LSE accommodation- Carr Saunders or garden hall?

Please help me make a decision
Carr Saunders - pros
- I can get a queen sized bed :colone:

- near to the campus
- is catered so I’ll save money
- eligible for the LSE accommodation bursary so rent and food costs could be as low as £5K per year which is less debt and leaves me more money to spend
- costs only £5-7,000 annually so I would have easily £5 left to spend on transport, nights out etc; I would be able to live a lot more comfortable if I choose Carr Saunders
- has a lot of plug sockets so I could bring a mini fridge to store food and know no one can steal it
- at the end of the day it had all the faculties I need🤷*♀️

Carr Saunders - cons
- shared toilet
- shared bathroom with a lot more people, plus the loos are look tiny
- really isn’t as pretty as garden halls and I don’t like the facilities as much as those of garden halls
- 31 week contract means I will have to move out each holiday but this isn’t a huge issue

Garden Halls pros
- so many facilities and gardens and is prettier so I would definitely enjoy living here a lot more
- larger room than Carr Saunders
- had a private water closet
- it’s furbishment is just so pretty and easily beats garden halls in this regard (I’ve looked at both facilities’ virtual tours)
- 40 week contract means that I can leave my stuff over the holidays
- I can cook whatever I want!!

GH cons
- cooking is time consuming
- cost!! The cheapest one is £10K annually for rent alone :s-smilie:

- on top of that, it is NOT eligible for the LSE accommodation bursary. I plan to apply for the scholarship but getting that really is not guaranteed - if I get it, living costs will be fine but if I don’t then I might struggle a bit to afford transport and food
- the only plug sockets are near the bed/placed awkwardly so I won’t be able to have a mini fridge/freezer to give me the peace of mind that people are not going to steal my food
- self-catered which on its own is fine but when coupled with the rent cost+the fact I won’t be eligible for an accommodation bursary really worries me that I’ll need more than my (max) maintenance loan
BUT the cost of cooking may not be that bad as I plan on buying pasta in bulk, like 1KG of frozen vegetables, shopping at Lidl and local markets and buying yellow-tag items and using that app where you buy things supermarkets may throw away

Also I have family who I could go to to store food, cook etc. I’m thinking also that if the catererd meals are bland I could just buy my own spices and put them on top of what they serve??? Lol

(edited 12 months ago)

Reply 1

thegeek888

Two words...Carr Saunders!!! :biggrin:

lol

London School of Economics

London

Reply 2

sciencegcsesss

Original post by thegeek888

Two words...Carr Saunders!!! :biggrin:

lol

Thanks, can you please elaborate? :-)

Reply 3

thegeek888

Carrs Saunders

• Get a Queen Size bed.

• Very close to LSE Campus and other eating places, useful if you’re Asian or love Asian food.

• Catered food can’t be that bad surely? So you will save money.

• Eligibility for the LSE Accommodation Bursary means you’ll only pay £5,000 and have another £5,000 for exploring London or travel to other cities in Europe.

• You have so many wall sockets at Carrs Saunders that you can easily add a mini fridge

• The shared bathrooms and toilets should not be a problem, as they are ‘inspected’ every so often and cleaned by a cleaner.

• 31 week contract means, you could get LSE to store your stuff if you like? Can you?

Garden Halls

• You get to live with other University of London students, but not always LSE students?! But at Carrs Saunders, you’ll be with LSE students I presume?

• Garden Halls, may have more facilities and larger rooms and also with a private bathroom, but you could also live there in Year 2 or Year 3 surely?

• You don’t want to waste time cooking your own meals, as you will have an ‘intense’ highly pressurised workload for your LSE degree and you will spend many sleepless nights at the LSE library.

• You will definitely spend a lot of time your room and LSE library, so you would require more sockets in the wall than Garden Halls.

• Also, you will be paying almost twice the amount of rent a year at Garden Halls than Carr Saunders.

• You can also cook pasta and vegetables in the Carrs Saunders kitchens and also add ‘spices’, so you should not worry.