TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > University of Oxford > Oxford College Pros and Cons

This page includes views of current students as to the good and bad points about individual Oxford colleges. Feel free to add your own views, especially if they refer to one of the colleges in the To Do section! Remember that many of the points below are opinions and may not be a true representation of what the college is like. Sensibly, you are advised not to base your decision on the college to apply to solely on this article.

Balliol College

The Good Bits

• Brilliant JCR. We own the bar, arguably the best in Oxford and one of the only student run ones. It's really friendly and cheap - especially on Crazy Tuesdays, when spirits are 75p! We also run the JCR Pantry - serving up greasy breakfasts all week, lunches every day but Sunday, and dinner every weekday. We turn over MORE THAN FOUR TIMES AS MUCH as any other college JCR!
• Great student support - Doug, our dean, chaplain and financial aid officer, is really approachable and will always listen to any problems. College policy is that nobody should ever have to leave because of financial problems... they have a lot of money set aside to help us out.
• We're a really laid back college which still manages to kick arse academically - we're always near the top of the Norrington table, it seems.
• When it's good, hall is really incredible. They pull out all of the stops for special dinners and stuff. We don't do formal hall, although we will have guest nights from the start of the 07-08 academic year.
• Balliol is incredibly central. Sainsbury's is just across the road, and nowhere is that far away.

The Bad Bits

• The accommodation, while pretty good, is pretty expensive. However, the deal that the JCR has negotiated means that we won't see any significant increases like in previous years, so while rents in other colleges will go up massively in the near future, ours will only increase slowly. Also, if you want accommodation in college all through your degree, that can normally be managed. 1st and 3rd years are guaranteed, and 2nd year is when most people choose to live out, but if you want to stay (normally in the Jowett Walk annex), it's pretty much guaranteed.
• Hall food, as a general rule, isn't amazing. Meat in sauce is the order of the day. The desserts, however, are always great. On the upside, it's cheap. If you pay for a term in advance, it works out to £1.78 for a two-course dinner. It's £3 cash or £2.40 if you pay on your bod card.

Brasenose College

The Good Bits

• Excellent location, possibly the best in Oxford being the only undergraduate college on Radcliffe Square (considered by many the world's prettiest square) as well as being on the High Street. Nothing in Oxford is more than about a 15 minute walk away. Frewin is situated next to Oxford Union just off Cornmarket street
• Guarantees accommodation for entire undergraduate degree. First years all live in College, second years in Frewin and third/fourth years split between the two. This means that all accommodation is in central Oxford unlike many other colleges whose annexes are far out.
• Pretty, old "Castle-style" buildings (and no 'rubbish quad' like some colleges)
• Small, cosy atmosphere, all freshers live very close to each other
• Big JCR, with pool, arcade machines, vending machinge and Sky TV (including skysports) which is about to get a £35k refurb (which will make it the best JCR in Oxford)
• Not excessively academic, can be a bit more relaxed and enjoyable compared to some (not as many essays to do per week as some colleges e.g. merton)
• Good Entz
• Very Cosy feel to it - Since everyone lives so close there is very much a community feel and everyone knows everyone in college
• No great sense of hierarchy and formality like in other colleges. You can wear pretty much anything under a gown in formal and even the Principal (former head of research at CERN) will try to get to know students (you can frequently spot him in the boathouse during races and down the bar)
• Oxford's oldest boatclub (just so you can say you were a member of it)
• 24/7 Library
• Big and cheap bar which has just been refurbished

The Bad Bits

• No kitchens in college so no ovens, only microwaves and fridges in 1st year
• The college does not provide "internal phones" as some colleges do - but if you have a mobile/skype then this is rarely an issue
• Not overly academic (but that means less pressure and its not rubbish, just average)
• Food is sometimes average (but mostly really good, never poor)
• High street rooms can be noisy
• Accommodation is on the expensive side (as it is all in central Oxford)
• No toasters in your room (though scouts can be pretty lenient about this but it's easiest just to hide it)
• Not very active JCR, and people seem reasonably apathetic towards college politics
• No gym, though they provide membership to iffley road gym, (which is far better equipped than college gyms)
• Not much in terms of big gardens and lawns
• Small grounds compared to some colleges

Christ Church

The Good Bits

• Gorgeous grounds and amazing scenery
• The cathedral is obviously on site - therefore making it a bit easier to find out what all the fuss is about (both the building and the chapel choir)
• Christ Church meadow (funnily enough) and the river are effectively your back garden - making it rather easy to jog in nice scenery / get down to the boathouse for early morning outings
• Free cake! Each student is entitled to a free cake each term (they come in many varieties), which is funded by JCR money. You email the cake rep and your cake is delivered to you, normally within a couple of days. Just a nice little extra.
• Formal hall every day, including weekends, and food is pretty cheap. If you opt for the termly season ticket like most people, the three course meal works out at about £1.90 a day.

The Bad Bits

• Tourists can be very annoying - not just during the summer, but as long as there are smatterings of sunshine about. You get to march past them though and stride along the middle of Tom Quad, which can be very gratifying.
• You'll be hacked to high heaven in most Union elections
• Virtually no cooking facilities in college, so there isn't much of an option aside from hall food. This can be hit-and-miss, although it does cater for loads of diets (halal, gluten-free, etc.).

Corpus Christi College

The Good Bits

• Has the Pelican. 'Nuff said
• Small, cosy college. You will know absolutely everyone in college, which is always a good thing
• Excellent beer cellar with a good atmosphere and decent prices
• Very sociable JCR
• Formal Halls good fun, generally once a week
• Food generally pretty good
• Excellent library, open 24/7, described as a modern "wonder of the world" by Erasmus
• World famous annual Tortoise Fair (as seen on Blue Peter!)
• Rapidly expanding Corpus Cinema (not actually a cinema. Provides free DVD rental and film nights)
• Annual Corpus Challenge sports tournament against Corpus Christi, Cambridge
• You can walk on the grass
• Has achieved fame (infamy?) from University Challege, and is now one of the most commonly recognised colleges
• Best place in the world if you want to stalk Gail Trimble
• Has the wonderful sun dial
• Lovely gardens
• Accommodation for all 3/4 years of degree (although not necessarily in town/on the actual college site)

The Bad Bits

• Is relatively unnoticed by the rest of the students in the university
• Beer cellar is pretty quiet compared to other college bars

Exeter

The Good Bits

• Small in size, Exeter - like all of the Turl Street colleges - has a reputation for being friendly and for everybody knowing one-another; a feeling not easily found in larger colleges.
• Turl Street is a fabulous location, right in the city centre
• An absolutely beautiful chapel, twice the size of those at Jesus and Lincoln
• The rector regularly invites speakers - such as Alan Bennet, Matthew Parris, George Webb in MT 2006 - in much the same way as speakers might come to the Union but with far more approachability.
• Literary fame - Philip Pullman and J.R.R Tolkien both studied at Exeter, Morse died in an Exeter quad and Jordan College from Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy is based on Exeter.
• Fantastic library, especially for Historians
• The beautiful Fellows Garden with an amazing view over Radcliffe Square and All Souls (apparently voted best view in the city).
• Cheap food.
• Less than average cost of accommodation.
• Big nightlife scene - Bridge on a Tuesday, Parkend on a Wednesday, and MILF (or Mondays at Filth) will all have a group of exonians without fail.
• Good college sports teams (for good, read fun and commited!)
• Good reputation for bar sports with the Darts team currently 2nd in the Uni and the Pool team 5th and rising!
• Sports facilities relatively close at only 20 minutes walk away.
• JCR refurbished in 2006
• Food served every meal of every day, unlike some which miss out meals on Saturdays etc.
• Great bops
• 4th oldest if you like the history side of things.
• 24/7 library, which is quiet and away from the 'social hubs' and so is always quiet.
• Exeter has teams for pretty much every sport

The Bad Bits

• Accommodation is not provided in college for 2nd years or guaranteed for finalists so many have to live out. (NB many see this as a good thing, but some people may view it as problematic). The college has recently bought a site to provide more city center accomodation in the future though.
• Lack of good accommodation for postgrads
• Hall food, whilst cheap, can sometimes be a bit repetitive.
• Not generally considered 'outstanding' at anything - although this can be great if you want to get involved in e.g the orchestra or a sports team as there's less pressure to be university-level standard.
• supposedly the highest % private school students - although you wouldn't tell (we're nowhere near 'rah')
• Filming for Lewis + Northern Lights has been quite disruptive
• Large tour groups blocking the front quad between 2 and 5 every day.

Harris Manchester College

The Good Bits

• Small (possibly even the smallest) and super-friendly, so you get a fantastic sense of community from the word go. There are also next to no divisions between the year-groups; everyone mixes very well, to the extent that from a first-year perspective, it's often hard to tell which year different students are in.
• The buildings - this can only really be appreciated 'in the flesh', so to speak - but the college website really does not do justice to the architecture; it's actually incredibly pretty.
• The social side - there are well-established Wine and Film societies, and plenty of bops.
• HMC is allegedly the only Oxford college to give its academics and its students the same food - which is probably where the suggestion that we have the best food of all the colleges comes from. It's good food, either way.
• Location - you couldn't get much more convenient! HMC is sort of squashed in between Wadham, Mansfield and New for anyone who doesn't know, and is <5 minutes from the Bodleian, the University Parks, the main shopping areas and so on.
• All living-in students have access to a kitchen, albeit a basic one, mainly shared one-between-two. Bathrooms are also generally shared one-between-two, and some rooms are en suite.
• There's accommodation available for all first- and third-year students, and also for any second-years who want to live in (though most move out).
• Due to the absence of an on-site gym, the college provides its students with gold membership to two external gyms (LA Fitness and Willows at the Four Pillars Hotel). For college-level sports we pair up with Wadham, so HMC students don't miss out on anything sports-related.
• Book grants of £140 and £50 are available to all undergraduate and graduate students respectively.
• Library - it's surprisingly well-stocked for a small college.

The Bad Bits

• Steep battels compared to most colleges.
• Whilst small is good in some ways, the place can also get a little bit claustrophobic.
• There is no food provided on the weekends. Although the kitchen facilities prevent that from being a problem, it's still a bit of a pain for those who don't like cooking.
• The college isn't particularly affluent, so we don't host ball-type events as often as some other colleges. However, there are plenty of social excursions organised to make up for that.
• There's not an awful lot of green space within the college grounds... but, as mentioned above, we're very close to the University Parks, so that's not really a problem.

Hertford College

The Good Bits

• Central location means that everything is in easy reach in first year (which is spent living in college).
• Opposite the Bodleian Library.
• College library open 24/7.
• All student rooms equipped with ethernet point and telephone (free internal calls).
• Close college community.
• Student run bar (although this was under review as of Summer 2008).
• Accomodation offered for duration of undergraduate course: first year in college, subsequent years in houses and halls either in the Folly Bridge area or in North Oxford.
• Some good kitchen facilities in accomodation after first year, although this depends on where you end up living.
• PAYG meals.
• Whilst the food served in college is not-so-amazing, food served in Warnock House (a college annexe located in the Folly Bridge area, mainly housing thrid year students and some second year students) is generally very good and often excellent.
• 24/7 access to the Bridge of Sighs - be the envy of tourists!

The Bad Bits

• Very few kitchens available for use in in-College accomodation (possibly only two), although almost every corridor will have a fridge and microwave. However, as mentioned above, kitchen facilities in second/third/fourth year accomodation are generally much better.
• Food served in college hall does not have a good reputation, although the standard seemed to be improving in summer 2008.
• Located in a tourist hotspot, which can be annoying at times. As Oxford itself is pretty much one big tourist hotspot, though, you'll get used to it.

Keble College

The Good Bits

Keble is a great place for anyone who wants to live in a slightly larger college society: it is the biggest undergraduate college in the University. The atmosphere is one of partying and sports, and as a result has plenty of bops and social events in the recently refurbished bar (see also: The Bad Bits).

The college is in a prime location for science subjects and the slightly more upmarket delights of Jericho, as well as the rich vein of popular Indian restaurants that runs through it. There are also a selection of great pubs within spitting distance, including The Royal Oak and The Jericho Tavern. The Eagle and Child also provides good food at reasonable prices.

All rooms in Keble have an internet connection and internal phone line, which is useful when trying to get hold of other students at short notice. The majority of rooms are en suite, and in the one block that doesn't have en suite, there are two bedrooms per bathroom. A large proportion of undergrads get the full 3-years in Halls, do not underestimate this bonus. The college is also equipped with a cafe serving proper machine coffee and a range of snacks.

Keble is within easy reach of the science and maths lecture facilities, giving you an extra half hour in bed.

Anyone interested in sports will find a wide variety at Keble, with more than one team for most. Female sport is also popular, but there are also activities for the less able, including Table Football. Keble's accessibility scheme and background makes it a great choice for state-school educated students.

The Bad Bits

Ask anyone for their defining memory of Keble and it will be the architecture. Many people dislike the Butterworth red-brick look, but that is purely a matter of taste. Keble's internal layout is much different to that of many colleges and you should familiarise yourself with it before making any concrete decisions.

Keble's sporting heritage brings with it a definite sectioning of society. Rugby players at Oxford are notorious for their arrogance and Keble's teams never fail to disappoint in this section. Expect a hardcore group of "cool" people making up around 20% of college who will queue for up to an hour in advance to ensure they secure their seats of choice in Hall. This group will also have junior wannabes in the years below who will keep up the traditions of their fore-bearers in years to come. The reasoning for this behaviour is unknown.

Keble's bar, whilst new, chrome and shiny, is no longer the hub of social activity that it was before its refit. The college has a very stringent bursar whose drive is for nothing but profit, no matter what cost to students. Because of this, you will find a lot of college's facilities are built primarily for lucrative conferences, with the added advantages to students as an afterthought. The bar is no exception. Awkwardly shaped and with the acoustics of a train tunnel, it has lost its cosy appeal. Keble management refuses to make it more homely for fear of alienating high-paying businessmen who wish to use it over the summer.

The same bursar is also responsible for rent evaluations. Keble is by no means the worst college for rent issues, but at around £900 a term, it's certainly not the best. Add on to that slightly higher than normal Hall and laundry prices and it could stack up. The above-mentioned cafe is slightly overpriced and fails to open at weekends.

Keble's location is much touted as a poor one. Walks to the train station and Park End are about 15-20 minutes, but Jericho's Co-Op and Sainsbury's local are just 10 minutes by foot. Carfax (the junction of Cornmarket and High) is around 12 minutes walk away.

Jesus College

The Good Bits

• The college itself is right in the centre of town (on Turl Street) so for the first year at least you have easy access to departments, shops etc.
• The college owns two large blocks of flats on the Woodstock Road and the Cowley Road, so accommodation is provided for all three years should you choose to apply (the vast majority of people do)
• The student body is quite small (around 95 people per year) and being geographically small too there is a very good sense of community.
• Since the college is quite rich for its size, meals and rents are well subsidised (current rents around £850 per term)
• Although Jesus doesn't seem to be particularly "serious" about any sport, there are teams for most sports (Women's and men's football, rugby, netball and hockey teams, several rowing crews, a mixed lacrosse team, a joint Ultimate team with Pembroke and various cuppers teams for less well represented sports like Swimming, Trampolining and Dancesport)
• The library is open 24 hours - useful for late night exam writing!
• Located in THE centre of town, literally no more than a 5 minute walk to [or stumble back from] any of the nightclubs, the high street is right on your doorstep and the union just over the road.
• The JCR was newly refurbished in 2003, and is now one of the nicest in Oxford. As well as Sky TV (which is projected when there are football matches / films on) and free pool, "The Hatch" serves tea, coffee, toast and chocolate throughout the day
• Rooms on the new staircases (18 and 19 especially) are a very good size
• Double sets especially on SC 6, 12 and 13 are lovely (if you like the person you are sharing with)
• Free swimming and gym at Iffley. It used to be collecting a card from the lodge but now they have changed the system. As a student from Jesus, you can now register with the Sport Centre free of charge.
• Money for university level athletes of up to about £60/term towards expenses incurred, e.g. kit used to compete, travel to matches, training fees
• For a flat fee, paid on Battels, the college has 2 punts that are available for free use.
• The music room above Staircase 18 has one of the nicest views in central Oxford (it's a storey higher than accommodation etc so you can see all the spires) and has a gorgeous piano, as well as an upright, and plenty of space for a string quartet / small group to practice.
• Ski-trip and Doxbridge sports tours organised every year are FANTASTIC
• Formal hall is available every night of the week (except Saturday, when no food is served) so it is not such a formal event - i.e. no gowns are required [this can also be a negative]
• Scholars get two free formals every week except Friday and Saturaday, and choristers (i.e. anyone singing in chapel choir) gets free formal on a Sunday following evensong.
• The chapel choir is all-inclusive. We don't have choral scholars, so we don't have auditions either - if you want to sing then you can.
• Charges for meals etc. are added to battels for payment in the following term; where else can you get a bowl of soup with 2-3 months' interest-free credit? This contrasts with other colleges which cheekily require a card to be "charged up" in advance.
• PAYG in hall, unlike other colleges where all meals may be paid for in advance and deciding not to eat in hall means losing out on food you've already purchased!

The Bad Bits

• The bar is situated directly below the library, which negates the prospect of doing any work on a Friday night should you desperately need to without working in your room or the big libraries. (NB The Bod is open until 10 so this is really a very small concern)
• College size is small and can feel suffocating at times
• The 'gym' that used to be located in Ship St basement is no more [and was very hot and sweaty with no ventilation anyway] as the boat-club removed the ergs to take them to the boathouse
• The bar is also quite small compared to many other colleges. While this isn't a problem on most nights of the week, on a Friday night it leaves people packed together like sardines in a can! Refurbishment in 2007 removed an internal wall so it's a bit better these days - and very spangly!
• The hatch can only serve toast (in the JCR) so no access to hot snack food if you miss hall
• Drinking games banned in the bar
• Formal hall is not really formal: Sundays tend to be more so, and groups for birthdays etc often choose to be formal, but it's not uncommon for the rowers to turn up still in kit either.
• The years get split between the Jericho (mainly 2nd years) and Cowley Road (mainly 3rd years) sites and due to lack of space at Cowley not all the year will get in, so will be split up
• The Cowley road site is a relatively long way from the centre of town and not in the nicest of areas to be walking back through late at night, although once you're inside "Fortress Barts" is quite formidable.
• As of 2007 no undergraduate finalists can move back into college unless they have e.g. medical reasons (as Graduate freshers are now also housed in college).
• Lack of soundproofing for the library (so you can hear the bagpipe man on Cornmarket!)
• Can be quite hard / impossible to get vacation residence if you live in college or Ship Street
• Some first years will have to live in Ship Street as there is not enough room in college
• The 1st VIIIs are in low divisions, so not great if you are a v. good rower
• The Jesus ball is held with Somerville at their college so you will never have a ball within Jesus (but then Jesus is far too small to hold one!).
• Bops aren't as good / big as other colleges
• Some of the porters are very strict about the amount of people allowed in a room/set. As the college is SO small you can't get away with as much as you can at the larger colleges
• College seems worried about students getting excessively drunk as they actively prohibit the lowering of bar prices. While we're still cheap at about £2 a pint this means no Mansfield Happy Hour!
• First quad still exists from when the college was originally built and is very old, meaning that should you get a room in Staircase 1 or 3 then you may have to put up with being boiling hot a lot of the time (especially in summer!).
• While Jesus food is definitely affordable and 9 times out of 10 edible, you may occasionally encounter one of those days when it's quite obvious the kitchen staff have bought a job lot of one item (past examples include Almonds, Apples and Parsnips) and have then proceeded to cook it into everything!
• Some of the rooms on Ship Street or in the old staircases are quite small for a student room (although perfectly manageable - just cosy!).
• All in-college rooms (first years only) are catered only. Sandwich toasters are allowed, toasters and grills are not.
• College doesn't serve food on a Saturday night or a Sunday morning.

Lady Margaret Hall

The Good Bits

• A large college
• We have an awesome dining hall
• Attractive quad
• Close to Summertown, St Giles and Jericho
• Close to the linguistics department and to some science and engineering buildings
• Porters' lodge open 24/7
• Close to university parks and the Cherwell
• Formal hall every Tuesday
• Beautiful Gardens (especially in Trinity)

The Bad Bits

• More 'modern' buildings than some Oxford colleges
• A bit further out than some colleges (well, it looks far on the map, but on a bike it's fine)
• Some might consider the fact that it's a large college to be a bad thing
• Higher end of the rents
• Food's a bit dodgy at times...

Lincoln College

The Good Bits

• Location - centre of town, but away from most tourists. Right next to the covered market and main shopping street (Cornmarket)
• Small and therefore friendly; There are 90-100 undergraduates in each new fresher intake who soon all know one-another
• Pretty buildings with no ugly 60s annex on the main site;
• Well stocked library in an amazing building, with a spectacular plaster ceiling;
• All dinners (1st & formal hall) are 3 courses and aren't fried junk. Always copious vegetables and I find the meals are v. filling and also pretty healthy. Special occasion dinners also incredible! (Chef is rumoured to have previously worked at the Savoy).
• Rooms. If you're lucky enough to get housed in the college rooms around the quad in your first year, then they're v. good (en-suite, fabulous views etc). The (third-year) houses in Museum Rd (just before Keble) are all modern with individual en-suite bedrooms and a reasonable kitchen.
• The college bar is disproportionately large and yet still pretty and full of character - rated 5/5 in a recent Cherwell column. Cheap (20p) pool, and guest ales.
• A lively college JCR, constitutionally bound to discuss nothing remotely political. And yet we support our Union hacks, if that's how you choose to live your life.

The Bad Bits

• Only half the freshers get to live in the main college (the rest are in an annex just across the street above the shops).
• Some particularly appalling second-year accommodation, especially the area affectionately known as "Death Row".
• Prices for food and rent are a bit expensive - £3.95 for dinner, £104/week rent +utilities (£45/term), with 30 hall meals paid for in advance (and few refunded).
• The friendly, close-knit atmosphere induced by having such a small college is seen as being insular or claustrophobic by some.
• Self-catering facilities for first and second-years are virtually non-existent, meaning that if you miss (or don't like) a hall, you don't have many options.

Magdalen College

The Good Bits

• Aesthetic appeal - Magdalen really is stunning, the grounds are spectacular - set in over 100 acres, including deerpark (complete with slightly dozy inbred deer - the only college to have them!), meadows, gardens, lawns, rivers. Good for relaxing, picnicking, punting etc. & nice change from the traffic of the city centre!

There are some really beautiful 15th-18th century buildings integrated with some surprisingly modern ones built in the same style.

• Accommodation - Provided for all undergraduate years. Done by a ballot system that's reversed in the 3rd year, all students pay a flat rate for their rooms. All are a decent size, some amongst the best in Oxford my 3rd year room = shared 'vestibule' area with a friend, double height ceilings, panelled walls, window seats, massive windows overlooking the deer park, fireplace...). If en-suite is important to you, you should be able to get it in 2nd/3rd year - there are buildings with lots of these.

• Food - All the first year accommodation has kitchen access - from then on it's easy to choose rooms with good kitchen facilities nearby. Combined with cheap food in Hall, everybody can suit themselves

• Location - a short walk from the city centre - I like walking. & also handily located for the science/law areas or hospitals if you're a medic. Heading away from the city centre, one of the closest colleges to St Clements & Cowley road = good for restaurants of a more "diverse" nature!

• Opportunities offered (such as the trip to Parliament with a former very senior clerk who is now a fellow), networking with old members, ruining film shoots

• Being at the college puts you in a prime position to attend the famous May Day Madrigals when the choir sings madrigals from the top of Magdalen tower and the entire student body descends to listen at 5am!
• Just the choir and chapel general. Magdalen is one of the three choral foundations of Oxford meaning that having the choir is written into the college's founding agreement. Daily services are sung by the choir of men and boy-choristers.

• Lots of social stuff; bops every few weeks, excellent parties.
• Bar - update by another student: the bar was newly refurbished last year, and whilst is a little more expensive than other college bars, is now really well decorated, with leather sofas, and student photography on show as well as the usual table football, pool table etc.
• Fantastic tutors - as far as I can tell everyone is taught by some of the best, and for History it's certainly one of the best-taught colleges. And on an academic note, the library is brilliantly stocked especially for the arts, pretty good for sciences & they'll order anything in promptly if you need it.

• Sports - facilities are reached through the college grounds: pitches (football, lacrosse, rugby), ground (cricket), courts (netball, tennis - hard and grass) & Pavillion. Also college membership of the university sports complex at Iffley (gym and pool). Rowing wise very successful in recent years (Men's first boat want 'Head of the River' in 2004 and have held it for the last 4 years, have recently won Novice regattas & have a fair few Blues) - mini fleet of Empachers, train at Radley but boathouse on the Isis too. Blues from other sports - receive £££s from college in the form of a hardship fund and grant.

Money for college sports freely flowing & they're supportive of you setting up new clubs if one doesn't exist at the moment.

• Societies - notably Sherrington (for medics - recent speakers Lord Robert Winston and Pres of Royal College of Surgeon's), Florio (poetry), Atkins (lots of corporate event sponsorship for lawyers), Stokesley (debating).

• Facilities - dark room, art studio, allotments (!)

• Graduate students - a decent MCR means you can get to know students doing masters/D Phils etc - handy for planning life beyond undergrad. If you think you might want to stay on after undergrad normally everyone staying at Oxford wants to stay at Magdalen (rather than the usual attempt to change to "upgrade")! It has a very active MCR - bops, cheese and wine tastings, Cambridge exchange etc... & lots of accommodation available.

• The people in general - a range of home/internationals and from various backgrounds - including public schools (!)

The Bad Bits

• First year accommodation is outside walls which can be a pain especially if you have to walk all the way over the bridge... a whole 2 minutes or so. ;-)
• Just in my personal opinion; the JCR meetings etc can feel a bit overwhelming, as the sports teams are very dominant and the general atmosphere can be pretty competitive and dare I say it, public-school-y.
• Update by another student: the JCR meetings can be a little overwhelming (I was JCR Secretary in 2007) but only because everyone is genuinely interested and cares. I did not find that sports teams were dominant at all (apart from when there is a motion about premplus/setanta sports). Also in recent years the number of state school students has increased dramatically, so there is much less 'public school-ness'
• Hall food isn't amazing. But for the fancy dinners (Matriculation, Restoration/Scholars, Schools Dinner after you've done finals, Head of the River, High Table when you join the MCR) it is - otherwise, see kitchen!
• It's a fairly large college geographically which can be kind of daunting.. `definitely not for you if you want an intimate atmosphere.
• Reputation; part of me thinks this can't be helped but the general atmosphere at college isn't, frankly, the friendliest, and Magdalen isn't known to be...

2nd writer - i disagree with this. If you think small in size and numbers = "friendly" then it's not for you, but i wouldn't say it's "unfriendly" - you'll easily find likeminded.

• Rent - has gone up over the past few years. OUSU prospectus normally details these.

Mansfield College

The Good Bits

• Friendly
• Small, so you get to know everyone in your year
• Helpful porters
• Great food
• Not far from the town centre, but not touristy either
• Cheap rent
• University parks nearby
• Has one of biggest percentages of state school people (wanted to put it as neutral, but this is a "pros and cons" list)
• Some kitchen provision
• Not so much in the way of the "traditions for tradition's sake" stuff
• 24 hour library

The Bad Bits

• Not as famous, although that could be a good thing
• Small, so everyone in your year knows your business
• Only houses 1st years (and just over half of 3rd years) in-college

Merton College

The Good Bits

• Merton was founded in 1264, so we can boast about being 'arguably the oldest Oxford college'.
• Beautiful architecture and gardens (bonus: wireless internet is available in the Fellows' Garden).
• As one of the smaller colleges with around 290 undergraduates a year and 300 graduate students altogether, Merton has a very friendly atmosphere.
• Our JCR receives a lot of money from the college to pay for welfare, entertainment and whatever else we decide we want.
• A Nintendo Wii in the JCR.
• The food is amongst the best in the university, and very good value at £1.58 for breakfast, £2.75 for lunch and £3.46 for an evening meal (including formal hall). You only pay for the meals you go to, rather than a termly rate.
• Wonderful brunch on a Sunday.
• Merton can provide accommodation for every year of your degree, with very nice rooms and one of the lowest rents in the university.
• Excellent academic reputation. We receive very good teaching and have repeatedly come top of the Norrington table (which ranks Oxford colleges on their degree results) in the last few years.
• Located close to the centre of town but set back from the High Street, backing on to Christ Church Meadows. The location is both peaceful and convenient.
• Our fortnightly Bops (big fancy-dress parties) are held in the sports pavilion on Manor Road (near St. Catz), so they are bigger and go on much later than most colleges'.
• Our games room has free pool and free table football. Our bar is really cheap and Dave the barman is brilliant (and he provides excellent toasties for only £1).
• The college has a fully-equipped fitness room on the main college site.
• Crazy traditions like the Time Ceremony.
• It's one of the richer colleges, which means cheap rents that are the same for all rooms, book tokens and other achievement prizes are abundant, and you know you can fall back on them financially if something goes badly wrong with your life.
• The academic support is excellent if you are having difficulties with your work.

The Bad Bits

• The provision of kitchens isn't that good compared with other colleges. Most second year accommodation has kitchens, but most 1st year and 3rd year accommodation doesn't. There is a JCR kitchen in college, and you can usually get a kitchen in 2nd and 3rd year if you are willing to sacrifice other factors like location or room size.
• We are stereotyped as workaholics who never leave the library. Like most stereotypes, this is rubbish. We go out, party and get involved in societies as much as any other college. Our tutors do have high expectations though, and we get good results.
• We have some silly rules (mostly ignored but sometimes people are fined for them) about where you can walk on the grass, and not being allowed to gather in groups of more than ten people at a time.
• Being opposite exam schools. This is actually a pro if you are an arts student because your lectures are right next door, but in the summer term the after-exam celebrations are really noisy and messy, which is annoying if you still need to revise. (Mainly applies to first year scientists)
• The Warden - she's not that bad though and is leaving at the end of the year!
• Pressure: some subjects are very pressured and this has a number of negative effects on students. Certain subjects are very trigger-happy when it comes to rustication on academic grounds.

New College

The Good Bits

There is no 'type' of New student (aside from being friendly, lovely people). Some colleges have a reputation for attracting certain groups/types of people, New doesn't.

It offers virtually all subjects, and most subjects have several tutors, so you can do at least all of your core options in college.

New is a fairly large college, both in terms of numbers of students and physical dimensions.There are about 140 students in each undergrad year and around another 200-250 postgrads.

We have a large garden which students are free to use any time (not all colleges are so relaxed about their green spaces!). Most of the lawns can be walk/sat on, only the oval lawn of the old quad can't be tramped over (assuming you are not the Warden...)

Everyone gets 2 years (the first two)accommodation inside the grounds of college and around half of third years can be housed as well. Fourth years all get modern/recently refurbished accommodation within 5 minutes (max) walk of college.

Every room has an ethernet port and a telephone line. Roughly speaking 90% of first years have ensuites and those who don't won't be sharing with more than 3 others. After you first year you can opt to swap the ensuite for a kitchen when you choose your room.

There are both double sets and single sets available for second years. (Double sets are where two students each have their own bedrooms off a shared living/study area. Single sets are basically your own flat... bedroom, living room, bathroom all to yourself....)

Pretty much all the 'normal' rooms are of a good size. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but I don't think any room is smaller than the typical uni generic box room most students get. On the other hand there are some truely massive rooms. Some are supplied with sofas and about 25 have double beds to try to take up some of the space... In a few even this fails. Honestly there are a handful of palatial rooms available.

Everyone pays the same price for accommodation. This term the cost was £916. No elitism over your choice of room here (Some colleges charge more for larger rooms/ those with en suite/ sets.)

The Porters are lovely.

So are the scouts, providing you don't keep reminding them about keeping recycling rubbish separate...

The location is really ideal. Its 5 minutes walk from the centre of town, less than 5 to Exam Schools (where lots of humanities lectures are held) or to the social sciences building/english and law faculties. The science area is about 10 minutes walk or 3 on a bike.

Its really beautiful. The sort of place you imagine when you think of old oxford.

But its not touristy. (Yes they come, but not in mass numbers and we are too large for them to really get in the way anyway.)

The bar is known for being one of the most beautiful in Oxford. Its underneath our hall and has several 'rooms' on different levels. The bar team put loads of effort into making sure they stock the drinks we want and put on plenty of events. There are regular quiz nights, major sports events are projected onto a big screen and the bar rep usually works in conjunction with the welfare team to host pizza/ice cream/ other nice food nights all for free. There are comfy sofas, a pool table and sky TV as well as some arcade games too. Bops are well attended and legendary (if overly packed and hot).

The common room has a plasma screen, more sofas and more sky TV, as well as additional computers/printers. Newspapers are provided daily and there is a chocolate machine, giant jenga and another pool table (there's even a pool team!)

The library is well-stocked and again aesthetically very pleasing. The books run ceiling to floor (so you get to use ladders to reach the top shelves) and there are plenty of desks for working on. There is a silent study area downstairs, and wireless internet access through out the building.

Breakfast on weekdays and especially brunch on saturday and sunday is fabulous. Ever wanted a 3 course breakfast, including the full English any day you want with no effort on your part? Well you can!

Every three years we host one of the biggest, most lavish balls in the country. Its white tie and lasts for 12 hours, and once you are in everything is free. Non-college members can get tickets, but only if they get lucky!

New usually comes out fairly high up the Norrington table (not that this really matters) but it isn't a college where academia is everything

There is a fully kitted out, and sound proofed band room that any college member can use if he/she wants. Jam nights are regular occurrences in the bar and there is a thriving music society that manages the choirs and orchestras.

Sport is well catered for, including women's sport and the college has its own sports grounds nearby. Levels are mixed, but the teams are usually above average for their section. The sports ground also houses the punt house and any college member can take a punt out in the summer.

The Bad Bits

• The rest of the food leaves something to be desired. Its usually perfectly edible, but calling it nice is stretching it rather. It is getting better though (3rd term 07/08). Its not the cheapest food either. Lunch is better than dinner. There is a termly charge of £175 for food, covering your evening meal 7 days a week. You can sign out of each meal individually up to a week ahead but you don't get the full cost back, and if you live in the college grounds you can't opt out fully. This is being petitioned against by the JCR currently though. If culinary delights really matter, try St Annes.

• The library is not 24 hours (its open 8.30am-12am 7 days a week), but we are trying to get this changed - and how often do you want to work after midnight anyway?

• The size of the college means if you are looking for small and cosy New probably isn't for you (though it isn't vast and overwhelming)

• The JCR computer room can be temperamental. Don't rely on it!

• We are not the most politically active college around. JCR meetings are usually well attended but there is rarely any major heated debate. However for many students this may be welcome.

• The old buildings mean that disabled access isn't brilliant.

• No first years get kitchens. You can choose self-catering accommodation after the first year but the largest/most traditional rooms have no kitchens at all, and most of the self catering accommodation either have shared bathrooms or small rooms. In theory you aren't allowed anything beyond a toaster in the way of cooking equipment. This is regularly flouted however. People have managed to get away with toasters, hot plates and even on occasion microwaves.....

• The college gym was condemned as unsafe for use a few years ago and has not yet been revamped. We do get free access to the uni gym with cards held at the porters in compensation though.

Oriel College

The Good Bits

Central location and pretty small. Oriel has a great family atmosphere and this is maintained by having all the first and second years on site. The third and fourth years get to move to JMH [James Mellon Hall], a new building just off Cowley Road but can stay on the main site if they wish to.

Accommodation is mixed but in the process of being upgraded to a really high standard, the newly refurbished rooms give you mod-cons (i.e. ensuites) with restored historic features such as exposed beams, fireplaces (though these are extinct now), and the like.

Library is really well stocked especially for the humanities and social sciences, it's open 24 hours a day and if Oriel doesn't have it, we're less than two minutes away [depends how long it takes you to cross the road] from the Bodleian, which will!

Hall food is a pretty good standard, the staff are well-known for being amongst the friendliest in Oxford, especially Michael the hall manager, and is on a pay-as-you-go system so there's no obligation to eat in hall. Formal hall is something of an institution at Oriel and is available every night except saturday. Informal hall is provided every night.

Bar is quite cheap and staffed by students. They're overseen by Chris, the bar manager. During the daytime it doubles up as a bistro-café and is a good place to go to relax on the sofas. The bar is also the home of our bops, the Oxford college disco, which at Oriel are famous for their level of cheesy music! There's also now a flat-screen tv for all the football, rugby, and other important events including thanks to an ex-JCR President: Eurovision [perhaps this is a 'bad thing?!']

With Christ Church next door Oriel is off the tourist trail but is conveniently close to Christ Church Meadows, perfect for evening strolls, early morning runs, and of course: rowing!

Oriel has built a reputation on the quality of its rowing teams in recent years. From the double-headship in the 2006 Torpids Races to come-and-try-it, Oriel's rowing caters for all levels, though it is by no means unique in this regard. Rowing, despite its prominence in Oriel's reputation, is not the be-all and end-all of college sport, there are two gyms: one on the main site, the other at JMH, a squash court, also at JMH, and plenty of sports teams to keep you going: rugby and football are two of the most prominent.

The Bad Bits

Accommodation is pretty expensive, especially the better rooms. Unlike some colleges Oriel operates a tiering system and so you pay for what you get. Be warned though that the cheaper rooms are exactly that, cheap. These are unlikely to have been refurbished any time recently and have few mod-cons. That said, college is slowly eradicating these from its portfolio.

College doesn't serve breakfast or lunch on sundays and saturdays are usually 'left-over' special. Some college delights have now thankfully disappeared but don't be too surprised if you get the feeling that chef has got a job-lot of something! Food is, though, generally perfectly edible. Catering facilities on the main site are fairly spartan, and this can make it difficult if you don't want to eat in hall, but it is manageable. At JMH though there are fully equipped kitchens so self-catering is easy, especially with the shops on Cowley Road at your disposal.

Oriel's academic reputation in recent years has taken something of a beating, we've languished near the very bottom of the Norrington Table for a few years now, although the college's recent efforts to increase academic focus have brought it up to the top half of the table. This perhaps warrants being a 'bad bit' if you desire the academic drive of Merton but for Orielenses [Oriel-ites] it means having a bit of fun as well as doing the work. Everyone does well at Oriel but most importantly they finish their degree with more than just a bit of paper. Oriel tends to be the life of a party which more than makes up for its Norrington position.

Oriel isn't a member of OUSU - the student union - some see this as a bad thing, others as a positive sign of Oriel's independent spirit. The choice is yours and given that Oriel has been disaffiliated for a few years now it has adapted well to being outside the Union fold. This means that the college works twice as hard to provide the welfare services that OUSU would normally be expected to provide. For this reason, the Decanal team is one of the best, if not the best, in Oxford.

Pembroke College

The Good Bits

• The Pembroke atmosphere is very friendly, and supportive.
• Pembroke is well located - out of the very centre of Oxford but still within a couple of hundred metres of Cornmarket (the main shopping street). It's conveniently position for rowers (being literally half way between the city centre and Christchurch Meadows) and ice cream lovers, being next door to the St. Aldates branch of G+Ds
• Friendly staff/porters/tutors.
• Very pretty gardens, and nice buildings.
• Cheap and very nice food.
• Sporting colour is bright pink
• Small but cosy college

The Bad Bits

• Price of accommodation. Pembroke is a pretty poor college and the accommodation prices reflect this
• Distance to the science area (20 min walk) and Social Sciences Library mean it's not ideal for studying
• The college's fondness of fining people
• The possibility of being in the Mac. Rooms are perfectly nice, but the building is a modern, ugly 60s horror.
• The time formal hall takes sometimes (although its a good opportunity to talk to new people.)
• Sporting colour is bright pink

The Queen's College

The Good Bits

• Extremely friendly and welcoming college.
• Well-sized: You get to know just about everyone in the college but enough people so you aren't forced to spend all your time with he same bunch.
• Enjoys a good, central High Street location, conveniently opposite Exam Schools, and a short five minute walk to Cornmarket.
• Has a reputation for being a 'Northern college'. This can be a good thing, as northerners are generally very nice people. There are still way more Southerners!
• Accommodation for all three/four years.
• Relaxed attitude to work - you are seldom pushed to your limits or over-worked, as you may experience in other colleges.
• Fully refurbished Queen's Lane Quad accommodation for 2nd years for season 2007/8.
• First years reside in the Florey Building, St Clements. It has unrivalled social qualities, and creates a really nice community.
• Excellent sports facilities down Abingdon road - Football and Rugby pitches in Winter, Lawn tennis cricket and croquet in Summer, with hard court tennis all year round.
• Internet access in every student's room. They have no regard for enforcing University internet usage terms of agreement either.
• The inventor of the web, Mr Tim Berners-Lee attended this college. What's that you say, you're on the internet right now?
• We are never open for tourists.
• Really good food. Lots of choice at lunch (currently 2 or 3 pasta options, a meat main, a fish main, and a vegetarian main at least, changed daily). Meals brought to you at dinner. Food served at the weekend.

The Bad Bits

• College rents are high, and not everybody will get the room they want. However in recent times this seems to be getting better.
• The Florey Building is a space ship from the 60's - not exactly up-to-date with all the mod cons. Is the other side of the Magdelen Bridge, for better or for worse. Worth it for the atmosphere though, by far.
• Quite an apathetic college, so if you're into your politics or the Union, you might not feel at home.
• Not the most impressive looking college, though it certainly isn't one of those tacky new-builds, and walking through the middle of front quad can still bring tears to the eyes.
• Non-students (i.e. friends from other colleges) can't just walk in - they need a swipe card. While this is irritating if you have to go let your significant other in, it does keep out the toursits!
• Not enough space for everyone at dinner in the Hall, so spread over two sittings. This will be improved when the work on the new kitchen is completed (hopefully by the start of 09/10 academic year) and the temporary servery is removed.

Regent's Park College

While technically a permanent private hall (complicated funding differences basically)- it is however called Regent's Park College- and seems likely to become a fullfy fledged college some time soon (as Mansfield College did about 30 years ago). Only 120 undergrads. Recently took in Greyfriars students when it shut down.

The Good Bits

Very, very friendly. Far more so than other colleges. Even though they say differently. Relatively low rent. Good 1st year rooms. Very Cheap bar- £1.40 a pint. £1.20 shot and mixer. Due to its size- very easy to get to know different years/subjects.... You can request tutors from outside of college- therefore pick who you want. from experience this can be really good to get an expert. No science students. Central/North location. Strong links between graduate and undergraduate population. Very laid back academically. Has a college tortoise.

The Bad Bits

'Isn't that in London?' - no. 'Don't they only do theology/are crazy religious fundamentalists?' -no. No religious obligation/test or anything. No-one has heard of it. Very poor. Accomodation unlikely in 2nd year. No science students. (Clearly a positive but hey...) Library is theology/philosophy dominated. Tiny size makes it very intense.

Somerville College

The Good Bits

• Incredible atmosphere - People are SO friendly there it's unbelievable.
• You can walk accross the grass!

The Bad Bits

• Vaughan is possibly the ugliest building in the world (but you can't see it once you're inside it!)
• The TVs in the JCRs don't work very well.

St Anne's College

The Good Bits

Unpretentious atmosphere - you don't have to wear gowns for anything to do with college, and there's a general absence of stuffiness about most things.

You can live in for your whole course, and the Gatehouse aside all the accommodation is comfortable well-equipped with en-suite bathrooms for 2nd and 3rd years if you want them. The room ballot is gloriously simple, with no room brackets or priority for scholars\JCR.

Hall food is really good. You don't have to book, or pay up-front, or wear gowns. Most people eat in hall so it always feels friendly and full. There's a great selection at lunchtime though dinner can be quite samey. The weekend brunch is famously good, with all the breakfast staples plus all sorts of slightly odd things like pies, pastries, curly chips, fruit salad, and chocolate cake.

If you don't want to eat in hall, the kitchens are good in most accommodation.

Formal is only once every fortnight, so it's a big occasion for which people do get properly dressed up (but no gowns) and make a night of it. Tickets sell out quickly but the secondary market tends to deliver if you really want to go and miss them on the day.

The Principal is very approachable (plain "Mr", unlike most Heads of House) and has very interesting media connections who speak at the weekly college seminars.

The JCR has recently been done up, and the bar is getting the same for the beginning of MT 07.

There are some quite pleasant gardens hidden away towards the south side of college.

You can park in college when moving in. Getting away isn't much of a chore either.

It's close to Jericho and North Parade, which both abound with nice restaurants and pubs.

St. Anne's isn't packed into a crowded medieval quarter of the city. Its location allows for a bit of space, peace and quiet, which can be a blessing in a hectic city like Oxford.

The Bad Bits

It's not old, which means no antique buildings and not much glorious history. Lots of people seem to think it's still all-female.

The Wolfson\Rayne buildings and the Gatehouse are quite ugly. They are cleverly situated in the most prominent parts of college so that the rest of Oxford can share in their ugliness.

By the standards of Oxford, it is far away from the middle of town. This means a 15-minute walk, and might tip you towards getting a bike, which makes it about 5 minutes. It's not really much of a chore.

The Codes - St Anne's is very fond of putting codes on about everything, and it can fairly inconvenient to relearn these each time the change. Its nothing too bad, but it puts a damper on things when to visit friends you have to know the code to about 13 first year accommodation buildings, as well as several others that you will use.

Conclusion

All in all, St. Anne's is quite unlike the stereotype of what Oxford is like, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you want. You can still experience the traditional side of Oxford very easily though.

St Antony's College

The Good Bits

• Arguably the best college for area studies and IR - if you want to be with students who almost exclusively do only your own field. Good site for networking.
• World-known for area studies.
• Off the tourist track.

The Bad Bits

• Share your entire life with your coursemates and tutors - lunches, dinners, activities. Your subject tutors are also your academic supervisors.
• Buildings completely lack atmosphere or beaty, it's basically a mix of two manor buildings and a few modern concrete purpose-built monsters of horrible architecture.
• Friendly but unhelpful staff.

St Catherine's aka Catz

The Good Bits

• Houses all students in the college for all years
• New rooms have just been built, all with en suite which the second years live in on site.
• Very friendly, sociable and down to earth college. On nights out catz seems to make up half of the club at all student nights.
• Largest undergraduate college
• Really good food in the hall, served dinner Monday - Friday, self-service Saturday. Also cheap if you buy dinner points.
• 'Scaff' on Monday - Friday, this is an earlier meal in hall which you write out what you want from a menu, sort of like a fast-food place.
• the 'Buttery'- open in the college bar between breakfast, lunch and dinner. Serves tea, coffee, cookies, toasties, sandwiches etc. should you get hungry/ want to procrastinate
• Really good, large and cheap bar which is attached to our jcr. Games machines, pool tables, darts board all in the bar.
• TV and sky in the JCR, with DVD player
• A private dinning room - has a projection screen and DVD player, you can hire this out and play a DVD with friends converting it into a mini cinema
• May Chick
• There is a gym on site with all the usual equipment and a full sized snooker table, I've been told we are the only college to have one.
• Good sports teams - catz also takes part in most cuppers events. Takes rowing quite seriously
• Music room with a Steinway, drum kit (think this is near the jcr though and not in the music room)
• 3 Computer rooms, one next to the jcr/bar
• Vending machines
• Large library
• On the river so can hire punts from the college
• Lots of spaces for bikes including a coded and covered bike shed.
• You load up a 'Giro' card with money/ breakfast and dinner points and you use that everywhere in college (although they do accept cash but things then tend to increase in price). The card also lets you into the bottom of your staircase/other staircases/ library etc.
• One wall is covered in a glass window with blinds sandwiched between the glass.

The Bad Bits

• Some don't see it as one of the most attractive colleges.
• The blinds don't hold out much light and on sunny days the rooms can get very hot (depending on which way your room is facing) - just think greenhouse effect.
• If you don't close the blinds correctly then everyone can see in.
• No breakfast/dinner on Sunday only Sunday lunch.
• Can only buy dinner points in 0th, 1st and 4th weeks of each term.
• Library is not 24hrs and closes at Midnight.
• You have to pay for hiring out the punts
• Minimum you can top your giro card up with is £50
• If you lose your giro card then you have to pay £10 to get a new one.

St Cross College

The Good Bits

• Small, you know at least half of the members by their face.
• Entertaining socials and dinners, especially Founder's Feast and Hilary Feast - the speeches by the Master are unique in Oxford.
• All-graduate college - people are all a little bit older, more mature
• Best for: computer science, health studies, development studies, African studies, ethics, social policy and work
• Central but free of tourists
• Best quality lunch in Oxford
• Near the Ashmolean
• Pretty, well-maintained garden
• Small but attractive art collection

The Bad Bits

• Barely know inside and outside Oxford
• Can feel very claustrophobic and 'out on a limb' despite central location
• Poorly endowed and resourced
• Few high-level or high acheiving fellows
• Students tend to form cliques
• Pusey House
• Poor library
• Very insular and introspective, never makes the headlines inside or outside Oxford
• Not on the Oxford 'scene'
• Not famous, few famous alumni
• Staff are unfriendly and disorganised
• Lack of accommodation and scholarships, accommodation is more expensive and often not as nice as in the larger, richer colleges
• St Cross annexe far from main college site
• Few societies and college-only activities
• Chapel is mostly closed, even to members of the college
• Comparatively expensive and overrated lunch
• Formal Hall is expensive and overrated
• Sharing facilities with dons stifles student culture

St Edmund Hall (Teddy Hall)

The Good Bits

• The college spirit - Teddy Hall know how to get behind the student body and make themselves heard!
• Reasonably central location - 5-10 minutes walk to town centre or to most of the faculties.
• Small in terms of size of college, but large in terms of student numbers. This means that everyone gets to know each other very easily and it's easy to make new friends. The general college atmosphere is friendly, laid-back and down-to-earth.
• Generally a fairly relaxed attitude towards academic stuff, although we do OK in the Norrington table.
• A bit of a 'party college'- there are always loads of teddies out at nights out.
• Great bops - 'the biggest dancefloor in Oxford' apparently. Bops are discos in college - very cheap alcohol and the music is usually quite cheesy!
• Sporty - I think we're currently champions in men's and women's football, always in the top 3 for rugby, head of the river in women's rowing etc. We also quite often win random things. To those who don't like sport: Don't worry, I did no sport at all and came out with lots of friends and didn't feel I'd missed out on anything.
• Large rooms especially in 1st year, including some rooms with balconies
• With its front door located down Queen's Lane rather than in an obvious position, Teddy Hall doesn't get too many tourists in!
• Very pretty front quad!
• The graveyard - our library is in a former church and we tend to relax here in the summer. It's very pretty and not nearly as odd as it sounds.
• The bar actually looks like a pub and is decorated with sports trophies rather than the more conventional student bars.
• The choir is non-auditioning and they get free formal on Sundays.
• Free use of JCR punt for a flat fee paid on battels in summer term.
• Excellent welfare team and regular free cake...
• Womens' lunch: free lunch for girls several times a term. A great chance to gossip away from the boys. This term the womens reps are doing strawberries and cream once a week instead.
• All the staff (porters, scouts, maintenance men etc) are incredibly friendly and really make you feel at home.

The Bad Bits

• Being relatively "new" and therefore owning little in the way of assets, Teddy Hall is poor, so rent and food prices are comparatively high.
• Food isn't that great. You soon learn what's worth eating and what isn't. The Oxford Student recently ran a story about how the food was so bad (fondly named "ming" by the students) that the fellows had agreed to eat with them to test the quality. It has definitely improved over the past couple of years, but it can be a bit mixed.
• Formal is only available on Wednesdays, apart from to choristers who also eat formal hall on Sundays following evensong.
• Most people live out in the 2nd year, although there is usually an opportunity to live in college accommodation in Cowley if you really want. (However since almost everybody lives out finding flat mates is easy and it's a bit of an adventure!)
• In the first year, you may have to climb up to 6 flights of stairs to get to your room - but it'll have a great view! (The Kelly building is apparently the tallest building in Oxford without a lift) (NB not all rooms are this high!)
• You can't work in the library, except the vestry, after 1 am. This has been extended in Summer Term 2008 so that it shuts when the last person leaves, but it's not clear whether this is just for the term or whether it will continue.
• We have a reputation for being 'rah'. It's not particularly true.
• En Suite accomodation is usually only available in 3rd year and otherwise bathrooms are often shared between quite large numbers e.g. 3 showers and 2 toilets between 12 in the Kelly building. People very rarely have to queue as everyone has such different timetables, but it can be irritating.

St Hilda's

The Good Bits

• Hilda's enjoys a lovely location right on the river, allowing the college to keep its own punts literally at its back gate where they can be hired out for free.
• Being on the far side of the Magdalen Bridge means that while still relatively close to the city centre, St. Hilda's is far enough away to be of little attraction to tourists. It also means that it's one of the few colleges where even those living in college are near enough to Cowley to make a trip to Tesco worthwhile. (Normally students will shop at Sainsbury's which is smaller and pricier) The location near Cowley also makes flat-hunting for the second year more convenient
• Reasonably good food although pricing system a bit odd.
• The canteen has just been done up and added to slightly better food is a FairTrade coffee machine and wide selection of chocolate! It's also open for longer.
• Not very insular - most are active in societies etc outside college
• The Jacqueline du Pré building, home to a number of sizeable practice rooms as well as several concerts every week is on site.
• Most rooms are of a decent size.
• Plenty of bike racks.
• You can use the Oxford University gym/swimming pool free of charge if you're at St Hilda's. It's on Iffley Road which is only a 2 minute cycle ride away.
• We have a student-run Buttery, selling sweets, crisps, drinks at discounted prices. You can also get toasties and bagels for as little as £1!
• Our bops are held at various clubs around Oxford, as opposed to 'in-college' which is cool.
• Wedesnday 'formal' meals are optional, so if you've got lots of work to do, or can't be bothered putting on sub fusc and smart clothes, you don't have to.

The Bad Bits

• You have to live out in 2nd year, although overseas students can live in college.
• You don't get food at the weekends apart from Saturday brunch, and Sunday roast (which are both very nice!)
• The dining hall is now unfortunately painted a nasty shade of pink, and as a result of the refit, food prices have increased.
• Some kitchens don't have a hob or oven - microwave cookery/ready meals are essential.
• Library is not 24 hours - you can't go and get the books you need at 2am for the essay due in at 9am!
• It's not a 2 minute trip to Boots/WHSmiths/Zara etc. You have a 10 minute walk into town. This isn't far though and exercise is good!
• Arguably the most invasive policy on late entry and guests. The college can only be entered late at night via the lodge, and all guests must be signed in by name. The list of guests is left out and can be perused by everybody else in the college.
• If you spend less than £100 on college food during the year (or £50 if living out), the excess will not be refunded. Those who mostly make their own food often have to beg their friends to use up excess meal credit.
• The location on the far side of Magdalen Bridge, while useful for Cowley and Tesco's means that going to lectures etc (especially if you're a scientist) can be a bit of a mission - you're advised to get a bike!
• The library catalogue isn't listed on OLIS (the internal library service), which can be annoying when you've nearly reached your limit at the faculty library and can't tell which of the three remaining books you can get with less hassle from the college library.

St Hugh's College

The Good Bits

• Beautiful gardens, with lots of lawn for playing rugby, football, ultimate frisbee, croquet, and so forth. Lots of trees and flowers and shady spots too, and and MCR and JCR BBQ. Tennis/netball/basketball courts on site too, and lots of other sports facilities a few minutes away by bike at a shared sports ground. Fairly spectacular in the summer especially.
• Very friendly, large but small enough that you get to know pretty much everyone, at least by sight.
• Plenty of kitchens (although can be pretty small in some first year accommodation) so you can cook for yourself, although hall is pretty good and apparently reasonably priced. There's no kitchen charge so self-catering really is an attractive option.
• Cheap bar!
• Plenty of space, with accommodation guaranteed for all years of your course (as an undergraduate, though with a lot of graduate accommodation too), and enough ensuite rooms for pretty much any second year onwards who wants one. Some lovely old rooms with fireplaces and sash windows, and a good handful with their own balcony.
• Next to North Parade, which is a wonderful little road with sandwich bars, restaurants and so forth - very quaint, with streamers and lights permanently hung across the street. Near Jericho, a wonderfully bohemian place, with some good bars and restaurants.
• Relaxed, with no need to wear gowns for formal hall (which happens once a week).
• Pretty Art Deco library, open 24 hours. Librarians always seem happy to buy any book they don't have which you want, although this has never happened to me personally yet - there's a pretty comprehensive selection.
• Rent is allegedly still below the median for Oxford (although it's hardly cheap!), which for prestigious and leafy North Oxford is an achievement. It's considerably cheaper than renting for the year.

The Bad Bits

• Quite far out, as colleges go, but it's all relative; only five minutes by bike from the Science site and right by some Arch and Anth buildings. A bit further from town and the clubs, and a fair trek from the university sports complex. On the upside, close to another sports centre with a much nicer and cheaper pool, and we only really get tourists in the summer.
• Not as old as some colleges, with Victorian buildings (we were founded about 120 years ago), and of course the obligatory 1960s block (which isn't actually all that bad as they go ... it has won awards, although it's not clear why).
• No undercover bike storage around the back of college, where a lot of people park.

St John's College

The Good Bits

- Incredibly rich, hence cheap food, cheap accommodation, academic (ie. book) grant for everyone, generous travel grants (not necessarily for academic purposes)

• Accommodation on site for the whole of your course - no need to worry about finding houses (and if you do want to live in a house with friends, college owns most of the houses in Museum and Blackhall roads (right next to college) so you can live there, yet still pay college accommodation and be near college facilities)

- 3 computer rooms with free printing

• Theatre, 2 squash courts and a free gym on site, as well as TV room, video room, games room, table tennis room, bar, bar extension (JCR, sort of)
• Amazingly pretty gardens
• Formal Hall 6 times a week
• Twice termly 'Guest Dinners' - 5 courses, themed dinners to which you can bring 2 guests from home/other colleges, although most people just go with college friends and get riotously drunk, aided by champagne reception beforehand and port/baileys afterwards
• Lots of welfare events - ie. free lunches, doughnut evenings, betrothal dinner, etc.
• SJCTV - Oxford's only student TV station
• Sir Michael Scholar, the President, is lovely and hosts regular music recitals and opens the lodgings for people to see the college art collection, complete with free wine, as well as hosting lunches for all undergraduates throughout the year
• Fairly large years (c.120?) so plenty of people to get to know
• Consistently around the top of the Norrington Table
• Food works on pay-as-you-go type system, so there's no obligation to eat in Hall and use up food credit
• Almost all rooms have kitchen access (certainly in the first year - in later years you can choose a room based on personal priorities)
• Most sports played very enthusiastically, if not particularly adeptly
• Sports ground 10-15 mins walk from college
• Central location hence easy to reach most faculties (esp. science area), yet not so central that parking at beginning/end of term is tricky
• Fewer tourists than you might get if the college was right in the town centre, although the gardens continue to be a draw. Japanese tourists also regularly spotted taking photos in Tommy White - v. odd!
• Could potentially be a con, but generally college is apolitical and laid back about most issues
• Good subject dinners held either termly or annually, some with guest speakers, some without

The Bad Bits

Hrm... well generally St John's is amazing, but a few factors:

• College has something of a geeky reputation - whilst there is always a proportion of the year who regularly go out and go to all available events, there are also quite a lot of people whom you never see, and are therefore probably working
• Food is patchy - some things can be really nice and other times just ick. A prevalence of chicken in Hall at lunchtime
• The bar is somewhat lame compared to lots of other colleges, and is quite often fairly empty
• Sports teams tend to be enthusiastic, but generally lacking in actual successes (though there are exceptions, for example squash, women's rowing, netball and rounders where we actually seem to do quite well)
• JCR is split up into loads of different rooms which is a bit weird
• Some of the buildings on site are not the most aesthetically pleasing (although are apparently important examples of post-modern architecture, hrm...), although this con is counterbalanced by the fact that we can live on site all the time which I think more than compensates for a bit of unsightliness - after all, all colleges have their concrete disasters somewhere
• You get questions like, 'Ooh, St John's! Isn't everyone incredibly hardworking?' (answer: no)
• Despite being relatively large in terms of student numbers, gossip is still able to travel fast (although this is the case at all colleges, and part of the unique Oxford experience...), especially when everyone lives in such close proximity and Tommy White affords such good opportunities for observing people sneaking out of staircases in the middle of the night...!

St Peter's College

The Good Bits

• Right in the middle of the city centre, hence shopping is easy-peasy.
• 24 hour library which is a zoo for students-cum-zombies @ 4am.
• 2 minutes walk away from OUSU offices, Oxford Union and PTs (Purple Turtle: free Union nightclub)
• Extremely sociable college, there are always people out if you want to go for a drink or clubbing.
• Due to the relatively small size of the college grounds, you're likely to bump into people a lot and therefore get to know everyone (about 110 per year).
• You will always have someone to sit next to in the dining hall due to said reason.
• Very active JCR, with entertainment events often organised (e.g. poker nights, hen/stag nights, bops fortnightly, pub quizes, film nights...)
• JCR is one big room, adding to sociability. Comfy chairs and leather sofas in the JCR with a free foosball table, ping-pong table, quiz machine (yes, you can actually win money from it!), pool table (cheap as chips at £1 for 3 games), and various arcade machines.
• Literally 1 minute away from George Street which has a multitude of eateries as well as Odeon and 2 theatre houses (Burton Taylor and Oxford Playhouse).
• Very close to Oxford coach station (3 min away), very close to 2 taxi ranks in Gloucester Green + Queen Street, and very close to all the major bus stops on the High Street.
• Not a snooty college.
• College annexe accomodation is pretty new on Thomas/Paradise St. (accomodation for 2nd + 3rd years)
• Brand-spanking lavish new bar opened in February '08.
• Free gym membership to Iffley Road sports complex due to lack of gym in college.
• Has what is probably the nicest music room in Oxford

The Bad Bits

• Far from Iffley Road sports complex: 9 minute bike ride, 30 minute walk.
• Relatively far from science departments: 4 minute bike ride, 15 minute walk.
• Not known for sporting prowess although participation is high.
• Peter's is climbing up the Norrington table which has prompted the college to increase the workload on future years.
• Not the most aesthetically pleasing college, with Matthews accomodation block being a spawn of the 60s.
• Relatively new and therefore poor college, hence accomodation is a little more expensive than some others and subject bursaries may not be as generous.

Trinity College

The Good Bits

• Openness - it is possible to see out into the "real world" from most places in college, as we have railings rather than being behind massive stone walls like most of the other older colleges, although difficult for people from the outside to get in!
• Brilliant community - first and second years live in college, meaning you get to know the year above and below really well, and everyone are generally really friendly.
• The massive back lawns - and that we can walk, play croquet, build snowmen, eat, drink and generally doss around on.
• The food, which is excellent (if a trifle pricey) and brunch on weekends is a total lifesaver.
• Formal Hall 5 days a week, then very formal hall on Friday, only Saturday is self service.
• The Central location - The distance from front gates to Sainsbury's is the same as the length of the lawns. The Bodleian is roughly the same distance.
• First year rooms are good (either really sociable new staircase, or beautiful old buildings) and Second year are amazing.
• Good work/play balance. Tutors care but the atmosphere is not too pressured meaning you can go out as much or as little as you want.
• Excellent beer cellar with friendly staff and Ben and Jerry's icecream.
• 24/7 365.25 Library, which is well stocked, generally comfortable and excellently funded (requests for books can be handled in the same day)
• Bursaries for everything, although people don't know about them a lot of the time.
• 2 staircases ensuite, with another one under refurbishment. Most other rooms have bathrooms between no more than 8-12 students.
• College very keen on disabled access, lifts and ramps to all vital parts of college and specially adopted rooms.
• Actively used squash court in college, recently fitted with a basket ball hoop, along with a good, but rather rower orientated gym.
• Free colour printing, photocopying and scanning.
• Aesthetically pleasing for the most part.

The bad bits

• Quite expensive (food subs in rent)
• The computer room and the computer section of the library get crowded and during finals.
• Noisy drunken students on Broad Street late in the evening during term, making sleep rather tricky in a couple of the staircases.
• Some of the architectural choices are questionable, but celebrated architecturally.
• The security gate at the front entrance - it gets in the way.
• JCR is relatively small.
• JCR kitchen is small and sometimes inadequate at times for everyone who wants to use it. A recent refurbishment has improved the previously bad situation, the new kitchen being cleaner, brighter and better ventilated. The accommodation manager is *not very nice*, but we just ignore her.

University College

The Good Bits

• Atmosphere - it's horribly, sickeningly nice
• Formal hall 6 times a week (bear in mind that some colleges only have one formal hall each week)
• Kitchens are currently being refurbished ready for the 2008 intake
• Being at the oldest college - gives it a certain prestige with random Americans
• Being next door to exam schools (where many lectures and exams take place) - makes early starts not as bad as for many, and minimises the chance of you sleeping through finals
• Bursaries - the college spends *loads* of money on bursaries, more per student than any other higher education institute in the country.
• 24-hour library on-site.

The Bad Bits Univ doesn't really have bad points, it's just pretty middle-of-the-road for most things. It's not too expensive, foods ok, it's quite pretty, quite large, quite good at sport, societies are reasonable, bar's pretty good, etc. There's nothing bad about it. Except perhaps next year, when there won't be formal in college due to refurbishment.

Wadham

The Good Bits

• It's got a good central position, close to Turl Street, the centre of Oxford and the science park
• Wadham has a very inclusive reputation - whether that'd of women (Wadham was one of the first colleges to go mixed), people from state schools and ethnic minorities, and gay students - hence the nickname "Sodom" and the infamous Queer bop! This leads to a laid back and friendly atmosphere
• It's has its own pub (the King's Arms)
• The large size of Wadham means that there's more chance of you finding a group of friends with whom you share common interests.
• A total lack of formality in Hall (the second biggest in the university after christchurch) - you turn up and eat!
• The beautiful front quad
• The presence of the Moser theatre, which puts on new student plays each week, right on site.
• Bops every 2 weeks
• Has its own all day music festival Wadstock that attracts people from all over the university (but Wadhamites get in free whilst others pay, just like Queerbop)
• Only college with a mixed JCR and MCR, so plenty of interaction between undergraduates and graduates
• Bar opens out onto a quad instead of being underground like in many colleges
• 24 Hour self service library with huge bay windows and beanbags for reading.
• Only undergraduate college to have been awarded fairtrade status

The Bad Bits

• No formal hall
• Accommodation is only provided for two years of three year courses (First year, and final year). The college does own an apartment complex in north Oxford called 'Merifield' that will usually fit any second year who wishes to apply to live there; as with college rooms you don't get charged for things like water or electricity and things like university network connections are provided, but it's a bit of a trek back into town and there's not much on offer for students in north Oxford.
• Queer Bop may be having its teeth pulled out
• The food at dinner is of *cough* questionable quality and not particularly cheap (excellent cheap lunch and breakfast though)
• The college does not have as many en suits rooms as some colleges - half of the front quad, enough for around 1/3 of the final year students. You won't get an en suite as a fresher!
• The bar isn't cheap (although still cheaper than the Kings Arms, and they're rethinking the prices at the moment)
• The Domestic Bursar tries to ruin everything

Wolfson College

The Good Bits

• Location. We are right by the river and, being in North Oxford, away from the hustle and bustle of town. In many ways, it really does feel like being in the country. Wolfson is also quite near Summertown, which is handy for shopping.
• I believe Wolfson is the only college with its own punt harbour.
• Accommodation. All first years who want it get accommodation in or around college, as do many people in later years.
• Facilities, e.g. on-site squash and tennis courts, allegedly the best college gym, very good [24-hour] library facilities and the librarian is always interested in book requests.
• The bar. Cheap but high quality. All the bar staff are volunteers, which keeps the prices down.
• Getting involved. The college is quite egalitarian and it's quite easy to get involved and make a difference in all manner of things.
• As a graduate college, nothing really shuts down over the vacation periods. The ents team also organise events and trips out of Oxford over the summer, which is great for taking a break from your thesis / transfer report / dissertation / general research, etc.

The Bad Bits

• The college's "modern" architecture has had mixed reviews, although I think the garden and the grounds make up for this.
• Location. Personally, I don't find this a problem as it only takes me 15 minutes to walk to my department, but many people at college invest in a bike.
• Size. Wolfson is quite a big and diverse college, so it might not be your first choice if you are looking for small and cosy community. This said, everyone at Wolfson is really friendly and the bar serves a useful role as a social hub when people want to wind down from a day's work.

Worcester College

The Good Bits

• Arguably the prettiest college
• It has sports fields on site, the only college to do so.
• Gym on site
• Lovely gardens (26 acres of ground) and a LAKE!
• Close to train and coach stations
• Close to all the clubs
• Close to Sainsburys
• Close to George street - Shops, restaurants etc
• Close to all the bars/pubs in Jericho (and G&Ds!)
• Beautiful library reading room with great view; upper library open 24/7
• Off the tourist trail
• Really friendly atmosphere
• The ducks!
• Relatively cheap accommodation
• Formal hall every day except Sat for just £2.03 (and pretty good food too!)
• PAYG meals
• Food served every day
• Accommodation provided for all years
• Strong sports teams
• Fridges provided in all rooms
• Toasters and kettles allowed in rooms
• Nice chapel
• Commem ball every 3 years (shared with New and Magdalen) - 2008 sold out in about two weeks
• Good location for most departments (arts and sciences)

The Bad Bits

• Some of the first year accommodation is a bit rubbish (but the community atmosphere in these is great, and some are amazing - huge with ensuite)
• JCR not great

To do

All Souls College

The Good Bits

The Bad Bits

Green College

The Good Bits

The Bad Bits

Kellogg College

The Good Bits

• Excellent Breakfasts

The Bad Bits

Linacre College

The Good Bits

• Good-looking college, both inside and out
• Nice location right beside to University Parks

The Bad Bits

Nuffield College

The Good Bits

The Bad Bits

Templeton College

The Good Bits

The Bad Bits

See also

Push.co.uk College Profiles (Scroll down to Oxford University, and you can click on each college. For more information, click on "More Info". Amongst other practical information, the wesbite gives rankings for academics, booze, sports and college rents out of five.)

OxbridgeColleges.com (Saw someone advertise this somewhere on TSR. Just select a college from the drop-down list to view its user-submitted review and ratings out of 5 on study, artiness, sport, music, facilities, accommodation and, best of all, smugness! It's a new site but content is user submitted so I imagine it will grow)