The Student Room Group

Anything about Wadham please

I'm completely copying the LMH thread below.

I'm applying for English and leeeeaning towards Wadham. The factors....it's pretty big, sounds like a good balance of being academic and...word?...laid back, looks pretty, not too far out, good student drama (it has its own theatre?!) and general other activities.

How much truth is there in this impression of it?!

Alternatively.....any other recommendations?!
I should have copyrighted my idea - I would have been reaping in the royalties by now....
Reply 2
PM Ventricles - she's a first year Physicist at Wadham called Lucy and I'm sure would only be too glad to tell you about her college :smile:

All I know about it, is the theatre's pretty good - my friends did the OULES xmas panto there. I only know one person from wadham but they seem nice. Afraid I know very little about the college, other than it's gay stereotype!
Reply 3
electric_egg
I'm completely copying the LMH thread below.

I'm applying for English and leeeeaning towards Wadham. The factors....it's pretty big, sounds like a good balance of being academic and...word?...laid back, looks pretty, not too far out, good student drama (it has its own theatre?!) and general other activities.

How much truth is there in this impression of it?!

Alternatively.....any other recommendations?!


Ok, so I've not actually been there properly, but from interviews, the whole laid back thing certainly seemed true. At Wadham most people would be just hanging about being sociable, whereas when I went into other colleges the JCR would be full of people either staring at a TV screen in silence or, horror of horrors, actually revising for their interviews!!! Plus they have the QUEER BOP, which from what I've heard is the best party in Oxford (Magdelaine ball? pah!), all the men cross dress and the women go as scantily clad as they dare... Also when I went round other colleges, some of the reps would ask what college I was coming from, and I'd say Wadham, and they'd almost always make a comment about how good the parties (or 'bops' as they called them) are. So yeah, it certainly seems like a fun kinda place to be!

Acrtually, the other day I went over to Oxford (trying to motivate myself to do some revision- didnt work..) and went to Wadham, and the head porter gave me like a 15 minute talk on how to correctly smoke a pipe, and he even filled my pipe with some of his personal pipeweed stash, which I swear to God was stronger than any other type of 'weed' around! Oh and the scouts don't care if theres vomit all over your bathroom and in your room (not mine I'd like to add), in fact they seemed rather cheery about the whole thing. So really friendly staff!

And yep it has its own theatre, which is also a badminton court i think.. and a music room with some impressive fact to do with being old, but I dont quite remember.

So there you have it, no need for any other recommendations, gotta be Wadham!

Actually there are a couple of bad points about it, though obviously far outweighed by the good, which are that you dont get formal hall (though you can always go to someone elses), you only eat the evening meal in the fancy hall, and you might end up with a 4 grade offer, which they seem quite keen on.
Reply 4
Wadham - reputation for being hippie, gay ("Sodom") and state (I believe it gets more state school applications than any other college) and left-wing.

It's also pretty big, got a good central location and has interesting architecture.

From a biased POV, I found it extremeley friendly, the admissions tutor is really nice, the rooms don't seem too bad (though they are a mixed bag!) and the food was... nothing special.

What precisely do you want to know?
Reply 5
Amy Cutler's there ... who is fit. And can write. A bit. Which is a bonus. For some. And knows her films. I'm such a sucker for the educated ladies.
Reply 6
Basically: Wadham rocks, apply there.

Layed back, left-wing, cool, amazing vibes and social scene, big party scene, well respected academically, brill tutors, friendly staff, food's not bad either, cool bar....student-orientated.

Apply to Wadham for an alternative Oxford experience.

(I should write soundbites)
Reply 7
hey sorry i havnt replied yet but i havnt had time to sit down and write a proper response, i'm Lucy like chloe said and yeah if you want to know any specifics feel free to pm me any questions, but anyways i shall now try to sell Wadham to you, and make you see how wondeful a place it is:biggrin: so..... here goes...

Accomodation Stuff - in college there are 2 parts i guess the newish blocks and the old blocks(around the front quads), both have there ups and downs (new have kitchens, more bathrooms, mainly singles but a bit plain, old are much prettier in my opinion, have nicer views of the quads, but are mainly shared and a bit drafty hehe)
However they dont house you for every year, only your first and last, but in your other years you can live in Merrifield which is owned by the college and is in summertown, just out from town, which is lots of little flats for about 4/5 people.
Personally i think its a pretty college and is nice as it feels very homely, its not so grand you feel in awe but still got its old rusti charm :smile:

Food- Is variable, sometimes its great, sometimes awful. But it is improving! (one of my best friends is food and amenities officer and things are changng!) We only get dinner during the week paid for on battel, but you can buy lunch and brakfast if you want to from the refectory. Lunch is very good value and generally good!
Alas no we do not have formal halls (coz we're so liberal and don't want to conform to these stereotypes man :P) but plans are afoot to have 'nice dinner fridays' i believe so not quite formal hall but close!
Oh nad there are kitchens around to cook if you feel inclined.

Workwise, you can work as hard or not as you like, there is no huge pressure put on you to be like top of the norrington or anything.

Erm...ooooh Bops! Now here is a fact,,,
Wadham is legendary for Bops and throws the best ones :biggrin: (awaits huge backlash)
But seriously we do throw great bops, one every two weeks, and then we have queer bop (as said where guys dress as girls and girls dont wear alot) and Wadstock (eee its this sat can't wait!) which is wadhams answer to Woodstock which is apparently amazing, a whole day of chilling out to bands and drinking lots :biggrin:
So yes lots of partying here, but theres plenty to do if your not into that.
We're fairly good for drama and lots of people put on plays from college, theres always a few going on. As for sport we not exceptional but are pretty good on the whole.

hmmmmm... cant think of anything else to say just now but if i do i shall let you know, hope that helps and like i said feel free to pm me :smile:
Lucy xx

ooooh yes we are also very central and close to most things, its like 2mins to the centre and also to the science site and we ar rigth next to the turf and the Kings Arms so all is good :biggrin:
Reply 8
Ahhh, Wadstock is this saturday?!? :eek: Is it open to everyone? (although I have a friend, who has a friend at Wadham, so I guess we could sneak in)
I was considering going but I thought it was later on during Trinity!
Reply 9
kalen
Ahhh, Wadstock is this saturday?!? :eek: Is it open to everyone? (although I have a friend, who has a friend at Wadham, so I guess we could sneak in)
I was considering going but I thought it was later on during Trinity!

Indeed it is this sat, but you need a ticket, wadham people could buy them for people, apparently there is goingto be quite strict security :s-smilie::eek:
Reply 10
Better to get organized then! :eek:
*runs across the quad wearing pj's to tell friend*