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Original poster

Bristol university halls wisdom

99 replies

Tindrum · 06/05/2023 23:47

Hi

My daughter has decided to firm Bristol University for English. Just wondering if anyone whose children have been in the past have any thoughts or perhaps reflections on the pros and cons of Stoke Bishop (and any further recommendations of halls here) and West accommodation (is there a reason why people don’t go for Manor Hall, Clifton Hill, Goldney etc?). West seems closer and cheaper whilst Stoke Bishop has a rep for a good social life but is pricey and a bit further out. She says she would prefer self catering but that’s not an dealbreaker. She would like a good social element - is the West Village lively as well but Stoke Bishop has the edge? As you can see we’re very confused. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

OP posts:
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TizerorFizz · 08/05/2023 10:44

They absolutely do mix and there’s no need to be worried about anyone. Well - mostly! There’s always a tiny minority that will be not your cup of tea. That’s the same anywhere! Yes. They definitely mix via seminars and lectures and via sport and societies. The Union was never a big thing at Bristol. Maybe for keen political types? Other than a singing evening, DD hardly went there. Nor any of her friends.

mumsneedwine · 08/05/2023 11:11

Not sure mine knows where it is @TizerorFizz . However I'm sure she could point out every club and kareoke bar in town.

SeasonFinale · 09/05/2023 16:18

DS was in Badock last year which was one of his lower choices (his higher ones being Hiatt Baker). Had the time of his life. The plus side of the less fancy Badock rooms were the size of the rooms. Made so many friends there and has a house in Redland this year with 9 others and goes into a house in Clifton from July with 7 others.

Buses are frequent and he made friends on the bus as well as halls, course and societies.

Stoke Bishop exceptionally handy for Wednesday sport on the Downs (walking distance).

CheckingOutNow · 09/05/2023 18:23

Kid currently in first year at Wills. Says that everyone there is a private school kid. He said it was quite difficult to make friends at the start, which was a shock as he is so chatty and good with small talk. He has now however made friends ‘for life’ and is very happy.

He recommends Stoke Bishop for the social life. And says that getting the bus with friends into Bristol is fun. He is catered. Food was amazing for two weeks then became shit. He is lazy so still prefers catered.

He has friends at other halls. Central is convenient but the flats are smaller and a smaller critical mass to choose future flatmates from.

He loves it there.

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 18:32

@CheckingOutNow flats smaller ? Most of DDs friends had 5-10 in their flats. Are they bigger in SB ?

Loads of socialising and lots of those 'friends for at least the next few years anyway'.

CheckingOutNow · 09/05/2023 18:35

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 18:32

@CheckingOutNow flats smaller ? Most of DDs friends had 5-10 in their flats. Are they bigger in SB ?

Loads of socialising and lots of those 'friends for at least the next few years anyway'.

Wills has a halls set-up, so 40 on a corridor.

CheckingOutNow · 09/05/2023 18:37

OP i just texted him at Stoke Bishop for words of wisdom and he only gave me: ‘West village is lively and is fine but stoke bishop best for socialising. Best to buy a quarter zip top and gilet in advance’. The last bit I think is a bit tongue in cheek…

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 18:44

@CheckingOutNow but he's never lived in West of North ? Just not sure how anyone knows what's better or more sociable as they've never lived anywhere else. All I can add is that DD socialised a lot, even during covid 😊

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 18:46

And floors in halls have many flats so they just prop open the doors and have floor parties. Can be over 100 people at those.

All I'm saying is, all halls are fun, sociable, basically just full of young people trying to make friends. Not something to stress too much about.

Mumwithbaggage · 09/05/2023 19:28

Dd1 was at CHH - wanted to be in Clifton rather than out at Stoke Bishop. In retrospect wishes she'd gone to one that was self catered.

SeasonFinale · 09/05/2023 19:36

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 18:44

@CheckingOutNow but he's never lived in West of North ? Just not sure how anyone knows what's better or more sociable as they've never lived anywhere else. All I can add is that DD socialised a lot, even during covid 😊

Usually because they end up going to pres at other halls so get used to which has more of a social vibe going on

mumsneedwine · 09/05/2023 19:52

@SeasonFinale 😂 DD has never been to one pre, party or event at SB. Never had the need.

All halls have parties and social events. It does not matter where you go. You will have fun.

NCTDN · 09/05/2023 20:15

CheckingOutNow · 09/05/2023 18:37

OP i just texted him at Stoke Bishop for words of wisdom and he only gave me: ‘West village is lively and is fine but stoke bishop best for socialising. Best to buy a quarter zip top and gilet in advance’. The last bit I think is a bit tongue in cheek…

GrinGrinGrin
Which block is he in?
DD has 40 on her floor. They share one kitchen which is big but not much cooking facilities (catered).

ApolloandDaphne · 09/05/2023 20:30

My DD ended up in Badock. It looked like a dump to me but she had an amazing first year there and is still friends with people she got to know. She didn't choose it at all but in the end she was very happy with it.

redspottedmug · 09/05/2023 22:20

University Halls at Stoke Bishop is cheap...um...that's it! Rooms are tiny, flats are small (5 rooms) and seem to be allocated mostly on a single-sex basis. But did I mention it's cheap? Bus is fine, and free.

DC now in a house in Cotham with 7 mates, having a blast.

Xenia · 09/05/2023 22:30

My son on the quad bit in Wills had a section - ground floor to top which had about 8 boys in it - 2 or 3 per floor. Other newer parts of it will be more corridor based etc.
For the person suggesting wills is all private school, it is more like 50% and Churchill Hall is highest I think not that it matters. They are all just teenagers mixing in. We also need to remember the people with the most money at university on average these days are those whose parents are on about £18k a year as they get the massive full maintenance loan. (£9978)

commonground · 09/05/2023 23:57

DD chose Manor because she wanted to be in Clifton and near Uni. Loved it, made firm friends (They have been sharing all through uni - lovely girls!).

She likes Clifton because everything is walkable and also more mixed, so not just students, but cool shops, art, restaurants etc....this was quite important as a bit of 'downtime'.

She is an absolute full-on party animal (and also went to a fee-paying school) so you could pigeon-hole her as a Stoke bishop/Wills kind of person, but she said the atmosphere up there was 'feral' and she preferred the mix of students and 'normal people' in Clifton.

The thing she liked best at Manor was the huge old school dorm room vibes and that she had to share everything (kitchen, really ropey bathroom!) so everyone was very social and saw each other a lot rather than self contained in their own rooms. .

(Hope that is of interest!)

CheckingOutNow · 10/05/2023 05:24

Xenia · 09/05/2023 22:30

My son on the quad bit in Wills had a section - ground floor to top which had about 8 boys in it - 2 or 3 per floor. Other newer parts of it will be more corridor based etc.
For the person suggesting wills is all private school, it is more like 50% and Churchill Hall is highest I think not that it matters. They are all just teenagers mixing in. We also need to remember the people with the most money at university on average these days are those whose parents are on about £18k a year as they get the massive full maintenance loan. (£9978)

Ok well you clearly know official stats and my son doesn’t. He just says that every kid he has met at wills this year went to private school; he has been surprised.

There is even a chant from other students on the bus: ‘The Wills on the bus go ra ra ra..’ ;-)

LAlady · 10/05/2023 06:20

My daughter is at Bristol (2nd year). Put all 9 choices down and got none of them. Ended up allocated a shared room at Richmond Terrace which, at the time, was a shock. She was given the option of going on a waiting list for accommodation in Bath! We declined this. This was 2021 so a Covid year.

She has ended up being best friends with the girl she shared a room with, shares a house with her and others. So it all turned out well.

However we spent ages looking at accommodation choices etc which actually proved to be a fruitless exercise !

EssexCat · 10/05/2023 07:29

Xenia · 09/05/2023 22:30

My son on the quad bit in Wills had a section - ground floor to top which had about 8 boys in it - 2 or 3 per floor. Other newer parts of it will be more corridor based etc.
For the person suggesting wills is all private school, it is more like 50% and Churchill Hall is highest I think not that it matters. They are all just teenagers mixing in. We also need to remember the people with the most money at university on average these days are those whose parents are on about £18k a year as they get the massive full maintenance loan. (£9978)

Nope. The kids with the most money are NOT those whose parents can’t afford to top them up at all!

It’s the kids whose parents top up their loan and pay their rent, and give them them a generous allowance too. And there are LOTS of those children at Bristol.

EssexCat · 10/05/2023 07:32

EssexCat · 10/05/2023 07:29

Nope. The kids with the most money are NOT those whose parents can’t afford to top them up at all!

It’s the kids whose parents top up their loan and pay their rent, and give them them a generous allowance too. And there are LOTS of those children at Bristol.

Show quote history

Which there’s nothing wrong with - my own child is fortunate financially. However it’s irksome to hear that kids from less wealthy backgrounds are apparently the most well off at uni. Especially somewhere stereotypically as privileged at Bristol uni.

TizerorFizz · 10/05/2023 09:08

@EssexCat Its also irksome to hear that better off students are in the majority at Bristol when every stat available says they are not! A family member at another RG university gets a hefty bursary on top of her max loan so is definitely better off than some students. Obviously not all. However both parents have degrees but they decided not to marry. Single mum on deliberately low earnings gets you quite a lot of money for your student DC from a deprived area .

Clearly every DC in Wills and Churchill are not from private schools. Also why does it matter? They often find people with similar interests and ways of enjoying life. Wills old quad is smaller. DD was in a group of 6. Certainly no corridors of 40 rooms.

Essentially decide if you want catering or not. Decide if you want city centre, (not sure any catered in city centre), Clifton or Stoke Bishop, then look at costs. Generally most students are very happy. A few want a quieter hall and you can opt for that too. There are cheaper halls and the halls are listed in price order by the university. The more expensive halls are private but are more central.

EssexCat · 10/05/2023 09:46

My point was how dare that a previous poster imply that children of people earning LESS than 18k per year are the people with the MOST money.

That is what is irksome.

And as for ‘single mum on deliberately low earnings’. Words fail me.

EssexCat · 10/05/2023 09:49

TizerorFizz · 10/05/2023 09:08

@EssexCat Its also irksome to hear that better off students are in the majority at Bristol when every stat available says they are not! A family member at another RG university gets a hefty bursary on top of her max loan so is definitely better off than some students. Obviously not all. However both parents have degrees but they decided not to marry. Single mum on deliberately low earnings gets you quite a lot of money for your student DC from a deprived area .

Clearly every DC in Wills and Churchill are not from private schools. Also why does it matter? They often find people with similar interests and ways of enjoying life. Wills old quad is smaller. DD was in a group of 6. Certainly no corridors of 40 rooms.

Essentially decide if you want catering or not. Decide if you want city centre, (not sure any catered in city centre), Clifton or Stoke Bishop, then look at costs. Generally most students are very happy. A few want a quieter hall and you can opt for that too. There are cheaper halls and the halls are listed in price order by the university. The more expensive halls are private but are more central.

And at no point have I said it matters to me - just that it’s something my own child there has said to me so may be worth bearing in mind.

Fwiw my own child is one of the ‘privileged’ ones but the difference appears to be he is fully aware of that and doesn’t think people from low income homes are either deliberately that way to get a better loan (that increases their eventual debt), or are better off that the majority of his friends who receive a nice allowance because their debt levels are higher.

Warmworm · 10/05/2023 09:59

DD was in Badock catered accommodation. She definitely felt that she stood out as a shy kid from a bog standard Welsh comprehensive and unfortunately she didn’t get on with her close neighbours. No conflict, she just didn’t fit in. The halls were very expensive and very run down. Shared bathrooms and not enough of them working at any one time. She was pretty miserable there to be honest. It wasn’t one of her 9 choices.

However she did meet a few friends at dinner, which with hindsight was probably a good opportunity for a shy kid to mingle. She now happily shares a house with them so it worked out in the end.

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