London School of Economics

London

LSE Student Life/Accommodation

Just a general question of what's the best halls to live in, in terms of social life, cleanness of rooms, people in general etc...

Reply 1

jbeckett1993

I need to know this too. Really worried about ending up in halls with boring people who don't wanna go out!

London School of Economics

London

Reply 2

username240699

Bankside, it's awesome! It's widely considered the "party hall".

Reply 3

Milan.

Original post by Mastermind007

Bankside, it's awesome! It's widely considered the "party hall".

since when was it the "party hall" ?
bankside is great! but
rosebery was named the party hall
carr saunders is the better halls though

Original post by jbeckett1993

I need to know this too. Really worried about ending up in halls with boring people who don't wanna go out!

unless you're boring yourself, this will not be the case at lse! you'll always find people who want to go out
if you do end up in a hall that has no one who wants to go out, join societies and make friends with your coursemates and you'll end up spending all your time with them :smile:

Reply 4

a&f

Which hall has more "asian rudeboys" in it, carr saunders, bankside or roseberry?

Reply 5

Milan.

Original post by a&f

Which hall has more "asian rudeboys" in it, carr saunders, bankside or roseberry?

LOL sick guy!
bankside

nice question

Reply 6

a&f

Original post by Milan.

LOL sick guy!
bankside

nice question

Which halls do you go to?

Reply 7

Milan.

Original post by a&f

Which halls do you go to?

i live at carr-saunders

Reply 8

bella0123

hi guys,

any suggestions/advice will be great! im applying on the hallpad right now but im not too sure about the order or preference for the halls. i need more information like how many people share a toilet if i apply for a single non-en-suite room. im not trying to be funny but my friend who share a bathroom with lots of people on her accommodation floor caught crabs!at least that's where she thought she caught it from. i don't really know (i didn't even know you can catch crabs that way) she's a bit dodgy.

also i got my undergraduate offer pack last week and it says how far away they are from the lectures halls, it says Rosebery is 25 mins away, is that by walking or car?

Thanks guys for your helpful comments! it's appreciated!

ill postpone my accommodation application for now to wait for more advice.

Reply 9

H.Patel

hey having been at LSE for two years now and president of Passfield hall and knowing alot of second years and first year in ALOT of the halls there is always the same issue every year...

it depends on what type of person you are, because in the end every hall has a group that parties non-stop, a group that parties bout 3-4 times a week, those that go out once or twice and those that arnt interested in clubbin etc....

having worked with this years presidents of Rosebery, Carr-Saunders, bankside and Passfield (thats me) I can say that in terms of halls social life, this year will be really big as there seems to be alot more going on to within halls compared to my first year and my second year (which is no dig at the previous hall committees) ...

every hall has things that are better than other and things that are worse, but you will always find a group that you will hang around with that suits you...

but if you stuck, Passfield hall is really the hall to be at, with a new pool table, regular parties (hence me slowly failing my degree), but what makes Passfield really sociable is that we have dinner provided everynight at the halls which is included in the fees, hence makes Passfield actually the cheapest hall (especially if you get a shared room), because you meet and talk every night to people and you all come down to dinner at the same time and actually socialise...

also sharing rooms is not too bad, its common for people to not get along with room mates so you can easily swap in the first few weeks with someone you do get along with, but this year alot of first years got single rooms at Passfield as it is an ALL undergrad hall.

Reply 10

emlaaar

Hiya guys!

I've lived at Rosebery this year and can honestly say I've had/am having an amazing time!

There are two wings to Rosebery (Rosebery and Myddleton [however you spell it!]) which are separate buildings opposite one another (a garden separates them). The Rosebery Wing is where the majority of first year undergraduates are put (I know of only a couple of undergrads in Myddleton). As I live in the Rosebery wing I'll just talk about that one..

There are 9 floors with 22 rooms approximately on each floor, one of those is a twin (so there are about 7 twin rooms in the whole of Rosebery in total). The rooms do vary in quality, e.g. some floors have more decent furniture than others. But the rooms are a good size, very square, each room has a sink and plentiful storage space. All rooms have a single bed, wardrobe, desk, 2 bedside tables with drawers, a huge notice board and a bin (yay!). All rooms have a large window, many with black out curtains (sounds boring, but when you neeeed to sleep in the day, it comes in very handy!). The rooms in the basement and on the first floor do get less light than the rooms above. You would have to check about the price of these, as they may be much cheaper than the rooms above. Roughly everyone pays £100 per week- amazing really for central London and the facilities.

There are bathrooms on each floor- 1 for girls, the others for boys. They include 2 toilets, 3 showers, 1 hand basin and a Dyson hand dryer (ooh!). They have just been renovated and look very snazzy. You may have heard that there have been problems with the bathrooms however. These problems, due to poor planning and design, mainly affect the boys bathrooms. At the moment there are no locks on the shower doors (you just push them shut), water collects and fails to dry on the floor outside of the showers, you can't change the temperature or pressure of each of the showers, and they are sensor activated so you must turn them on again every 30 seconds (about).

The girls bathrooms were done after these problems were realised, so girls: you can change temperature and pressure, and there are locks on the doors of the showers. I don't think they are sensor activated either.

But, I must stress...I have been using the 'boys' bathroom on my floor for the past term (as the girls' one was being renovated). It is honestly not as bad as it sounds! Ok, so it was a bit strange at first not being able to lock the door, but it shuts and doesn't swing back open. There are rails above to hang a towel if you're really conscious, but everyone is in the same position- it's not as if people are gagging to have a look over. Plus, they building contractors have promised that locks will be fitted ASAP. (The temperature and pressure thing is a slight annoyance of the boys bathroom, but it really hasn't bothered most people).

Each floor has a small kitchen. Everyone has a locker to store dry food, and the fridge is big enough for everyone to store some chilled food. There is also an under-counter size freezer, toaster, microwave, kettle, sink, worktop areas to prepare food, table with stools and a very small table top cooker. Sounds awful. Really isn't that bad. It has 2 hobs and a small oven/grill. Bear in mind that when Rosebery Hall was built in 1976, there weren't expecting people to use the kitchens as kitchens- there is a large canteen after all. But many people cook in the kitchens every day, proper meals, and most people don't mind having to wait whilst others finish, adjust their meals to 2 hobs, etc. Not everyone cooks in their kitchens either. A lot of people bring small fridges to keep in their rooms (not the mini ones, I mean half-size/table top size fridges)- for those who do actually cook every night, the fridge space in the kitchen is simply not enough.

There is a large canteen which does breakfast and about 4 different evening meals (evening meals are about £2.50-£3). There is also a TV room with sky, but not everyone uses it. There is also a bar with football table, pool table, comfy seats- again, not used a great deal. Rosebery's also got a laundry room (washing machines, dryers and irons) and a computer room with a printer (about 6 computers). There is also a music room with a piano and comfy seats, and a huge storage room/garage for each student to store a reasonable amount (usually heavy items) over holidays.

The location of Rosebery is ace! 5 minute walk to the left you've got the area of Angel. Lots of shops, bars, cafes- everything you'd expect of a typical high street. Lots of little vintage shops too. There's a Sainsburys there and a Waitrose. A lovely mix of people. Angel Tube station is also there, but as it's on the Northern line it really isn't suitable for getting to LSE. The O2 academy is in Angel which means lots of live music and London's biggest Indie night out every Friday night. A must! 30 seconds out of Rosebery to your right is Finsbury, where you've got Exmouth Market- a lovely pedestrianised street, lots of independent shops and restaurants- very cute.

If you want to bus-it to LSE there is a bus stop 10 seconds out of Rosebery where you can catch the 19 or 38 which will take you to the top of Kingsway where you can walk down to LSE- in rush hour, this journey could take 20-25minutes, so not a good choice. With no traffic, 10 minutes perhaps. Or you can catch the 341 which takes you to the Royal Courts of Justice (next door to LSE) in about 20-25minutes. Personally, I think it takes just as long on the buses as it does to walk. I've done the walk, at a fast pace, in about 15-20minutes- you're looking at 20-25 minutes at a leisurely stroll. Once you leave Rosebery and head on the straight walk up to Grays Inn Road, you get to walk through 2 law courts which lead to the back of LSE- really nice walk to the school.

Rosebery attracts a lovely mix of people and is very sociable. There is always something going on, people going out. Lots of pre-drinking in the canteen and kitchens. If that isn't what you like, then it is possible to lead a pretty secluded life, but why would you want that?!

With many of my friends from home going to 'party central' unis like manchester, liverpool, sheffield, etc, I was really worried about LSE and the typical LSE student. Honestly, I can't believe I was worried! True, people do work at LSE (you need to, obvs) but it certainly isn't all that. There's always going to be other people who drink more than you, want to go out more than you- with Rosebery you don't need to worry- at all- about it being major LSE! It really is a loads and loads of fun :smile:

Carr Saunders is very similar to Rosebery, in terms of people and atmosphere- they won Most Sociable hall in this years Battle of the Halls. :wink:

I don't mind answering any other questions about Rosebery- as you can see I could go on, and on..

PS. You can't catch crabs from a bathroom. They need humans to survive, not tiles and toilet seats. :')

Reply 11

Swayum

This topic has been discussed to death on TSR - just search for past threads. For lazy people: the correct answer is Bankside :wink:

Reply 12

Brantonli

I've wondered about those 31, 40 week contracts. How do they work? Do international people (like me) usually stay over for the christmas and easter, but if they leave for home for the holidays, do you still have to pay for those extra 9 weeks?