Bad Uni Halls London

[clha]

Just a quick warning to people considering Garden halls, London for their dc. The halls are shared between the university of london institutions so it is nice to meet people from different backgrounds. The halls themselves are amazing and very up market for uni accommodation. Unless your dc are international, part of the rich london set, or very independent I wouldn’t recommend it.

DD was sociable and fairly popular in school, no problems there. She lived in the halls for 5 months before moving out to a different one where she had a much better experience.

In her halls, she tried her very hardest to make friends. Only her one neighbour spoke to her. The person on the other side she never ever saw, even knocked his door. (She knew he was a guy from noise through wall)

There were several people on her corridor who she would say hey to when leaving her room and many would completely blank her.

The halls are very very international, meaning that people naturally stick to their own native groups. Those who are from the UK, the vast majority are very wealthy and already have friends from their own schools. So basically I would advise to avoid the halls.

Fair enough Needmoresleep is London cheerleader and goodbyestranger is Oxford cheerleader

Except that I'm not convinced that Needmoresleep will allow any merit to Oxbridge whereas I'll readily admit the stature of the leading London unis.

Not at all.

However there does however seem to be an Oxbridge uber alles bias on this board. Fine in that Oxford and Cambridge are long established highly regarded and world ranked Universities.

However if you look further up the thread, you will see posters knocking London without good reason. A real shame if their supposed knowledge puts off someone who might have a great time and receive a first class education.

Equally I will defend Universities like Bournemouth who run some good and relevant degrees. But at times can be seriously patronised by posters here.

This board should be about sharing knowledge and information to help others make informed choices. No University will suit everyone. I recognise that London does not attract the same level of support as places like Bristol or Oxford. I appreciate that may make my posts look biased, or even that I look envious. It is not meant to be. My recommendation is absolutely that would be students consider London realistically, and if it does not work for them, so be it. If it does, it will probably be a different student experience, but not an inferior one.

For me, the problem with the intercollegiate hall was not the proportion of international students but the fact that only a tiny minority of them were studying at the same institution as me.

The London halls offering accommodation to a variety of colleges are a very different experience to an Oxford College or going from Westminster School to LSE and living at home. What the OP talks about is completely different and it is more difficult to make friends if you are not at the same university or in a similar social group as people in the flats. You have to work really hard to make friends with students on the course because there is no one else! £1000 a month to be unhappy is one hell of a price!

My nephew was in an intercollegiate hall in his first year at King’s and loathed it - he found he had nothing in common with the other students, who were at different universities to him and had wildly different interests.

Bristol, where you run the risk of being thrown into a flat with 11 randoms, where the one positive is a chance to witness the development of ket-bladder. (A Bristol area of national expertise.)

LOLOL

DS was in International Hall, another of the intercollegiate halls, just down the road from Garden Halls.

I posted on that basis. I think his experience was comparable to OPs DC. Though obviously happy to be corrected.

Admittedly many moons (indeed, several decades) ago, but DH says that he happliy made friends in his intercollegiate hall of residence with students from other institutions. Moving in part way through first year, he did find that one other person on his course lived there, but it wasn't someone he was particularly friendly with. As others have pointed put, in halls, who one's neighbours are is the luck of the draw.

Yes, it is the luck of the draw. I stayed in intercollegiate halls in my first year in London many years and made some very good friends from different colleges - and they do have the benefit of being in Central London. Though I didn't have more than a polite acquaintance with the girl I shared a bathroom with - same college but different subject.

I don't recall the intercollegiate halls being materially more expensive than the halls for King's when DS2 was choosing last year - or more accurately they were equally as breathtakingly expensive.......

Garden Halls cost is pretty standard, others nearby can be up to say £20 more or less, depending on facilities.

DC/DNs and their peers made what they would of the lottery of who they found themselves with, and were prepared to move (did not happen, luckily) if they could not tolerate their neighbours.

DC/DNs do not recognize the caricature of school friends sticking together. (This makes sense because by 13 you already know who you like, by 16 you've seen a lot of behaviour that is unforgettable, and by 18 you no longer feel any urge to cling on, that is if you ever had that need) While all of mine were/are very friendly with old school mates, they relish/ed the chance to make new ones and try new things. They may have shared a meal with groups that included old school mates (but only if they shared a course/activity, or were attached to someone who was) a few times a year. Likewise for their cousins. None was especially independent or a hermit. Nor did they expect to find eternal comradeship or soul mates, although that would have been nice. They were all largely content with their courses. They acknowledge the social ghettos, many of them cultural, however they were happy to be (honorary as needed) part of several and none, depending on how they felt on the day. They agree that university was no more cliquey than their very culturally diverse schools. Amongst all this was the usual noise of lovely and unlovely individuals, but there was no more systemic ex/in-clusiveness than in any large mixed community. The trick they tell me is to remember the relief of it being much easier at university to escape from or ignore the dramas of school. It looks like OP's DD was unlucky.