[ttoby]

(Original post by kerribbz_x)
not going to lie, I think I have pretty much stalked the whole of this thread!!

Impressive. Some of the earlier stuff is a bit out of date now. You can't smoke in bedrooms any more for example.

[TheTallOne]

(Original post by Martik)
Hi TheTallOne
Was wondering.. is Lakeside socially isolated?
and what's the best accom. for someone who wants to work well, but needs a good lively bunch who ultimately like to socialise with and go out in birmingham etc with, and loads of stuff happens, for both en-suite/non ensuite rooms?

For undergraduates who are from the UK? In some sense yes, perhaps because of the long 39 week lets and being the most expensive annual let (for 2010-11) available to first year undergrads. This causes a greater number of international students who are more reluctant to mix with the Home students. I'm not saying that this always the case, but there is always a tendency to stick to your own social groups.

The small number of people living there - 150 or so, OK seeing as you are all bunched together - it wouldn't be difficult to find people you enjoy spending time with. I mean other halls might only have 100 or so per block (or less) and they get along fine.

However, the location can be another factor. Being a good 10-15 minute walk from main campus means that you have to travel a fair distance to get to the bus stop if you are interested in heading to Cov/Leam/Brum and could be a factor in people saying 'I'm too tired/can't be bothered to go out.' Additionally, it can be more effort to get friends living in other halls to have a quick visit, or visit friend's rooms for that matter, so I knew a few people who actually spent most of their time with friends on main campus rather than in HB/LS.

The bottom line is that if you go out and look for friends and make the most of uni, you will find them. Find someone else and visit other flats in the arrivals weekend and meet people also in halls. Beyond that, there are people you meet on your course or through societies and sports clubs, although that is somewhat unrelated to which halls you are in.

If I were applying in 2010-11, I would have chosen JM, Rootes, Tocil, Westwood, Cryfield as my options (Arthur Vick, Benefactors, Heronbank, Lakeside and Whitefields were the other options - Bluebell, Claycroft, Hurst and Redfern were not available to UG Freshers in 2010-11), but there are other factors behind that as well, namely location and price. But I would personally avoid HB/LS because it is on the opposite side of campus to where my lectures/department is.

You can still get work done in the most lively of halls, but perhaps it is more difficult to get people to go out in the quieter halls. Who you get comes down to luck as well, and often that makes things easier.

The more quiet halls are HB/LS/AV, the more lively are Rootes. JM, Tocil, Westwood, Cryfield, Benefactors and Whitefields lay somewhere inbetween. Tocil and Whitefields are slightly different as the flats become more isolated so how active each flat is varies.

[Pigeon93]

(Original post by kerribbz_x)
not going to lie, I think I have pretty much stalked the whole of this thread!!

And which hall have you decided to pick? Im not bothered to do the same
JM seems nice. Bluebell has the 39 week lets though.

[TheTallOne]

Remember, if things go the same as last year, you need to choose 5 or 6 preferences, at most one can be a 30 week en suite and at most one can be a 39 week en suite.

[Prikstera]

(Original post by TheTallOne)
Remember, if things go the same as last year, you need to choose 5 or 6 preferences, at most one can be a 30 week en suite and at most one can be a 39 week en suite.

I thought you choose 3 ?

[TheTallOne]

(Original post by Prikstera)
I thought you choose 3 ?

In 2009-10, you only had to choose a minimum 3, at most one could be an en-suite.
In 2010-11, you had to choose a minimum of 5, at most one could be a 30 wk en-suite and at most one a 39 wk en-suite.
You can choose a max of 6 preferences. In both cases, you choose a first preference, then second, etc..

I don't know what the situation is for 2011-12, unfortunately, but if there is a note somewhere which says something I would be grateful

[Elasticity]

(Original post by Martik)
Hi TheTallOne
Was wondering.. is Lakeside socially isolated?
and what's the best accom. for someone who wants to work well, but needs a good lively bunch who ultimately like to socialise with and go out in birmingham etc with, and loads of stuff happens, for both en-suite/non ensuite rooms?

I unlike TheTallOne am actually a first year who lives in lakeside, at home for Easter holidays though at the moment.I personally don't mind the walk to and from campus, typically I leave at quarter to or ten to the hour to get to my lectures on time (which start on the hour).

Socially, yes, Lakeside is isolated. It seems a difficult challenge for people here to get other people to come here for predrinking before nights out - it's only happened 3-4 times that I can think of. People living more central in campus can't be bothered walking to Lakeside to visit etc. Lakeside also has a high proportion of international students. I don't mean to generalise or stereotype but a lot of them are relatively quiet (compared to British people anyways) and a lot of them socialise mainly with people from their own country or other internationals (fair play to them, I would do the same if I was studying in China).

Lakeside also seemingly has an issue with flat assignment. When applying for accommodation you are given the option to write a brief bit about yourself so that you can be put into a flat/kitchen with similar people. I figure whoever made the decision about who lives where in the Lakeside undergraduate block ignored this (possibly to prevent complaints about noisy flats etc?) but it kinda sucks. There is not a single flat that is full of lively people who are up for going out, drinking games etc. Instead we are all dotted around over many flats (6+). My flat only has 4 people who are really quite fun and go out a lot and we all put down we were loud etc on the application. The other 4 - 2 are very quiet British students, 1 is an international student who is very quiet and I rarely ever see and the other is an international who socialises with other people from their country mainly. By contrast, in Rootes the general principle seems to be that loud/social people are given flats on the ground and lower floors, and quieter people live upstairs. When I visit Rootes in particular (I have a friend from secondary school there who lives on the ground floor) it is a lot more lively than Lakeside ever has been, and literally everyone on the ground floor goes out and they are all very friendly and fun.

So yeah personally I would not advise applying to Lakeside as a first year. I imagine its a great accommodation for 3rd year and maybe postgrads (not sure if any of the blocks are post grads), but I wish I had not put it so high on my selection.

Which reminds me, I know of people who put Lakeside as their 4th choice (out of 5 or 6 I can't remember) and still got it. So I think you can afford to put it pretty low on your choices and still have a reasonable chance of getting it if you do really prefer an ensuite. Put more popular halls above it in your choices so you have a chance of getting those.

[kerribbz_x]

(Original post by Pigeon93)
And which hall have you decided to pick? Im not bothered to do the same
JM seems nice. Bluebell has the 39 week lets though.

Haha, yeah don't, I got to know the ones I liked through comments I think, but took ageeeeesss!! I'm going to go for Jack Martin (hopefully will get one of the new kitchens), and then rootes will be my second =)

Yeah bluebell looked great! Although it's flats isn't it?! I think I want to go for halls

[TheTallOne]

(Original post by kerribbz_x)
Yeah bluebell looked great! Although it's flats isn't it?! I think I want to go for halls

The flats are in blocks - there are 4 flats per floor. Each flat has a front door so it is up to you and your flatmates if you want to keep it open or not.

[rachelhyoo]

Could anyone tell me how do Tocil, Whitefields, and Rootes differ?
I would really appreciate that!

[cmstringer1]

Do i have a chance of getting into Rootes if i have Warwick as an insurance? Or is Westwood really the best i'm going to get? I read that somewhere....tbh i'll be happy anywhere as long as it's on campus!

[TheTallOne]

(Original post by rachelhyoo)
Could anyone tell me how do Tocil, Whitefields, and Rootes differ?
I would really appreciate that!

Check out the guide at the start of the thread for information on that - people have given reviews for each of the halls so you can also gain a sense for the environment.

[TheTallOne]

(Original post by cmstringer1)
Do i have a chance of getting into Rootes if i have Warwick as an insurance? Or is Westwood really the best i'm going to get? I read that somewhere....tbh i'll be happy anywhere as long as it's on campus!

There's no harm in trying

In 2009-10, some people got AV through insurance. But in 2010-11, the uni overshot its target and most people who came through insurance had to live off campus.

[matt2k8]

(Original post by cmstringer1)
Do i have a chance of getting into Rootes if i have Warwick as an insurance? Or is Westwood really the best i'm going to get? I read that somewhere....tbh i'll be happy anywhere as long as it's on campus!

I doubt you'll end up getting put off campus this year as they have put up the entry standards for lots of courses/ built extra accomodation so the whole over-recruitment stuff won't happen again.

[rachelhyoo]

(Original post by TheTallOne)
Check out the guide [thread-338591]at the start of the thread[/thread] for information on that - people have given reviews for each of the halls so you can also gain a sense for the environment.

thanks alot!

[viola146]

I'm not sure I like the idea of having a cleaner come into your room- do all the blocks have this? How have you found it, if you're there?
Thanks

[ttoby]

(Original post by viola146)
I'm not sure I like the idea of having a cleaner come into your room- do all the blocks have this? How have you found it, if you're there?
Thanks

There are some halls where you don't get your room cleaned. Westwood is one of them (I'm not sure about the others). Personally I was quite glad that our rooms weren't cleaned because we didn't get on that well with our cleaner. However others will have likely had different experiences.

[Narev]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it true that this year, the only rooms where cleaners go into are ensuite (to clean the toilets) - in order to save money, cleaners don't clean the rooms now, but just the common areas..

[mlleflorence]

Last year this thread definitely helped me on choosing accommodation. If you want a party hall, choose JM or Rootes. I'm at Rootes, and life cannot get any better. People here are lovely, you meet plenty of people and there's always something going on around here. The fact that I live on ground floor makes everything even more lively (top floor's very quiet, which is a good thing if you want to work but want to socialise at the same time. Ground floor's where the party's at!). I took TSR's advice last year and it worked for me. It can be quite loud if you want to work quiety or want to sleep early, but it depends on which block/which floor you're on.
Otherwise, there's an on-going competition between JM and AV. I have quite a lot of friends living around there and JM is definitely more sociable than AV (no offence!)
Westwood almost has a community of its own. I've only been there twice so I can't really tell you too much about it, my friends like it there but they would much rather live closer to everything.
If I sound boastful about Rootes, it's because I do love it and my other friends living in other halls tell me they're jealous that I'm staying there.

Good luck!

[mlleflorence]

(Original post by Narev)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it true that this year, the only rooms where cleaners go into are ensuite (to clean the toilets) - in order to save money, cleaners don't clean the rooms now, but just the common areas..

I'm not sure about other halls, but our cleaners hoover our rooms every fortnight (you'd know, because they put signs outside your door telling you to remove your things from the floor so they can vaccum in peace).