First year living in loughborough private halls?

I'll most likely be living in private halls when I start uni this year (graphic communication & illustration) for financial reasons and i'm mostly looking at The Faundry. It looks fairly nice and ends up cheaper than the uni accommodation i was originally considering, even for the full 48 weeks.
It's a 15-min walk from my department and I'll be visiting my boyfriend fairly often, and I'd also like to get a job in town, so the location seems ideal.

I have a few worries though..

Will living in private halls impact my uni experience drastically?
I'm personally not interested in freshers at all, drinking/clubbing/going out etc just isn't my thing so i'm not too worried about that, but i've heard it could get lonely since most private halls are full of post-grad and there isn't as much emphasis on the socialising. I'd like to make some good friends, whether theyre from my course or halls.

Has anybody had any experience living at The Faundry? I've tried looking around but can't seem to find much. How does it compare to the other private halls? (asha house, kingfisher, waterways etc)

Thanks!!

Reply 1

pizzanomics

Original post by emtera

Whatever you put into uni is exactly what you'll get out of it. So if you do go ahead and apply for a private hall then as long as you make an effort to socialise with people on your course and in your flat and the rest of your block, your social life wont be that bad.

However I'd highly recommend living in one of the uni halls on campus, at least for your first year, if it's possible. You'll make so many more friends across your hall and you'll be involved in the 'bubble' on campus, as well as being closer to all your lectures and nights out and other events on campus, plus the library and other study spaces too. Being a campus uni you'll find that most of the action is on campus. That's not to say nothing happens in town, but it's a lot less than on campus - at least in my (very limited) experience.

On campus halls have a student led committee (basically identical to a society committe) who will organise events for you all year and will shape your freshers. Private halls don't have anything like this afaik, and neither does any other university in the country to my knowledge! I would make the most of that - it's an amazing system and I wish more universities did it.

You say you're not interested in freshers (and don't think I'm being harsh here - I'm on your side! Having done it once before and having to do it again, freshers, whilst all a good laugh, is definitely overrated), but if you don't get involved at all, especially being off-campus, you will find it relatively difficult to integrate. You have to at least make some effort during freshers. You don't have to drink, but if you're just going to flat out say no to everything then you're setting yourself up for failure.

But yeah.. On campus accommodation all the way. Save private halls for 2nd year onwards if you can't get a house.