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Mansfield College, OxfordTSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > Oxford > Mansfield College, Oxford
LocationThe college is five minutes from the Bodleian, at most, which means five minutes from Sainsbury's. Rather central but a little further out so you don't get the noise and bustle of Broad Street. Right opposite the Postgrad centre, I can't remember the name, which means if you make friends with the postgrads you can get into what I think is the most incredible sports centre and bar I've seen in all my trawlings of uni open days. I did have to sneak in to see it, though. AccommodationThe added bonus of Mansfield is that it has amongst the cheapest accommodation fees in the whole uni (definitely in the bottom 3 I think). For the year 2009/2010 it was £1000 per term accommodation. The college provides everyone with a room on the main site in their 1st year, of which some are huge, but all are decent sized. Everyone is also entitled to a college room either in the main site, in a college owned block in Cowley (Ablethorpe) or in a college owned house in their 3rd year (or 4th year if you're doing a 4 year course) and there is a ballot to decide who gets to live where. We have to live out in the 2nd year and most people end up renting houses with friendship groups and paying at least £4000 in rent plus bills - however this is for a 12 month tenancy, rather than just term time, useful if you're preparing for finals. The non-ensuite rooms have a sink, and have shared bathrooms with a maximum of 4. The baths are surprisingly clean for shared baths, the cleaners (or scouts as they are called) will clean shared ones daily (I think) and ensuites, along with all the rooms, weekly. The shower is in the bath if you see what I mean, not a separate unit. A - D block are shared, E and the Garden Building are ensuite, but you don't get a choice as to which building you stay in. The ensuite rooms are smaller, so you're either getting a large room, or an ensuite. In the Ablethorpe annexe, single bed sitting rooms with shared self-catering and bathroom facilities for 3rd/4th years and Visiting Students was £391.50 per month including utilities on a 9 month tenancy. The rooms go from small (one bed size) to large (enough room for two beds, but still single occupancy - the second bed is used during interviews). The small rooms aren't even that small. The standard kit is a bed, desk, chair and wardrobe. You are allowed your own kettle and to rent a mini(notsomini)-fridge from college, but you're not allowed a toaster. There are two kitchens for students, and as the college is so small, sharing the eight hobs is no problem - but it is still cheaper to eat in hall. Your room gets cleaned every week with a hoovering and your bathroom cleaned, and if you leave your bin out the night before it will be empty by the time you wake up. The cleaning staff have been known to knock and walk straight in but if you don't mind someone seeing you passed out from the night before this won't matter, and it's rare anyway. I was told you can expect to budget about £200 a month on stuff apart from accommodation if you don't go out that much. If you do go out a lot, push that up to £300 perhaps. FoodThe breakfast is continental every day, at £2.20. There's cereal, bread, jam, honey, toasting machine, tea and juice, that kind of thing. On Tuesday and Sunday, at £3.36, you get a full cooked breakkie. Breakfast's at 8-8:30 weekdays and Saturday, 8:30-9 on Sunday. (This might have changed now but I'm not sure.) The average lunch is supposed to cost £3.78, the same for the average dinner. The prices for 2009/2010 went from 71p for a jacket potato at lunch, £1.86/£2.96/£3.60 for other meals. All the money goes on your battels, which you pay at the end of each term. Formal hall is twice a week. The 3 course is £7.75, the 4 course mega-posh black tie is £12.75 (I think). The chaplain said he spends about £10 a day on food, a student said he spent about a fiver. It all goes on to your battels which you pay at the end of term. The hall is really pretty, with a gorgeous ceiling. It's also small enough that you don't feel like you're in some overwhelmingly posh place. Mansfield supposedly has some of the best food in Oxford - because it's not got as many people as some of the bigger colleges, the food tends to be better made. Social SpacesThe bar is pretty small and staffed by students. It has a vaulted ceiling though, being a bit like a cellar really. A pint of Carlsberg costs £1.50. Pub quizzes, kareoke nights, and much more has recently started happening, so it's getting much more fun. The JCR has been refurbished, and has two sofas, lots of chairs, a pool table, a ping pong table, some games machines, a tv, a dvd player and a radio. It's where the bops are held, and it's a great place just to hang out, people can normally be found there. It's huge as well. You're not allowed to walk on the grass (unless it's summer and you're playing croquet!) The chapel is absolutely beautiful, and it's got a piano that you can use as long as it's not in use and you request the key from the porters. Library and ComputingThere's three libraries, a main one, a law one, and a theology one. You can access these libraries 24/7, using the key you'd use for your room. You can also check online if they have the book you need before you go. There's also a small computing suite, with maybe 10 computers and 2 printers, meaning you don't need to bring one with you. WelfareThe chaplain is called Tanya, and is absolutely lovely. She's very kind and understanding. There's also a...welfare tutor, for want of a better term, who is again, lovely. The JCR (that's the students) have a womens rep, mens rep and lgbt rep, all of whom are wonderful, and all members of the JCR have had welfare training. Basically, they're all lovely. AtmosphereSeeing as the college is so small the social dynamic seems to vary quite a bit from year to year. I feel like I know most of my year, but regularly go out with the same group of people (which is fine by me) and a lot of my year appear to be the same, but in the other years people seem to socialise in larger, more random (spontaneous) groups. Though on the whole everyone knows each other and there are usually a group of people in the bar who will then go on somewhere, so you should be able to find a group of people to go out with when you want to. Due to being so small, you won't just befriend your year group, you'll get to know everyone pretty well, and there's lots to do other than work. FacilitiesThe college doesn't have any of it's own sports facilities, except for sharing a boathouse with St Hildas and a playing field rented off Merton. There's lots of sport going on though, and our netball team do very well. We have rugby, rowers, football, pretty much everything really. Mansfield is not particularly renowned for its musical tradition but there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved in music. We have our own choir, which is non-auditioning and fairly laid-back, or there are lots of other choirs, some more impressive, at other colleges and university based choirs that sings all different styles of music. We don't have an orchestra/band but there are uni based orchestras generally aimed for those of grade 8+ standard, as well as more relaxed ones in other colleges that you can join. There is also a huge range of uni-wide bands, groups and ensembles. We have a beautiful grand piano in the chapel which you can practise on. Student-eye viewTo be honest, a lot of people don't put it as first choice, but far more should, it is by far the most beautiful of the non-medieval colleges, and of course significantly less oversubscribed than the medieval colleges. It is very pretty, has old looking buildings, and it seems much more spacious than a lot of other colleges considering its size (though we don't have great gardens like Trinity or anything - its the non enclosed large circular quad that does it). A decent place for sport, though due to the small amount of people it depends on your intake, but very nice if you want a modern college with a sociable feel.
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