Questions on Colleges

Hi, I'm having issues choosing which college to apply to (I know I've left it late to apply ) because from the descriptions in prospectus and so on quite a few seem appealing. If you leave it as 'open' do the department or whoever try to assign you a college that they think will suit you according to reference, PS etc or do they just fit you in where there's room basically?

Also, do you get a room at 'random' or is it first come first served in terms of applying for them because although it wouldn't be the end of the world I'm not keen on sharing a room, would just want my own space.

Once you are given an offer at a particular college is there any chance to swap at all or is it final?

This may seem like a silly question but I'm genuinely not sure, the only self catering college in Durham City according to prospectus is Josephine Butler, in a catering college are you not encouraged to cook your own food at all or is the option to cook your own available but at the same time you have the college cooked food available at lunch and dinner?

Also, where can I find out how far the colleges are from the city center and so on?

Thanks

Mostly wherever there's room, probably. They will also be trying to fulfil quotas, so that no one college has all of the biologists etc. . But I don't think they really use your personal statement (if you had a preference, you'd probably have expressed it by choosing one already)


As far as I know, it's entirely 'at random'. I don't think rooms are allocated at all until almost all offers are resolved.

Theoretically you can probably swap, but it would be at the discretion of both involved colleges if so. It would be easier to just make a choice that you like in the first place

If you're in a catered college, you pay for all your meals (though you can get a small refund if you opt out of some, not sure how flexible that is). As such, making your own food is kinda a waste of money. The option isn't really available anyway, as you almost certainly won't have a kitchen beyond a fridge and microwave.

Also, St Cuths has some self catered accommodation if that's what you want.


If this information isn't on the uni website, it will probably be on the TSR wiki or in one of the many other threads about this topic.

Thanks, in regards to rooms I heard you swap every term, is this the case?
cheers for your reply

But I don't think they really use your personal statement

This is certainly the case at some colleges, though I don't know about all. It probably isn't the case at Butler or the St Cuths self catering place, since the cases I know of are because shuffling has to occur to move people in and out of sharing rooms. Other than voluntary relocation to be near friends, it's this necessary room sharing movement that causes the room swaps.

They do use your PS. Say a college has 10 spots for law students. 50 law students applied for said college. How do you think they distinguish amongst them?

Evidence:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/st-cuthberts.society/applicants/admissions/personalstatement/
"As the Admissions Tutor for St Cuthbert's, I am more interested in what you do in your spare time (and yes, I am interested in knowing about your part time job in your local supermarket or what you did in your gap year), what interests/hobbies you have and what you think you would contribute to the college. "
^^^^
All of that comes from the PS

http://www.dur.ac.uk/university.college/prospectivestudents/apply/
"Gaining a place in this College is dependent on academic merit and on the contribution we think you can make to our community, based on your personal statement."

Hi, I'm having issues choosing which college to apply to (I know I've left it late to apply ) because from the descriptions in prospectus and so on quite a few seem appealing. If you leave it as 'open' do the department or whoever try to assign you a college that they think will suit you according to reference, PS etc or do they just fit you in where there's room basically?

Also, do you get a room at 'random' or is it first come first served in terms of applying for them because although it wouldn't be the end of the world I'm not keen on sharing a room, would just want my own space.

Once you are given an offer at a particular college is there any chance to swap at all or is it final?

This may seem like a silly question but I'm genuinely not sure, the only self catering college in Durham City according to prospectus is Josephine Butler, in a catering college are you not encouraged to cook your own food at all or is the option to cook your own available but at the same time you have the college cooked food available at lunch and dinner?

Also, where can I find out how far the colleges are from the city center and so on?

Thanks

I think youre just sent to whichever college has room, I know a lot of people who had an open application and ended up at Cuths, I think we take more freshers then most other colleges.

At Cuths the rooms are allocated after results day, again its different at other colleges but at Cuths were its catered and self-catered (some with ensuite and some not) there was a preference form you could fill in and then some interests you could talk about so you could be matched to a person you would get on with.

It would be difficult to swap after this in one way because they have quotas, if you were to swap then youd have to make sure the other college can still be within their quota so its quite difficult. I guess it would be easy to change between when you apply and receiving an offer though.

If youre catered you cant really cook food, theres usually a microwave, toaster, kettle, etc. so you can only really make snacks. You definitely cant make proper meals so if you do miss lunch or dinner then its just better to go into the town and buy something ready to eat.

None of the colleges seem that far away from town, I live at the bottom of South Bailey and it takes approx. 10 minutes to walk into town, anywhere further up the Bailey and it will obviously be less. I have no idea about hill colleges but I know it takes me 20 minutes to get to Van Mildert, theres probably a quick way to get from there to the town but I dont know how.