Van Mildert

Hey, I've noticed similar threads for other colleges and just wondered what current students thought of Van Mildert College.
What are the Pros/Cons of the college?
What is the food like, vegetarian option?
Is the quality of accomadation varied?
What is the bar like, Is there a good social calender?
Also, can anybody comment on the Durham Student Union, do many bands play etc.
Thanks.

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Reply 1

Mattmoy_2000

Their bar is quite expensive (although this is relative to other colleges - the prices are still very low in comparison to most pubs).
Don't ask anyone to comment on DSU, you'll probably just end up with a string of expletives. The only half-decent thing they put on is Hound (a clubby type thing) on a Friday night, and "I Can't Believe It's Not Cheese", an indie-rock-punk-emo type thing that is on about twice a term on a Wednesday. Despite having a huge venue on the ground floor (the Fonteyn Ballroom, capacity ~1000) they've never had any bands I've ever heard of playing there - except for Hell Is For Heroes, and they sold too many tickets for the (charity) gig, which had to be moved to Walkabout, which had a greater capacity, due to being an old cinema.
So yeah, DSU isn't exactly great, but there are loads of gigs in Newcastle, generally at Newcastle Uni, or Northumbria Uni. Occasionally there's a good band on at Sunderland Uni (which is where I saw the Arctic Monkeys) too. With the opening of the Carling Acadamy in Newcastle too, there should be an influx of new bands into the local scene.

Reply 2

arkbar

What are the Pros/Cons of the college?

As a student there I'm obviously horrendously biased but I'd imagine the Pros to be:
-Nice accomodation, especially 3rd year accomodation
-Lake! Avec the cutest ducks,moorhens and a rabbit
-Nice spangly new facilities, with a full size snooker table etc
-Jam Night
In addition to this there are the usual Durham pros such as:
-Formals
-College bars
-Great sport
-Collegiate system as a whole
-College tutorial system (my college tutor rocks multiple socks).
I'll leave it to oters to list cons.

What is the food like, vegetarian option?

Food is, well probably much the same as all other college food It has its ups and downs, there's always a vegetarian option available if you want it.

Is the quality of accomadation varied?

First years can live in a number of blocks:
Middleton:Got done up in the Summer of 2004 I think, it's very nice and shiny with reasonably big rooms all sorts of nice new stuff,if you go for a 'longer let' (32 or 36 weeks, as opposed to 28 so you can stay at college in holidays you may end up here)
Deerness: Part freshers and partfinalists, is a new block with big ensuite rooms and cookers that are (apparently) on outside of trerm time so you can make your own meals. Has quite a lot of international students as it's a 'longer let' block, whether that's a pro or a con is up to you.
Tyne: Got done up a few years ago, is used for conference facilites outside of term time. Has funky electric doors and is half fershers and half finalists.
Tees: The same as Tyne, but without the electric doors and on the other side of the lake. Has open areas on each floor that allow for the playing of corridor cricket, along with nice rooms.
Derwent: All freshers, is one of the two blocks (along with Wear) that hasn't been done up, but will be in the next year or two (I think). Not really any difference in quality of accomodation, it's just a case of superficial stuff like corridor painting/lighting etc. Has the 'fishbowl' on the ground floor, which is a great communal lazing place.
Wear: Meant to be the worst block, but isn't really that bad. All freshers, has odd system of corridor lighting where all 5 lights are never on at the same time. Me, Timothy, Matt(posh_git) and Ryan all live there and can attest to the fact that it has a really good atmosphere and isn't at all a bad place to live.
http://www.dur.ac.uk/vm.jcr/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=56 shows pictures of various blocks.

What is the bar like,

Amazing, but that's the standard reaction of most people to their own bar. It has 3 ales on tap all the time, which is amazing for me. Has a really good atmosphere and is located about 1 foot away from the shop for toastie eatage.

Is there a good social calender

Yeah there is, similar to other colleges there are regular formals (I think 4 or 5 this term), bops, balls and the usual. Uniquely, Mildert has a regular Jam Night every second Monday which is basically an excuse for lots of University bands/goups to play in the JCR and everyone to go 'mm' and nod sagely. It's great!

Reply 3

TKR

how often do you do formals?

EDIT: oh... duh!

Reply 4

Piggsil

On a food note, I have a friend at Van Mildert who is veggie and she says she's getting very bored of just eating potatoes after one term there.

Reply 5

arkbar

As an omnivore, I too am bored of potatoes.
However,they do some really nice samosas and stuffed peppers!

Reply 6

posh_git

lol. you forgot to mention the squirrels!!!!!!!

Van Mildert rocks! (Jen - back us up here :P)

Really friendly atmosphere: i think arkbar has said what i want to say!

Reply 7

Itchynscratchy

Not much more to add except to say that mildert is great, but then most colleges are in their own special way

EDIT: Oh and the food is s***

Reply 8

undercover-ange

posh_git

lol. you forgot to mention the squirrels!!!!!!!

Van Mildert rocks! (Jen - back us up here :P)

Really friendly atmosphere: i think arkbar has said what i want to say!

Awww the squirrels and the rabbits and the DUCKS!!! I tried to buy ink cartridges with ducks on today but the sales assistant in pc world told me I had to have the teddy bear ones for my printer :frown:

(sparkly new printer though woo!!!)
I'm the person to ask about veggie food though :biggrin:

It's surprisingly not too bad! The potato thing definitely isn't just vegetarians- they just like to give everyone lots of potatoes but you get used to the potato avoidance techniques after a while (onion avoidance, on the other hand, takes a little more skill- they manage to hide them in the least likely places) The kind of things they serve for vegetarians varies a lot- we often have nice little hot pot things and lasagnes and the pie type things with mashed potato on top but also occasionally have things like burritos and fajitas. Weekend meals are usually the worst- often the vegetarian options consist of pasta with either tomato or weird "cheese" sauce or (the one I hate the most...) vegetable kievs but at least they switch the toast machine on at high tea.
Anyway, 'tis all bearable and I'm not suffering :smile:

And our accommodation rocks!! Even horrible Wear rooms ( :p:

) are nicer than some rooms I've seen in other colleges.

Aww I'm glad someone finally started a thread on Mildert!! I was beginning to think nobody wanted to come!
xxx

Reply 9

Mattmoy_2000

Van Mildert has the biggest formals of any Durham, Oxford or Cambridge college, seating roughly 440 at each. (For comparison, Castle has about 100-150 at each.)

Reply 10

dobbs

Mattmoy_2000

Van Mildert has the biggest formals of any Durham, Oxford or Cambridge college, seating roughly 440 at each. (For comparison, Castle has about 100-150 at each.)

Eek! That's pretty impressive!!

Hopefully I'll be attending a Mildert formal before the end of this (academic) year :biggrin:

Reply 11

Timothy

Mildert rules, I love almost everything about it, our (Wear) rooms are some of the worst, but still fine in my opinion.
And yeh potatoes to get boring, especially the bright yellow ones they do.

Reply 12

Itchynscratchy

Mattmoy_2000

Van Mildert has the biggest formals of any Durham, Oxford or Cambridge college, seating roughly 440 at each. (For comparison, Castle has about 100-150 at each.)

And you still have to sign up in the first minute to get on one!!

Reply 13

Timothy

And bloody finalist priority. I guess I wont be moaning when I am a finalist.... :rolleyes:

Reply 14

arkbar

It's insane when you consider that Collingwood formals take days to fill up and we sell 440 tickets in 3 minutes.
Conclusion:Mildertians really like their formals.

Reply 15

katini

Our formals actually sell out in about 40 seconds!

It's true that we have the biggest formals in Durham.

In terms of social events, we have around 3 bops a term, at least 3 full-college formals per term, 2 SCR guest nights per year, 1 ball per term (the Michaelmas and Summer balls are within college and the Epiphany ball is external) and obviously other events run by DUCK/Arts Comm.

We're going to hopefully put on some external events this term and also try and follow-up on last year's weekend in Amsterdam with a weekend somewhere else.

Reply 16

jagey

Mildert is the bestest place in the world!
Anyone who does not apply there is clearly insane because everyone here is so lovely!
Everyone gets so involved - see high demand for formals, bops, and everything else social.
And, we have the obvious advantage of the duckies!
x

Reply 17

Inks

arkbar

It's insane when you consider that Collingwood formals take days to fill up and we sell 440 tickets in 3 minutes.
Conclusion:Mildertians really like their formals.

I'm sure Mildertians do like their formals, but I think Collingwood formals only take longer because getting a place at one is so much hassle. You have to get a full table of 6 or 12 together (listed on one form), and cheques with the right information on the back to pay for everyone's meals (that's two cheques per person if everyone's paying for themselves), and hand all that in, before you can have your name down for a meal.

On account of these organisational hazards I'm yet to go to my own college formal. Daft business… *whines* Alliiiii invite me to a Mildertian one? :biggrin:

Reply 18

Sooz

I can't believe people have to pay for formals, we just have to sign our name down at lunch the day before, not too much hassle.

Reply 19

Inks

Oh yeah, ours are about £6. Another reason why it takes longer to sell out. The price might be justified by really good food though… seeing as I've never been to one I wouldn't know…