Lancaster Open Day

[stubiff]

DC is going in September.
Any tips and tricks.
We will be driving, and not staying overnight.
Thanks.

The accommodation at Lancaster is all pretty standardised (and very good!) with the building age, room layouts, quality and costs being the same across all colleges. The three room types available are shared bathroom, en-suite and townhouse. So I would visit one of each room type, irrespective of college, to get an idea.

If you want to get ahead, Lancaster have a livestream campus tour with student Q&A this Wednesday (intended for clearing students, but anyone can register).

I know there is one hall of residence known essentially as the party place. I can't for the life of me remember which one it is, but it will be worth asking a student rep so you know and can avoid / apply as preferred!

I think that's Grizedale! Has townhouses (party houses) plus advertises itself as the 'most sociable' hall on campus.

That being said, there's a mixture of all types of students at all halls.

Make sure you drive into Lancaster itself and have a look round.

My DC liked the campus and the course but after seeing Lancaster - where he’d likely be living after year 1 and going out if he wanted to socialise with friends away from the campus bars - he realised it wasn’t the place for him.

@SozMate Yes, will ensure we have at least a drive around the centre.

Guess there will be a mix of people at each college, but good to hear that most/all accom is roughly the same.

Driving round the centre isn’t very helpful, it’s a sort of ring road around the pedestrianised centre. It’s not a big city, doesn’t take long to walk around. Coming from the university, I’d use the Dallas road car park or if you want a nice bit of canal side walk, there’s often some 3 hour free parking along Aldcliffe Road beyond the residents only parking stretch.

(I’ve no experience of Lancaster but live south of it and we go there a lot just for a walk)

@ErrolTheDragon Thanks for that info

There’s loads of parking on campus for open days. Come off the M6 at Lancaster south and it’s a straight road. Look at different accommodation, my dc was in county in the townhouses

@Astleyxyz Did DC say whether they got motorway noise where they were? Thanks

No, he never mentioned it. He lived in town for 2nd and 3rd year

My DS was in Cartmel for 3 years, he was happy enough there because he likes a quiet life, but it's a bit on the fringes (lots of overseas students) and it can be a long walk in the rain to lectures, bars, shops etc. And it's Lancashire - it rains all the time.

@Astleyxyz Any issues with getting Y2 onwards town accommodation? Ta.

My DC has recently graduated.

He chose a townhouse because they were known to be social- having previously been a bit quiet at 6th form he wanted to make changes. He had a blast. He had a core group of 6 really good friends from the townhouse who then lived together in y2 and 3. He was county. There was some talk about closing the grizedale bar at the end of last year but I can’t remember the e act details. I think the compromise was reduced hours but I’m not 100% sure so make sure you check it out.

No issues with getting accommodation but they do sign up really (scarily so) early- so I think it was November in the first year for second year housing. Luckily for him they stayed really good friends, no significant dramas or falling out the whole 3 years they lived together. They used Yellow door lettings for both years and didn’t have any major problems. Minor issues that they contacted YD about and were rectified fairly quickly (but that may be as one housemate was super organised and efficient!)

No issues but they did get in early. He had a nice flat next to the station with views of the castle.

It's Grizedale! Son spent his first year in a Grizedale townhouse - great fun, stayed friends and flatmates with that gang throughout.

Superb uni, big enough to have fun, small enough to not overwhelm, excellent teaching.

Would echo the early start on sorting 2nd year accommodation - but its generally good and cheap!

Enjoy!

The townhouses seem to be really popular - 12 students, 4 to a floor sharing 2 bathrooms per floor. Ground floor is a living area and downstairs loo. They got regular visits from the campus ducks. Did an Asda delivery for groceries. I think only County and Grizedale have them but I might be wrong. DS chose County as he did law and it’s literally next to it as he’s a lazy arse !

Our son had a flat in Fylde basically overlooking the motorway - Fylde is the Motorway side of the campus and his flat was facing the motorway. Yes, you hear the constant traffic noise, but you zone out eventually. It's quite well shielded by lots of trees, so a lot quieter in Summer due to the leaves, but noisier in Winter when the leaves have dropped and you can see the traffic. Furness is the next block, next to Fylde so is the same. The other colleges to the North of the campus seem a little bit further away from the motorway and the colleges in the newer South West area of the campus are too far away to hear the motorway. But, really, it's only the flats actually overlooking the motorway which will have the noise, and that's probably only 10% of the total number of flats in each college.

Staying on campus for Y2 (and Y3) is an option if they don't want to move into Lancaster or don't have any close enough friends to share with. They seem to keep a few flats in each block for "returning" students as they call them, which will also often include those returning after their year in industry, masters and phd students, and also foreign students on their sandwich year who've chosen to come to Lancaster for it!

@WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing @Astleyxyz

Please can I ask you more about the social life/night life? DS has a preconception that as Lancaster (city) is small the social life might be limited. I pointed out that this means the campus social life will be bigger (I went to a campus uni and certainly found this to be the case). His other toprunner is Leeds, which obviously has the huge student union venue on campus, plus the bars/clubs of a major city.

He'd definitely apply to a townhouse...

@Newlittlerescue The colleges have their own bars and there’s lots of inter college sports and rivalry. They have a big varsity competition with York every year called Roses (roses are red !). It suited DS because he’s not a big party goer. There’s pubs and clubs in town, it’s a small city and it’s not far from Preston or Blackpool. Campus feels very safe. You can get a straight train to Manchester. DS likes to hike and it’s very close to the Lake District so they were up there a lot - good if you’re into out doors stuff.

Lancaster has loads of bars and restaurants and some nice venues like Kanteena. There’s loads going on for a small city. I was a student there a while ago and stuck in the area. Would definitely recommend.

Sure, admittedly first term I think my boy thought it was a bit quiet when he heard about mates at bigger unis. The townhouse was great for this though - it threw 12 of them together so the chances of finding pals was much better than say a 4 person accomm.

However, and I think this can apply to any student, anywhere - once he joined in a society, it was hockey in his case - the social life was great (if you're into sport the Wed night socials are the big night out) and he really felt the benefit of a smaller, but close and friendly environment. It's not got the club scene that say Leeds has, but it isn't as faceless perhaps either, and the students really feel that the town is "theirs" if you see what I mean - a real sense of belonging. And certainly cheaper to live as a student, which makes life more manageable.

He also looked at Liverpool so did wrestle with the same sort of dilemma! We haven't regretted the Lancaster choice at all, he had 3 great years there. And is now finding out what big city rent is like in London!! Incidentally sharing with a Lancaster buddy :)

Loved the Roses! Went to see it a couple of times - fantastic atmosphere!