealth! Sadly not - I think you must be a couple of years younger than me!

I was just about to indignantly ask what made you assume that :)