Thrills and spills of studying in London

[stoneysongs]

A thread for supporters of DC heading to London unis - was originally going to be UCL which seems very popular this year, but expanded at @Needmoresleep's excellent suggestion.

For chats about moving in, what to take, living in London, whether an Oyster card is worth bothering with, how to do a big shop, where to park at drop off, the dreaded search for 2nd year accommodation etc etc etc

Tagging people I've spotted from the ex Oxbridge thread but all welcome including those with DC currently in London who can share their wisdom and anyone thinking of it for 2025 or beyond

@catmomof3
@lifeturnsonadime
@PotentialUCLmum
@CoffeeMugShot
@space99
@FebruarySmith
@mynameisnotmichaelcaine
@Summertimer

By way of intro I have a DD going to UCL to study BASc Arts and Sciences.

I’d assume byo for detergent etc. and definitely don’t leave it in the laundry room!

Hoping for any of the South Kensington ones - I can't actually remember which ones he applied for!

For Imperial DS heard about his accomodation on the 5th September last year

Thank you. It's all beginning to seem a bit real now!

@Londonis Thank you 😊

FINALLY the Imperial accommodation email has arrived.

DS has North Acton - Woodward, which he is OK with.

Starting to feel a bit more real now.

@catmomof3 no, your DD will need her own laundry detergent etc. There is also an app she will need (at least, DS did for the laundry room in Ramsay Hall). Last year it was £3 for a wash, which DS complained about until I pointed out it was at least £6.50 for a wash in our local laundrette.

An ordinary clothes airer is fine, but just bear in mind the room might not be that big so don’t go overboard

@mrssquidink Thank you I'll add that to my shopping list for this weekend. Her airer is quite small anyway and she can store it under her bed. She's staying at James Lighthill and the rooms seem quite big but could be the angle of the photos lol.

@RockaLock, ds also has en-suite at Woodward. £6,900 for 39 weeks which is pretty reasonable.

We don't qualify for the IC bursary but they give £5K towards hall fees which is very generous. Maintenance loan will just about cover hall fees so we're working out how much to give ds for day to day living. He's looking for a part time job but wants to see his timetable first to see what spare hours he has. He needs to upgrade his current Oyster card too and link it to his rail card for discounts.

@Lightsabre we are paying the rent for our DS, so I was kind of glad that he didn't get Southside in the end

I think that from a socialising point of view the Acton halls will be good, as there are so many rooms there. It's just a shame that the area is a bit rubbish, and that it's some distance from Imperial.

I'm sure they'll all have a great time.

My DS still hasn't heard. He says the emails don't all come out at the same time. 👍

Someone at DS's school hasn't heard yet either. Maybe it depends which hall they've been given / put as a preference. I don't know why Imperial have to leave it so late, though!

At Oxford they find out on the day, but then I suppose it's different in that they all know they'll be on the college site somewhere.

Well exactly - when I started at Oxford I knew I would have a room on site, and the amount it would cost me, as all rooms were priced the same. So it didn't matter in the slightest not finding out what exact room I was getting until I turned up.

Whereas at Imperial there are halls in very different locations across London, and at very different prices - even rooms within the same block can vary enormously in price - so it would be nice to know a bit sooner what you are being given!

Email received - he's in Beit Hall 👍

Oh, nice and central, @Partridgewell!

@RockaLock Yes 🙂 He's going a couple of days early, as he has ASD and they have a settling in day before welcome week for students with disabilities. His sister is taking him on the train, as DH and I are both in education so will be at work. DD is at Oxford, so her terms are shorter.

I am a bit concerned that it might be noisy, being the student union building, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'm just pleased to have some certainty about where he'll be.

My daughter said on the ucl accommodation chat on the app everyone is planning on having parties every night in her accommodation so she is freaking out because she's not a party let's get drunk person. She said she feels like she's gonna be forced to par take otherwise she'll end up a loner. I've told her that's not true but apparently I'm old and know nothing 🙄. I'll pack her some earplugs just in case lol.

@catmomof3 It will probably be OK to show her face the first evening and not get drunk. Apparently a quarter of young people now don't drink alcohol at all, and a larger proportion don't drink much, so she almost certainly won't be the only one not getting drunk. Plus drinking to excess is even less common in the international students who make up the majority of students in UCL halls.

I would also expect the plans of those who party hardest to change after one or two stinking hangovers.Maybe there will be events organised within the halls that will be quieter?

I don't know if other unis are like this, but the wristband thing with a big night at a big London club all over London every night before during and after freshers week is a bit much unless that is the student's scene. This is surely a minority interest but feels like it is being pushed by the organisers (who look like third-party companies) as essential.

Please can you tell me where the students' accommodation chats are? My DC isn't on any of these and it might be beneficial to chat to other students before arriving. Is it whatsapp/facebook or one of those specific uni social apps?

DD had this problem at Bristol. 12 in a flat, noise till 4.00am every night. One stopped attending in the first term and became nocturnal, whilst DD had to be up at 6.00am to get to her GP placement. UCL does not have anything like the same party reputation as Bristol, and hopefully the accommodation will be better managed. However two tips.

1. some really good noise cancelling headphones.
2. if it is not working out, ask for a move. It is not failure. In retrospect DD will acknowledge she was being bullied, but at the time she was at a loss to understand why the group isolated her. In the end a major incident meant that DD had to have an emergency move. The accommodation officer told DD that there tended to be equal numbers claiming that their flatmates were boring so wanted somewhere more lively, and those wanting somewhere quieter. DD was then in with some lovely people and wished she had done it months earlier.

@babyzoomer It's on the UCL connect app. You can connect with people on your course or whose profile you like and they have a section for accommodation so you can see and chat with people in your halls. They should have been sent a email ages ago about it but I'm sure you can search on the app store and download it.

Also my daughter hasn't even had an alcoholic drink in her life 😅 she won't even touch fizzy drinks. All she wants to do is go to cute cafes, museums and a jazz bar (drinking water or orange juice lol).

There will be other students like your DD - she sounds lovely.
I think there is a club/society for going to cafes or a food club or something. I tried to scroll through the clubs/societies but didn't get far through the alphabet as there are hundreds!

Thanks for the app info. No idea how DC hasn't heard about it, but DC actually hasn't received anything from the department yet and is in UoL accommodation not UCL so not getting the UCL accommodation emails and information either.

DC can't find an app called UCL Connect, what are we doing wrong?!

Just checked with DD it's called going' connect

@catmomof3

My dd is starting at KCL and is very similar to your girl.
She likes a party but doesn't really drink and wants to enjoy museums,shows etc .
I'm sure they will enjoy everything London has to offer and lots of the societies are great in London uni's