The Big 'Recommend Me A College' Thread

I visited St John's and St Chad's which were extremely lovely, sort of quirky in the way that they were set up (mismatched town houses with different corridors, small stairs and so on...it was so cosy!) but they were all fully catered. St Cuthbert's is partly catered, and I popped into that one too, which was also great because they've got this garden that extends in the back to a beautiful view of the river. Any of these would be great!

hey, im thinking of applying, and i think id rather have self catered (which would obviously narrow it down a lot) but ive noticed that there are waaaaaaaaay more catered. id always thought that self catered was more normal, but is catered better after all? i just thought that having to rely on the college for food would be a bit of a hassle if you dont suit the schedule and more expensive ://

It really depends on what suits you. I went for self-catered because, as you said, I would find set mealtimes inconvenient and I'm generally a fussy eater, so my diet would be much better being self-catered. (Also, I couldn't get through the year without a serious amount of stress-baking, and I needed a proper kitchen to do that!) I think a lot of it in Durham comes from the older colleges being situated in buildings that would be very difficult to adapt into contained kitchen areas, as it's the newer colleges(/buildings) that have the kitchens purpose-built. So if being self-catered is an important thing to you, then go for it

hey, thanks for the response! so are you a student there now? which college are you?

Josephine Butler, starting second year this October

i like the sound of that one! would you recommend?

I will be sending off my UCAS application next week and one of my choices is Durham. I haven't done that much research on colleges yet and I have no idea which to pick.

I will be studying the Computer Science course. I would like a modern college with plenty of new facilities and a relaxed atmosphere. I would like cozy en-suite accommodation. Which college should I pick? I was considering some of the Hill colleges but no idea which is best, they don't like to show off any pictures or videos of how exactly every college looks..

If you're interested in going self-catered, I'd definitely recommend Josephine Butler. It has everything you're asking for - it's the newest college (founded in 2006) so all the buildings are new and modern, and every room has an en-suite and no one shares. It's very relaxed, but also has lots going on (the most societies of any college, I believe), and is generally very friendly and also not far from the science site!

Butler would be my choice, as it does sound perfect, the only thing that's held me back is the self-catering. I am certainly not looking forward to cooking my own breakfast, lunch and dinner. The most I can make is a fry-up and I fail that a large percentage of the time. Plus, I don't really want to worry about hunger when I'm studying and generally enjoying uni life, I just want to show up to the canteen a few times a day, eat, then never have to worry about food again.

I am pretty centred on Collingwood now, am I making the right choice? Is it modern and relaxed with a decent proportion of en-suites, or is another college better in my case?

That sounds fair enough Self-catering suits some people better than others, even if it is a skill most people will have to learn at some point! Whether this is in university or out of it, it doesn't matter.

Collingwood certainly sounds like a good choice. It's very relaxed and the second newest-college, and though the building itself isn't the loveliest, the facilities are all pretty good from what I've seen! You may have trouble with the en-suite part, though, as only 10% first year rooms are. However, there are few of the modern colleges where this percentage is higher, so it might just have to be a small sacrifice for first year if you don't manage to get one!

Yeah, I realised that I probably won't be getting an en-suite at Collingwood, but it probably isn't that big of a deal. Do you have any other college recommendations?