Seeking Goodenough College Review

has anyone on here lived at Goodenough College?

before taking the time to fill out their lengthy application i'm looking for a fair, honest review. i can't seem to find one.

their website is conspicuously missing photographs of room interiors (there are one or two pics, but nothing that seems to fully document what each level/category of accommodation looks like in reality).

any first-hand knowledge of goodenough college or feedback from those who have lived there would be most welcome. thank you!

Yes, and my Goodenough College review is very negative.

And I'm so cross about it I'm going to go into great detail.

Firstly, their internet is consistently unreliable as the wifi continuously cuts out. If - and that's a big if - their network works it's so slow it's maddening. Want to download that book chapter for your course? That'll take 40 minutes! Want to catch up on some watchseries TV on your night off? That's impossible! Want to gchat in real time with your friends back home? Ha ha ha, NO!

It's absurd that Goodenough College has not made improving their network a larger priority, but here we are in May 2015 and they absolutely haven't. If you live in any of their accommodation you're totally at the mercy of their unreliable, infuriating internet. If digital connectivity is important to you do not move here, seriously.

Do you like things that run efficiently, smoothly and make sense? If so, do not move here.

The college seems to have gotten themselves into a pickle a few years ago by agreeing to a loan with exceptionally bad terms. (This speaks to the incompetence of their management who agreed to such a loan in the first place, but moving on.) Caveat emptor Goodenough applicants! This loan with bad terms is coming due and Goodenough College is raising rents. You won't get better accommodation or more service for this increased letting fee, and this rise in rent is definitely not due to the wonderfully vague excuse of 'rising costs'. The increased rents in 2015-16 and beyond are due to Goodenough College's poor planning when they took out their large loan and did not consider its longterm consequences.

I believe the college used the aforementioned loan monies to renovate one of their halls, William Goodenough House. (The also renovated London House more recently.) The WGH renovation might have been all right when it first opened, but in 2015 the entire place is in dire need of refurbishments. There is disgusting damp in the lower floor of their JCC wing with all kinds of mouldy fungus growing in the ceiling (especially by the laundry room if you're reading this GC administrators). Throughout WGH the walls are scuffed, nicked and dirty. The mirror has been cracked and broken in one of WGH's elevators for 6 months. The furniture provided with your room looks tired, and the mattresses feel like something you'd find in an underfunded NHS clinic from the 1970s. And it goes on, and on and on. For these prices, which are by no means cheap, I think the state of the building is unacceptable.

If you choose not to sign up for Goodenough College's meal plans (which really I wouldn't because I found Chartwells catering food to be mediocre at best), it's likely you'll have to travel if you want to cook in a proper kitchen. All floors are not equipped with communal kitchens, but rather have 'butteries' which include a microwave, a sink and nothing more. So if you live on the 4th floor (you'll be randomly assigned and cannot choose where you live) and you want to roast a chicken or make a stir-fry, be prepared to trek through long corridors and down stairwells carrying all your food, cooking equipment and utensils to reach an actual hob and oven. It gets old really quickly.

The location is not all leafy utopia as depicted in the Goodenough College online brochure photographs (which a resident took and edited for them yet received zero compensation, but that's besides the point). Check the current members' facebook group for posts on the numerous muggings, thefts etc. In the immediate area surrounding the college's buildings are a number of council estates. For example, Akbar House 4 Guilford Place WC1N or Gatesden Cromer Street WC1H are within spitting distance of the college; you can verify this on google maps. I'm truly not one for sweeping generalisations, but by and large I find the people living in these large council estates nearby to be uncomfortably different to the postgrads at Goodenough College. I wish that weren't the case, but this is what surrounds Goodenough College and it does not make for an easy population mix.

I wish anyone had posted a Goodenough College review like this before I moved in, so I'm hoping this proves helpful to at least one prospective resident whose considering filling out their application. I so wish I'd waited and found private accommodation before I moved in.

If you want a quiet, super safe area free from crime where you can walk home after dark without fear of having your smartphone stolen by bicycle-riding thieves who work in pairs, this isn't it. If you want blazing fast, or even decently fast internet to surf, skype and study, you won't get it here. If you want a well-run organisation that keeps its waste to a minimum and its buildings to a high standard, unfortunately that's the opposite to the experience I had.

So yeah. As I said my Goodenough College review is very negative.

I'll keep this thread saved just in case I can answer any questions that anyone else might have as a follow up.

I'm waiting on my application result, too. Although I only submitted it a week ago. I went to the tour and I want to get in even more now. I don't think it would be for everybody, but I don't need to cook much anyway, I eat a lot of salad and yoghurt and other things you can store in a fridge and you have a fridge in your room. I'd probably try out the meal plans though, they look great value.

I asked how long it takes for an answer and they said now they churn them out quicker. Have you heard anything Rachana?

In regards to your question, have you put a deposit on urbanest? If you can hold it I'd wait for a response from Goodenough. This is the only bad review I've seen, no offence, but any type of accommodation will not be for everyone. I think Goodenough looks like a dream to me.

i went for a tour at goodenough when i was visiting london in march, and while the grounds are really nice, the rooms are not worth the amount you would pay. we saw a studio which was advertised as able to fit two people and there is no way that i would live there with my partner. for one person it would be fine, but its also outrageously expensive for one person and you could find much better elsewhere... we did!

Punctuation can i ask when you applied and when you heard back? I applied July 27 and nothing yet. I called and they just brushed me off and said i'll know when I know type thing. I'm so stressed!

I got an offer today for an ensuite room as well . I accepted and I'm really excited!