Lancaster University Colleges

[DeadOrchid]

DS has accepted an offer for Lancaster and from my understanding he has to put a preferred college when accommodation opens up.

if any of you have got any info about the different colleges from a student experience (rather than the website) I’d be very grateful. And do students tend to get their preferred college or is it more random than that.

He’s not really a party person, if that makes a difference.

Thank you.

Does your DS want catered or self-catered? If the former, that will narrow down his choices since, when we looked last year, just four colleges offer it - Bowland, Cartmel, County and Lonsdale. The uni doesn't offer quiet rooms (unlike others) but we were advised that Cartmel (superior ensuite) and Bowland Hall (basic ensuite) are quieter than other areas as further away from main area of campus

It's changed radically since I was there OP, so I wouldn't really rely on my past experiences. I chose my college more on the basis of what I wanted to avoid at the time, such as possible shared rooms in Fylde, and going into the tower in Bowland, so a similar process might help to narrow things down. I was at the south end of campus, which meant getting up 10 minutes earlier for lectures at the other end of the Spine, but I guess he will be less slothful than I was.

I went to Lancaster and was in Cartmel College. I chose this one because it was supposed to the 'quieter college' and it had the nicest accommodation! I also took my car and it had lots of parking. I graduated in 2015 but the colleges had these reputations when I was there:
Grizedale - party college, had the new funky party bar and decent college socials
Cartmel - quiet, furthest away from campus, nicest accommodation. Homely bar with decent pub food.
Lonsdale - like Cartmel
Bowland - cheaper accommodation and in centre of campus. A 'social' college. Noisy accommodation but handy to roll out of bed at 8:55 for 9am lecture.
Pendle - nice college bar, otherwise non-descript
County - other side of campus to Cartmel. Big college and sociable with ensuite accommodation too. Rooms were older and washed out when I was there compared to Cartmel.
Grad college - for postgrads and is next to Cartmel
Furness - more in the middle of campus, nice bar and food
Fylde - had a good pub quiz and more to middle of campus

In contrast to many unis, Lancaster has made a sustained effort over the years to build up a good supply of accommodation on campus, with some of the older accommodation undergoing a rolling refurb. As a consequence two-thirds of the accommodation is ensuite and, whilst not expensive by the standards of southern-based unis, it does mean the cheapest options are in relatively short supply.

The age and mix of room types within a college, particular college bar/catering ambience and general location of the college may make a difference to the experience within one college rather than another at the margins, but I suspect it is all too easy to overthink this aspect eg County: larger college, in older northern section, nr gym, mix of room stock vs Cartmel: smaller college, all newer ensuite, to the southern end of campus, farmhouse conversion catering area, near Management and CS.

@sammyjoanne may be around to give some input. Sometimes posters on MN comment that the southern colleges are a long way away but as PP on this thread highlight, we are talking about a difference of 10-15 mins max depending on how fast you walk! When I last looked, the uni website did provide some helpful detail about the workings of the accommodation preference/selection process.

@DeadOrchid hi :) thanks to @PerpetualOptimist for the tag.
Eldest is a 3rd year now at Lancaster uni, and when it came down to choosing accommodation/ colleges, she got two choices. Can be any combined type of college townhouse/townhouse, Ensuite/Standard , Townhouse/superior ensuite etc. Conditions are 1 choice has to be in one college and 1 in another college. You cant have 2 accommodation choices in the same college.

She is not a party person either. Her idea of a night out is going round friends houses for games night, or pub quizzes.
She started in 2020 covid year and went straight in the deep end and chose a Grizedale Townhouse, which is typically known as a party college and townhouse with 12 students in. She played the numbers game a bit, thinking a flat of 12 people, theres bound to be at least one there whom she would gel well. She got on well with all 11 of her flat mates. Because it was covid and flats could not mix, by the end of the year her flat 126 was gelling with flat 128 as restrictions lifted. If she could go back again and it not be a covid year, she would still have chosen Grizedale as a college. Covid or no covid year the porters do come round the colleges and make sure your not playing loud music after 11pm, so its not all parties at silly oclock in the morning. Her room was above the living room area of the townhouse and her flatmates were pretty respectful. I guess it all comes down to who is in the flat and the personalities living there. She would definitely not go any less than 6 in a flat. That ruled out Furness as some of their flats have 4's. She wanted to be in proximity of her classes (physics) which is just on the north spine, but close to Alex square, so it was going to be Fylde, Grizedale, County, Bowland, Pendle. Knowing what she knows now, she would not have minded a cartmel/lonsdale because living in the city in second/third year shes having to walk to the bus stop anyway, so walking wise its not much of a big deal.

Definitely think about proximity of classes to room, and how many is in a flat. From vlogs ive seen, Pendle superior ensuites are over on south west campus, standards on main campus.
And the choosing of two colleges and them allocating which one is random.

DD is not a party person either!

She got her 1st choice of superior ensuite in Lonsdale. She likes the fact that its further from lectures etc because it gives her the feeling of going "Home" after lectures.

There are 8 in her flat, one of them is a party animal but the rest are more like her - sociable but not into clubbing.

My son is in a county townhouse.

He decided, like a PP, that in a house of 12 he had better odds of getting on with a few people.

He put on his form Grizedale townhouse and county superior standard- it has a social living area but a cleaner which the townhouses don’t!

He is happy with his accommodation. They all get on ok, and there are a core of 6 of them that are close and living together next year. They did a group Christmas meal and things as a whole house. He likes being social and going out, but clubbing is not really his favourite. There seems to be a lot of house part drinking than bars, ending up at sugar maybe once every other week I think.

I left in 1999 and the rooms are all completely different now but location wise my college (Bowland) was one of the best fit on site facilities as it's right by Alex square and loads of lecture theatres very close. I still didn't always make it to early lectures

Thanks for starting this thread @DeadOrchid, we're back there for an offer holder day, and so any extra info is greatly received.

I really liked the genre feel of the campus, it's just a very long way from where we are!

What course is he doing? Because that will affect which is a good option in terms of being central

I was in Lonsdale, and like a pp mentioned it was nice to have the feeling of going 'home' because South campus has a different feel. It had a party college reputation then, but it really wasn't, my flat had a real mix of people. I was really quiet and thought I'd be very homesick, but settled immediately because it had a real friendly feel

So potentially if he's quieter it might actually be worth considering a bigger college. More likely to find his tribe in my experience, and less likely to have flatmates that don't come out of their rooms which could be good to help him initially

Word of warning, in my time the townhouses were always filthy! Super popular because they had the living room area, but bathrooms all shared between 12 and less covered by cleaners than the flats. Also more likely to have your housemates host predrinks with other friends because it has the biggest communal area

Thank you so much for all the feedback - it's definitely given us plenty to think about.

DS definitely wants self-catered but that is the only thing he seems definite about at the moment. I hadn't really thought much about the size of the flats so that's an important consideration - he's very much the pub quiz and pizza type so hopefully he'll find his group.

Not really sure where his lectures will be - he's got a place for PPE so he thinks it will be split between the Management School and County South which seem to be a distance from each other, but the campus isn't huge so I don't suppose it will matter too much.

@DeadOrchid don't get too caught up in where lectures will be. DD has some of hers in tbe business school and is definitely not doing anything related to business!

DS went to the offer day on his own last weekend (I did the open day with him in summer) - I think it did him good to spend some time looking around by himself and it's not too far for us - about an hour away.

He really liked it and accepted a couple of days later. He didn't look to closely at the accommodation though, other than to notice that the kitchens weren't too clean, he's fairly tidy for a teenage boy and the state of a couple of them really shocked him - He'd be horrified to see some of the dumps I lived in a student in the early 90s.

That's good to know - I suspect he'll want to go for a 'quieter' college, but then he does sometimes surprise me...

My son was at Lancaster Uni and he was in a County Townhouse. Spacious downstairs and lots of outside area to mess about with his friends.
I cannot remember the general layout of the campus but he never moaned about having to walk too far to lectures and he certainly wasn’t the most energetic of students.
He absolutely loved it there and a lot of the socialising was on campus with a few nights out at Sugar House in the town .
For a big night out he would travel to Manchester for the weekend.

@DeadOrchid
We're spending some of the day off campus and letting her get on with it. She'll be almost five hours away by car, and as for rail, forget it.

DS1 in his third year at Lancaster so like another poster’s DC started in the 2020 Covid year. He was in Cartmel because he wanted somewhere quieter. By coincidence a colleague’s DD started the same year and went into Lonsdale for similar reasons. Fortunate that he and his flatmates got on in their flat of eight.

For pub quizzes pendle witch on a Thurs, sun inn on a Tuesday, white cross on a tuesday.

I was in fylde in the 90s so my block doesn’t exist anymore. I liked being campus based and everywhere felt near enough.
It used to be v quiet on campus at the weekend though.

Ah that's interesting @Rummikub, I wonder if that's still the case? Maybe the students just lived closer to uni then? DD would be unable to come home each weekend due to the distance, it's a good question for her to ask.

i remember a few who were on campus used to go to the lakes as it was near. Or go home for weekend.

Bowland is the best...might be biased though as that was my college 😊 The rooms were cheaper/a bit older but they were bigger than the newer accommodation and had proper bathrooms rather than shower rooms. I did graduate 12 years ago though so there will ever likely have been a refurb of the older accommodation by now and it'll have all changed. Fab uni though, lovely little city, I was so happy there. I wasn't a big drinker, never went out clubbing/partying. All the best to your son, hope he has a great time at Lancaster.

Thanks for the thread OP. Lancaster is one of DD’s choices.

She would definitely prefer SC as she is a fussy eater. She isn’t into drinking, partying (yet) or into music, socialising. She is possibly is a little neuro diverse. I am hoping she enjoys the Uni experience and finds her tribe.

Our son is in a large Town House at another Uni with a bathroom shared with one other student. He is sociable and in his element getting on well with a various housemates. But unsure whether in a house of 12 she is more likely to find one or two people she likes and gets on with or whether living in a big house might be too much?

Re: accommodation allocation do they do any sort of questionnaire prior to allocating Colleges, flats or blocks/townhouses etc?

She is also messy and rarely tidies up
after herself (her room is a mess and she leaves the bathroom and kitchen in a mess too).

Hi!

I graduated Lancaster in 2017 and here's my take.

Grizedale and County have the best houses withy Grizedale more central (also has the better bar). Grizedale also throws the best Extrav nights out (college members get first dibs on tickets).

Lonsdale and Cartmel are furthest away from classes and a bit annoying to walk from. Lonsdale is known for being the sporty college.

Fylde and Furness I don't know loads about but I know their accommodation was a bit grim when I was there.

I was county and loved it but if given the choice I'd have gone for a Grizedale townhouse.

Hope this helps!

Fylde has a great pub.