St Chad's College Thread 2016

Does anyone know if the Uni will have broken up by the Open Days?

Hi - just thought I'd chip in! I'm a first year at Chad's and remember when I was prepping for the open day!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me!

R.E. College buildings/accommodation. Chad's is on the Bailey and owns 7 buildings along it. They're all close together - from Saddler Street past Hatfield. They all hold a mixture of freshers, 3rd years and 4th years. Each has a kitchen/communal space. The Main College building holds the JCR, bar, dining room, libraries etc. Each house (including MC) has roughly the same number of students living in. My friends all live in different buildings and it's great - we generally hop to each others' rooms before heading to the Quad or bar in the evenings.

As for sharing - personally I don't share, but all my friends do. About 70% of first-years share a room, no matter which house they're in. Sharing is fab - you'll always have someone to chat to, go down to meals with etc. Yeah, you may not end up being being best friends, but it's so rare that people don't get along and if they don't - College will always help out one way or another. It's barely been an issue in my year.

I, and most of my year, adore Chad's. It's a very tight-knit and friendly community. I love the fact that the housing is mixed between years, so it's easy to make friends across the whole undergrad community. The JCR Exec work seriously hard in Chad's and the set up of the JCR system means that you'll always have a voice in how college runs. The college family system and Welfare Team is fab and provides so much support.

Socially, we have loads going on. There's bops, termly megaformals and balls, debates, talent shows, societies and of course, Chad's Day. The bar is lovely and I spend at least 3 evenings there or in the Quad.

The honest bit: If you want anonymity, Chad's isn't for you. You get to know all of your year at least by name by this point in the year, which may put some people off. However, people are respectful of your business and there's no maliciousness.


There's a lot to cover, so I've only gone over what was brought up in this thread. Again, if you'd like to know more about Chad's or Durham please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks so much for this - super helpful! What course do you study? Can you describe your freshers week?

Glad to be of help! I do Anthropology.

Freshers' Week was great. I was late on the arrival day ('Freshers' Sunday' and missed the barbecue in the garden, but still had a huge team of Freps to welcome me in. They carried my stuff to my room whilst my dad moved the car off the Bailey. That night we had college matriculation in the Chad's chapel, which was just a couple of speeches and everyone signing a book. Then formal dinner with speeches from the JCR Exec and College staff and fellows.

There was an option to go out every night. I wasn't really a fan of clubs before uni so I hung out in the JCR with freps and other freshers most nights. I went out twice though and really enjoyed it. The freps are there to keep you safe and are always around if you need them. One highlight was the Princey B, which is a river boat cruise with music, drinks and free burgers. That's one of the best nights in my opinion.

There were activities every day - from what I can remember, we had greyhound racing, quiz nights, themed formals and bops, a ceilidh (so so much fun!), wine and cheese tasting evening (followed by Klute), a trip to Newcastle and the Angel of the North and a primary school-style sports' day. I was incredibly nervous to start with and ended up having a brilliant week. The fun continues past the end of Freshers' Week too..

So did anyone go to the post-offer open days? What were they like?

I went, it was really good! I got a feel for what sharing a room was like and had formal dinner, which was an interesting experience. The evening was really chill and we basically got to talk to people in the bar and the quad about subjects and general Durham life.


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What is the deal with sharing rooms? Do all first years share or is does it depend on what term it is (I think Trevs have a policy that you share one term and then you get a single room from then on). I wish I could have gone to see what it was like

Random Q: Having read the room agreement etc it seems they are pretty strict about personalising rooms, which is understandable but I was just wondering if rooms have noticeboards which are ok to put posters and stuff on? Thanks : D

Has anyone heard back from the college re accommodation / room allocation yet?

Me again XD
Are there any music practice rooms in college?
Thanks

You'll find out your exact room and roommate (if any) on the day you move in. Don't worry, though - all the rooms are pretty great & sharing is nothing to be concerned about. The Chad's students (and possibly staff?) that match roommates really do put a lot of care into it; it shows in how well the pairings go.

Ah, that's good to know! Do you know if I can request a shared ensuite room