The Student Room Group
Waterfront bar, King's College
King's College London
London

Mature students, King's, Sept 2012

Slightly concerned about accommodation in London which is near the Strand campus. Never lived in London and no offence to the 18 year olds on here but i don't fancy being in Halls with guys who are going get battered every night. I'm not anti drinking but not keen on the frequent temptation. Does anyone have experience they could share to help, at all?

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Reply 1
Hi,

I am in the same situation. I am not from the UK and don´t know the area so my advice is maybe not very good....sort of the blind leading the blind :wink: but after carefully reading about King´s accommodation I put The Rectory as my first choice. It´s for mature UG and PG and the rooms aren´t that many so I hope it will be at least a little quiet :wink:
Waterfront bar, King's College
King's College London
London
Reply 2
I put The Rectory as my first choice as well :-) Hopefully we both get it!
Reply 3
The Rectory is my first choice too, so I figured I'd post here. Don't know if I fancy my chances of getting in though, given that there's only 24 rooms :smile:

I'm pretty easy going, so I'm not too concerned about ending up in halls with teenagers. I think I'm more worried about kitchen mess than late night noise, and I suppose that's just as likely in mature accommodation as it is in standard halls :smile:

I've been looking at private housing in and around Lambeth/Southwark as a contingency, but it's quite a bit more expensive than halls.
Reply 4
Why live so close? You're right, around there it will be very expensive, but this is london so travel is not a problem. Look a bit further out would be my advice, you dont have to go far to find cheaper places, elephant and castle is 20 mins from strand by bus but is much more affordable for example.
Reply 5
I'm 21, not sure if that constitutes a mature student but I was in a similar situation recently. I'm doing an MA at Kings next year. I know its going to be a lot of hard work, so I really didn't want to be ending up in a flat full of freshers. No offence to them, but its just not what I want at this stage. Anyway, I've accepted a place in some private halls where all the rooms are self contained studios. I've been to view quite a few of these in London, and on almost every occasion the person showing me round said that they were popular with mature students and postgrads. It appealed to me because they all had common rooms and social events so I won't be completely isolated, but when I need to get on with work I'll hopefully be able to get some peace and quiet.
Original post by NeuralYelir
I'm 21, not sure if that constitutes a mature student but I was in a similar situation recently. I'm doing an MA at Kings next year. I know its going to be a lot of hard work, so I really didn't want to be ending up in a flat full of freshers. No offence to them, but its just not what I want at this stage. Anyway, I've accepted a place in some private halls where all the rooms are self contained studios. I've been to view quite a few of these in London, and on almost every occasion the person showing me round said that they were popular with mature students and postgrads. It appealed to me because they all had common rooms and social events so I won't be completely isolated, but when I need to get on with work I'll hopefully be able to get some peace and quiet.


I'm 21 as well and will be starting at King's this fall, MA in Child Studies. Where are the studios you visited? How much are they??
Finding accommodation is going to be the hardest step for me especially being from overseas! -__-!
Thanks in Advance!
Reply 7
Original post by Meallicanoffer
I'm 21 as well and will be starting at King's this fall, MA in Child Studies. Where are the studios you visited? How much are they??
Finding accommodation is going to be the hardest step for me especially being from overseas! -__-!
Thanks in Advance!


If you're from overseas then you should stand quite a good chance of getting into Kings halls, they told me that places are allocated to international students as a priority. I think they have some halls that are just for postgrads, I didn't look in to it too much though as they gave me a strong impression that I wouldn't get a place.
If that doesn't work out or you'd rather go private then there are loads of private halls which offer studios listed on accomodationforstudents.com. Thats were I found the ones I'm going to be in. I went to view quite a few places before I settled on one so I've been all over really. There’s plenty of choice so you should be able to find somewhere that suits you & your budget. They are more expensive than Kings halls, the prices tend to go up as you get more central.
Hope that helps!
Reply 8
The private halls tend to be very expensive, at least by standards. Much more expensive than a flatshare. Flatshares do not have to be with other students, due to living costs in london many people in full time employment also share, so the chances of being stuck with a flat full of freshers is minimal. I was 22 when I started at King's, and that was an undergrad degree.
Reply 9
Hi

I stayed at Great Dover Street a couple of years ago. Once you've moved in there are always adverts for people who want to swap sites, although Im not sure how successful this would be. A little tip, if you can somehow wangle it to be sharing with nurses you should be ok because they start clinics (including nightshifts) almost straight away. As a result they're normally either out or asleep = quiet life. Although there is everyone else...I remember one morning around 5ish getting an alarm call from the courtyard "RISE AND SHINE MOTHERFCUKERS". Have to admit though it was kinda funny.
Reply 10
Original post by Meallicanoffer
I'm 21 as well and will be starting at King's this fall, MA in Child Studies. Where are the studios you visited? How much are they??
Finding accommodation is going to be the hardest step for me especially being from overseas! -__-!
Thanks in Advance!


I got the offer for MA Child Studies as well. I am a mature student from oversea and put Stamford Street Apartments as my first choice. Nice to meet you :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by ashjune
I put The Rectory as my first choice as well :-) Hopefully we both get it!


Yes I hope we both get in but I am a little worried about it because there are only 24 rooms, but best to be optimistic until we get an answer! :smile: What are you going to study at KCL? And are you from the UK?
Reply 12
Original post by gtfo
The Rectory is my first choice too, so I figured I'd post here. Don't know if I fancy my chances of getting in though, given that there's only 24 rooms :smile:

I'm pretty easy going, so I'm not too concerned about ending up in halls with teenagers. I think I'm more worried about kitchen mess than late night noise, and I suppose that's just as likely in mature accommodation as it is in standard halls :smile:

I've been looking at private housing in and around Lambeth/Southwark as a contingency, but it's quite a bit more expensive than halls.


Hahaha! I also thought about the mess in the kitchen and bathrooms ( I think we are very mature :wink:) but I hope you get a room. I also looked at private housing but then I decided to first apply for KCL accommodation and if I don´t like it that much or find something cheaper I would try to change my accommodation arrangements :smile:
Original post by seraph_
I got the offer for MA Child Studies as well. I am a mature student from oversea and put Stamford Street Apartments as my first choice. Nice to meet you :smile:


Hi!!! Where are you from? I haven't decided on where to choose for accommodation as yet, the accommodation in the city is SO much!!

Do you know anyone else who will be starting the MA for Child Studies in the Fall?
Reply 14
Original post by MsGmm1
Yes I hope we both get in but I am a little worried about it because there are only 24 rooms, but best to be optimistic until we get an answer! :smile: What are you going to study at KCL? And are you from the UK?


I'll be studying Organisational Psychiatry. I'm from the States! Originally California, now I live in Texas. What about you?
Reply 15
Original post by ashjune
I'll be studying Organisational Psychiatry. I'm from the States! Originally California, now I live in Texas. What about you?



I will be studying Child and Adolescent Mental Health and coming from Iceland :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by Meallicanoffer
Hi!!! Where are you from? I haven't decided on where to choose for accommodation as yet, the accommodation in the city is SO much!!

Do you know anyone else who will be starting the MA for Child Studies in the Fall?


I'm from Macau. Actually I'm still in a dilemma in choosing between KCL or Edinburgh.
How about you? What accommodation would you prefer more? I have chosen Stamford Street as first choice as it's really close the Waterloo campus.
You are the first one whom I know starts the MA Child Studies in the fall, looking forward to starting the course :smile:
Original post by seraph_
I'm from Macau. Actually I'm still in a dilemma in choosing between KCL or Edinburgh.
How about you? What accommodation would you prefer more? I have chosen Stamford Street as first choice as it's really close the Waterloo campus.
You are the first one whom I know starts the MA Child Studies in the fall, looking forward to starting the course :smile:


I've accepted my offer to King's =] I'm excited to start this fall. I'm looking into getting a studio or one bedroom as I don't really want to live on campus but I'm not to sure where to start looking!
Original post by ashjune
I'll be studying Organisational Psychiatry. I'm from the States! Originally California, now I live in Texas. What about you?


Yay someone else from the states!
Reply 19
Original post by Meallicanoffer
I've accepted my offer to King's =] I'm excited to start this fall. I'm looking into getting a studio or one bedroom as I don't really want to live on campus but I'm not to sure where to start looking!


You can try: http://www.housing.london.ac.uk/cms/ or http://www.spareroom.co.uk/ :smile:

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