Accomodation woes UCL

(Just to clear things up, at UCL 'halls' = catered accommodation, and there are two halls, Ifor Evans and Ramsy. Self catered accommodation is referred to as student houses.)
When you apply for student accommodation at UCL you don't choose where you stay, instead you choose a priority (eg. low cost, proximity to UCL, en suite). The allocation process is fairly random but will obviously be tailored to how much you agree to pay and your priority. You can apply to live in halls of residence (Ramsay hall and Ifor Evans hall) which are catered. By applying for halls you will not be assigned to any houses, and if you don't specifically apply to halls then you will only be assigned to houses. Again, you have no input on which hall you are put into (Ramsay is very close but Ifor Evans is not within walking distance). I wouldn't recommend intercollegiate halls simply because they are not directly associated with UCL, so they may be some distance from the campus, and won't get other perks that UCL accommodation gets such as UCL connected computer clusters.

This is the web page for UCL student houses
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/accommodation/residences/student-houses

This is the web page for UCL Halls
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/accommodation/residences/halls


Halls are much more expensive than houses (because they include food) and if you don't eat at that set time then you're wasting the money that you've spent on your expensive catered accommodation.
I live in Schafer house, which is one of the biggest houses (369 students live here + some on site staff). It's arranged into flats with up to (and usually) 5 rooms per flat, 2 toilets (1 with a shower) and one kitchen per flat, and the special feature of having a sink in your room. It's about 5-10 minute's walk to the main campus.

Sadly OP, you don't get to choose. UCL accommodation is allocated based on just one 'most important factor' (that you get to choose from a short drop-down list on an online form) and whether you want catered or self-catered. I've visited friends in quite a few self-catered accommodations and they're all pretty nice whichever you are allocated - some can be quite far from UCL, though. I'm in catered myself - it's awesome and actually really sociable. More so than the self-catered IMO as you get to meet a much wider range of people here, but then that's just my biased opinion! P.S. Ramsay (as mentioned above) is a catered UCL hall. It's often got a reputation on TSR as 'the party hall'. Trust me, I'm at UCL, and it's not significantly more fun than any other halls I've seen. Don't believe the Chinese whispers

Boo no preference! I really want to be in Bloombury! Is Ramsay hall in Camden or Bloomsbury? Out of the people you know in self-catered, who's is the best?