The Student Room Group

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Original post by vincrows
Gaah, sorry!!!!!
Been trying new soft contact lens last few weeks that's not working very well at all. Can't see what I'm typing or how my iPad is auto-correcting......
Sincere apology. Corrected, for respect.

Our neighbour across the road is a Sikh family.
They're tall, the Sikh friends are very tall, you said you were tall......
Are all Sikh tall??????? :tongue:


Maybe ...
I think in Punjab the men were always big etc.
But yeh everyone in my family is tall haha.
Original post by physicsmaths
Maybe ...
I think in Punjab the men were always big etc.
But yeh everyone in my family is tall haha.


Come to think of it, there were a couple of Sikh boys in my daughter's old school, who came to school in normal size when they started age 7 and towering over everyone by the time they graduated age 18....

The descendants of formidable Aryans who invaded the area to establish Indus civilisation. No wonder Dravidians were all pushed to the south.......:tongue:
I have a question about accommodation - I just received my St John's ballot list and I'm very very near the bottom, which is a concern for me as I need to be aiming for a room on the cheaper end of the scale and I don't want to be left with only the most extravagant ones to choose from. Does anyone happen to know which rooms are typically left to the end (and I mean literally the last 10 or so) - are they the really cheap/inconvenient ones or the massive expensive ones that no one really wants?
Original post by SchubertLieder
I have a question about accommodation - I just received my St John's ballot list and I'm very very near the bottom, which is a concern for me as I need to be aiming for a room on the cheaper end of the scale and I don't want to be left with only the most extravagant ones to choose from. Does anyone happen to know which rooms are typically left to the end (and I mean literally the last 10 or so) - are they the really cheap/inconvenient ones or the massive expensive ones that no one really wants?


My *guess* is the fancier (i.e. expensive) rooms go first.
Has anyone heard much from Trinity? I've had emails asking for my GCSE certificates and if family members have studied at the college but nothing about accommodation or the start of term yet!
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by jneill
My *guess* is the fancier (i.e. expensive) rooms go first.


Thank you - I hope you're right! The thing is, I wouldn't mind living in a cupboard if it kept costs down - the issue is whether there'll be any cupboards left...
Original post by SchubertLieder
I have a question about accommodation - I just received my St John's ballot list and I'm very very near the bottom, which is a concern for me as I need to be aiming for a room on the cheaper end of the scale and I don't want to be left with only the most extravagant ones to choose from. Does anyone happen to know which rooms are typically left to the end (and I mean literally the last 10 or so) - are they the really cheap/inconvenient ones or the massive expensive ones that no one really wants?


Hard to say.....
So many people with different preference and financial situation.
Some want en suite and/or better quality even it's more expensive. Some want a cheaper room because of their financial situation. (Esp. some of international students)?

If you really want to make sure you don't end up in a room way beyond your budget, I think you'd better to contact the college/JCR and tell them your situation asap.
Just spent at least an hour looking at rooms on the St John's system now... It's all a little bit too confusing for my little mind...
Original post by EricPiphany
Just spent at least an hour looking at rooms on the St John's system now... It's all a little bit too confusing for my little mind...


It's just called "John's". "St John's" is a college at the Other Place. :wink:
Original post by jneill
It's just called "John's". "St John's" is a college at the Other Place. :wink:


I don't get it. Anyways, does it look like I care? It's on their stationery and all over their website.

Spoiler

Original post by EricPiphany
Just spent at least an hour looking at rooms on the St John's system now... It's all a little bit too confusing for my little mind...


The only thing you should decide is if you want pay extra to get en suite or OK with shared bathroom to be economical. (Unless John's so dirty rich that they offer en suite to all first years...)
The quality/standard of first years accomm at johns is reputed to be one of the best at Cambridge, so I think you'll be fine with any choice. Whatever you get, you'll get used to it and feel home very soon.
And once the hard work starts to get going, things about your accomm is the last thing that occupies your mind. :wink:





Spoiler

Original post by vincrows
The only thing you should decide is if you want pay extra to get en suite or OK with shared bathroom to be economical. (Unless John's so dirty rich that they offer en suite to all first years...)
The quality/standard of first years accomm at johns is reputed to be one of the best at Cambridge, so I think you'll be fine with any choice. Whatever you get, you'll get used to it and feel home very soon.
And once the hard work starts to get going, things about your accomm is the last thing that occupies your mind.

Spoiler



Thanks.
You also get the choice of single room or double set, and there's the choice of location, Cripps, one of about six courts or hostels.
But you are right that it doesn't really matter.
Original post by EricPiphany
Thanks.
You also get the choice of single room or double set, and there's the choice of location, Cripps, one of about six courts or hostels.
But you are right that it doesn't really matter.


Crisps looks horrible from outside, but heard it's quite good inside.

If you value privacy a lot, it may be safer to go for a single room, even it means you'll have to share a bathroom with other people. (Unless you go for en suite)

I know someone at johns who got a room in a double set with weird room arrangement. Each student had their own bedroom of course, but one of them had to walk through the other's room to go to the bathroom. And the wall between two bedrooms were not very thick, so could hear the noise from the other room quite well.
it was in her third year, so not sure what first years double sets are like, but one possibility you can bear in mind. :wink:
Original post by vincrows
Crisps looks horrible from outside, but heard it's quite good inside.

If you value privacy a lot, it may be safer to go for a single room, even it means you'll have to share a bathroom with other people. (Unless you go for en suite)

I know someone at johns who got a room in a double set with weird room arrangement. Each student had their own bedroom of course, but one of them had to walk through the other's room to go to the bathroom. And the wall between two bedrooms were not very thick, so could hear the noise from the other room quite well.
it was in her third year, so not sure what first years double sets are like, but one possibility you can bear in mind. :wink:


I think shared sets are still reasonably common at a few colleges.

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Original post by jneill
I think shared sets are still reasonably common at a few colleges.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes, I know.
Double sets had have bee around for a long time but especially after mid-80s, many of old colleges in central location had to cope with a sudden increase of student number very quickly, so they had to divided up larger rooms to make up multiple sets. And some of those sets have a weird design because of the location of ithe original room's size/shape and location of its bathroom.
I just mentioned it to him about a John's case I know of because OP is going to John's. :wink:
And almost all old, beautiful looking colleges in the centre have one or two really ugly modern accommodations, too, mainly built in late-60s/70s. And you're almost bound to live in one of them at least a year during your course.

I actually wrote this in my post you quoted, but deleted it as I thought it's a bit too long.
Been trying not to build too many walls of text! :tongue:
(edited 7 years ago)
Does anyone know which rooms in the ballot go the quickest?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by vincrows
Crisps looks horrible from outside, but heard it's quite good inside.

If you value privacy a lot, it may be safer to go for a single room, even it means you'll have to share a bathroom with other people. (Unless you go for en suite)

I know someone at johns who got a room in a double set with weird room arrangement. Each student had their own bedroom of course, but one of them had to walk through the other's room to go to the bathroom. And the wall between two bedrooms were not very thick, so could hear the noise from the other room quite well.
it was in her third year, so not sure what first years double sets are like, but one possibility you can bear in mind. :wink:


This was the arrangement for my ex-boyfriend in his second year, and was the setup for most of the sets in New Court (the fairy castle one). We had to walk through his roommate's room to get into/out of the set and to use the kitchen, roommate had to walk into ex-bf's room to go to the bathroom. Awkward on both sides! He got a fantastic set to himself in 3rd year though. Cripps has been renovated since he was there, so can't comment on how nice it is internally these days - it was...ok... back then.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Helenia
This was the arrangement for my ex-boyfriend in his second year, and was the setup for most of the sets in New Court (the fairy castle one). We had to walk through his roommate's room to get into/out of the set and to use the kitchen, roommate had to walk into ex-bf's room to go to the bathroom. Awkward on both sides! He got a fantastic set to himself in 3rd year though. Cripps has been renovated since he was there, so can't comment on how nice it is internally these days - it was...ok... back then.


Lol that's exactly she told me. Don't know which accomm but it was in her third year, and was the worst room she'd had at Cambridge.
She didn't have a boyfriend but her roommate did. She said it was so awkward having to go through her friend's room when the boyfriend was staying with her. Never sure if it's a good timing to go to the toilet! :biggrin:
So while her friends at other colleges had a nice spacious single room with en suite, that was what she had to cope with.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by vincrows
The only thing you should decide is if you want pay extra to get en suite or OK with shared bathroom to be economical. (Unless John's so dirty rich that they offer en suite to all first years...)
The quality/standard of first years accomm at johns is reputed to be one of the best at Cambridge, so I think you'll be fine with any choice. Whatever you get, you'll get used to it and feel home very soon.
And once the hard work starts to get going, things about your accomm is the last thing that occupies your mind. :wink:




Spoiler



Homerton has ensuite for all first years I think.
Does that mean we have more money then trinity?
Original post by physicsmaths
Homerton has ensuite for all first years I think.
Does that mean we have more money then trinity?


It means Homerton was founded quite recently (in Cambridge standard) and became a Cambridge college even more recently that they could build their accommodation to meet the modern need = more student numbers and more student expects to have en suite.
Older colleges had to deal with the rapid increase of student numbers post 70s very quickly, so they had to divide some of their bigger rooms into a few smaller rooms with a shared bathroom of the original room. Also, they'd always had a double set with a shared bathroom for a long time already, so first years may be allocated to those rooms.

Modern colleges may not have some gorgeous rooms with lots of history like old colleges, but they often have more modern (obviously) , better equipped rooms that's suited to modern students need.
Many old colleges have ugly looking modern accommodation building or two, too, as they had to increase the number of accommodation significantly in late 60s & 70s.
Many colleges still are building/planning to build more accommodation even now, as they're getting more students, esp PG.

And the quality/standard of first year accommodation may not necessarily be a good indicator of what to come in later years, as I've said many time.
(edited 7 years ago)