Unis that are catered

[Shinynewname14]

DS is a lazy bugger who cba to cook in his first year at uni - says he’ll struggle organising himself to keep up with the course, let alone cook and shop. So he wants to apply to unis where being catered is the norm for freshers, rather than the exception. He says Nottingham is like this but can’t think of any others. Can anyone help pls?

OP I went to Bristol. I wasn't actually in halls (I was already in a houseshare for college there) but obviously was friends with people in both catered and uncatered. Those in catered really liked it - it can be really social with everyone arranging to go down to eat together. Just a different experience from living in a flat in halls where you might share cooking etc.

There didn't seem to be any impact on people from catered or uncatered mixing socially, it's obviously fine to just drop a meal if you want to go for food with your course or society friends or whatever. So no need for catered to be 'the norm'. I think at Bristol it's about one third catered to two thirds uncatered so a good mix and nobody is going to look at you as weird or immature for going for catered.

The food was also apparently really good (admittedly this was over ten years ago now!).

If it had been an option for me financially I would have loved it 😆

Ps I can also vouch for Bristol as a really good uni, and Bristol itself is amazing - I'm still here haha

Good luck to your DS!

Just to chip in about Birmingham,my DS does Birmingham mealplan. You definitely eat in the same place every day . It's a rip off in some ways and has loads of flaws and hidden ts and cs but it definitely helped him to cope in the first term and is entirely how he met and bonded with what seems to be a very nice set of friends.

Wirth also bearing in mind that mealplan/catered halls are hanging around on various campus unis as they can actually be quite far from supermarkets. DS has not once had to visit a supermarket. Given the tininess of fridges in his (self catering) accommodation, this is a good thing. Next year, when he lives in Selly Oak, he'll be right next to Sainsburys and Aldi.

When Bristol students from the North campus move to student flats in subsequent years, these are near enough to supermarkets. However DD’s flats organised food deliveries! It’s the modern way! They didn’t do everything as individuals. As @WombatChocolate says, there are benefits to catered. Plus cooking as a group is fun in subsequent years and so is shopping on line! DDs flat of 6 did one meal a week each for everyone. Excluded Saturday. They just worked it around lectures (2 engineers, 1 medicine, 3 humanities) and sports/societies etc. Very organised flat! Plenty of skills learnt!

One of the advantages/disadvantages of being in catered is that DD knew exactly who she didn't want to share with from year 2.

She was extremely fortunate that she got on with everyone in her flat, even the people she had nothing in common with.

My memory of catered halls is that there are long corridors of individual rooms, and no social areas like the kitchens you get in flats. If DD had ended up in a corridor she would have found it very difficult to socialise with a load of strangers all at once.

Luckily, her flat of 8 was sociable and most people ate in the kitchen.

@RampantIvy
Some halls might be like this but they are not all devoid of a socialization areas. However they are sometimes social rooms away from the flats. So you meet loads of students, not just your 6/8.

Another slight concern on this thread is the lack of understanding that Dc have all sorts of reasons for making choices and young people mature at different rates. Some really want to cook. Others really don’t want to cook. As long as they are both happy, that’s fine, surely? My DD2 did a Leiths Cert at school. Pavlova anyone?

I agree with your second paragraph @TizerorFizz.