Talk to me about UCL Halls!

[drubbin]

DS filled in his UCL hall application form today. It's obviously a bit of a lottery, so he didn't spend long agonising over the options.

Not many of the rooms were ensuite. We looked at the hall pages to try and find out how many students would be sharing a bathroom, but they didn't say, and we didn't see any bathroom pictures either. Does anyone know, typically, what the bathroom situation is? Do any of the halls have really grim bathrooms? Are they cleaned regularly or do students clean them themselves?

Similar questions for the kitchens - if self catering, are the kitchens kept clean by staff or do they just have to hope everyone does their bit?

When offered a hall, do they get the chance to look around before saying yes/no? (We live in Greater London, so if it's grim he does have the option to commute from home).

Marking because DS has exactly the same dilemma:) Are some of them further from the uni than others? We are clueless.

As a general rule older halls are more central, and less likely to have en suites. (Just looked Ramsay Hall where DB lived many years ago. Really great location but built in the 60s.)

The en suites are rather more expensive so I think that I am going to persuade DS to share. It will be character building:)

If you do want something more modern Garden Halls, the Intercollegiate halls in Cartwright Gardens were rebuilt a couple of years ago and so might better suit a student who prioritises an en suite.

My youngest is at UCL and lived in Astor in his first year. It was very convenient for the university, had been recently refurbished (this was two years ago). He had a large single room with shared bathroom, I think there were two or three students per bathroom and one large kitchen for each ‘flat’. He got to look round on an open day as an offer holder, not sure how it works since covid, and we saw a few different UCL halls on the day. The ones I wasn’t keen on were in converted old houses where the stairs were steep and narrow, I was a bit concerned about fire escapes and security. Astor has a manned reception and just seemed better arranged.

One thing to watch is that UCL still has a few shared rooms which some students like because they are cheaper and you could share with a friend. A lot of students wouldn’t want to share and I think when my son applied he had to rank several choices as there isn’t enough accommodation for everyone. If he had been given a double, he would have looked at a room in a shared house. Luckily he got his first choice.

They do have cleaners for shared areas like kitchens and bathrooms. His main complaint was about the system for using the washing machines which was complicated and kept going wrong.

Thank you @Needmoresleep and @SarahMused.

As I recall you only have about 3 days to accept your accommodation offer once issued and there isn’t any provision for going to visit - could always wander around outside but not sure if that is madly valuable. And they leak the offers out randomly - there was t a big drop last year. Don’t understand why - it was annoying as I kept asking him if he has heard, fearing he’d miss the email

Garden halls's ensuite rooms are (mainly?) catered. Non catered (much cheaper) rooms have 1 bathroom per corridor (of maybe 15 rooms) with maybe 5 or 6 shower cubicles. Kitchen has several separate cookers. Both are cleaned regularly.
We only visited on moving in day so can't quite remember.
Rooms do have own toilet and sink.

For students in the self-catered halls, do they generally do their grocery shopping at (expensive) central London supermarkets, or get it delivered?
I work in Bloomsbury, and everything costs more than in outer London where we live.

What's the food like? We are not British and am thinking it would be better for DS to fend for himself as he tends to not like institutional cooking. Though I expect him to live off pot noodles.

Also, it seems like a daft question, but does a higher budget generally get a better room? i.e. better as in closer, bigger, catered, better facilities? DC just put a number somewhere above the middle of the range - £275 I think - but that's because he wanted to have the opportunity to get a catered room - they should really let you set a different budget for catered and non catered.

Every Uni we talked to or visited (London & elsewhere), there were paid cleaners for the hallways, kitchens & bathrooms, including en suite bathrooms. Possibly kitchens in studio flats, too. They don't clean bedrooms, though.

DD is at UCL. Garden Halls were her first choice. No chance. Very over-subscribed.

She ended up in (not ensuite) room in International Hall. I thought it was lovely, she had a nice view over the park. She liked it.

There are much cheaper halls like 20-30 minutes out on public transport.

DD got a boyfriend there who always wanted to order UberEats etc., they wasted huge amount of money on those. But not because the halls food was bad. Just stupid money spending by young people. We suspect boyfd has ADHD.

As a non-Londoner, I have no idea why so many ppl pay for halls when your family lives in Greater London & kid could commute. DD had several friends in halls whose parents lived in London, so obviously it's a common thing. DD was desperate to go away but it was enormous waste of money, given she had no more than 4 in-person teaching sessions in her 1st year (Covid measures).

DS applied for accommodation at non-London Uni, recently. I was astonished that the en-suite accommodation was already fully booked at every site. So much more expensive.

DD is starting the hunt for next shared flat soon (!!)

It does vary re the cleaning of en suites - at Birmingham, for example, it is definitely the responsibility of the tenant.

Dc did not get her offer till late April last year and still managed to get Garden Halls (but she wanted non catered so maybe easier to get??).
dc did mention about some "rich" students shopping at Wairoses...but she goes to Lidl, also nearby.
Communal showers etc cleaned but en suites not.

Catered certainly more expensive. And I think the rooms were bigger as well, bigger windows.

I don't know but there are alternatives to Waitrose.

There's a Lidl at the top end of Tottenham Court Road, near the UCL campus, although I don't know how big it is or whether their prices are inflated. Saw a couple of student-looking people with Lidl bags heading towards the halls of residence in Cartwright Gardens recently.

There's a large-ish Sainsbury's Local at the bottom end of Tottenham Court Road but that will be more expensive than normal Sainsbury's. Likewise, a large Tesco Express on Caledonian Road, near King's Cross station.

And there's a normal Sainsbury's up at Angel. Don't know if Chapel Market has food stalls.

That's in response to the question about grocery shopping!

Bid for a mid range room like yourselves in the hope of an Ensuite.

The lottery system ended up with a large single room, self catered. Best thing ever in hindsight:

• Very Reasonably priced
• Large room in Self Contained 'Flat' for 6
• Large Kitchen
• I x Bathroom per 2-3 students
• Daily Cleaners covering whole flat including Bathroom and Kitchen ( except individual student room of course)

Grocery Shopping
Teens soon learnt that Tesco, Sainsbury, Lidl were much cheaper than Waitrose and the weekly Budget has been very reasonable. Walking everywhere has been great exercise no need for additional gym subscription.

In Summary
Really good value for a good room and excellent learning experience with respect to Budgeting and making the most of their money.

After much angst waiting for that 3 day window, it all worked out for the best in the end. The general standard for UCL Halls in first year is good so your DC will get somewhere decent. Best Wishes

Does anyone know, typically, what the bathroom situation is? Do any of the halls have really grim bathrooms?

I regularly stay in central London university halls in the vacations, to save the cash on my research grant. They're perfectly fine. Because most people stating during vacations are penurious academics, educational groups doing summer schools, and so on. None of us is an animal. If people are clean & respectful, the halls will be nice places to stay.

So the real question to ask is: Is your DS clean, tidy and respectful of shared spaces? Or does HE leave the bathroom looking/smelling grim? Can he wash up after himself, look to see if kitchen surfaces need wiping down, store food hygienically in the communal fridge, be honest about not drinking other people's milk, and so on?

Start teaching him grown-up respectful behaviour now, if you're worried about London halls.

Thanks for this. Very useful. Sounds good overall.

Ooh (sharp intake of breath...)

Funnily enough, DS2 (first year, shared facilities accommodation UEA and keen to make as little trouble as possible for the flat's lovely cleaner) and I were talking about this very topic last night. I'm afraid that I did make the observation that the offspring of a true MNer will always be the one who suffers from the disgusting habits of others, never the other way round😀.

Ds was in Astor

He did all his shopping at Lidl

Dd was in Connaught Hall and she loved it. She did not have en-suite but she said that the bathrooms were clean and hardly anyone using it when she needed to take shower. They had a front office and they were strict who they allowed into the halls.

I am confused as to why the catered halls are the same price as some of the non catered halls? Are any of your DC going for catered? DS seems to think he can manage to cook for himself, but I suspect his course is going to be punishing.