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Student in the Laboratory, Lancaster University
Lancaster University
Lancaster
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Lancaster Unlikely Things to Consider?

I've had my heart set on going to Lancaster for ages now, but I feel like it's sort of clouded my judgement in checking that everything is as good as I hope it will be. I have the offer, but I'm yet to firm it before I'm 100% on it.

What I want to know is, is there anything I should take into account that is unlikely to be something brought up on forums or open days, specifically more negative things that give me a more realistic view? (chances are I will still choose to firm it, I just don't want any nasty surprises)

I was thinking along the lines of weather (i heard it floods sometimes? how badly?), local town life (like are there high street stores and restaurants and entertainment places and stuff), how easy it is to do things like washing, what the dorm room wifi connections are like, etc.?

Just anything would be helpful really. Thank you! :smile:
Reply 1
Weather - the uni itself didn't really flood, there was just no power for several days, rare occasion etc not a big deal, just your usual northern weather
Local town life - there's loads of stuff to do in town and reglar buses running from the uni into the town center
Washing - the machines are easy to use and the majority of the time there is at least one free just depends on the time and they easy to access.
Wifi - Personally I haven't had any problems with it, you are also given an ethernet cable.

When i was in your position, my heart was set on Lancaster and luckily I got there. I can honestly say I love it more than anything I wouldn't dream of going anywhere else.

Hope this helps :smile:
Student in the Laboratory, Lancaster University
Lancaster University
Lancaster
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Similar to the above, really. It does rain a lot in Lancaster, even for the North. We also don't get much snow.

One thing which does surprise some people, especially those from London, is that buses do not run all night. The last bus between town and campus is at something like midnight to 1am, if it turns up at all. There are sometimes night buses but these run (I think) on weekends and only a few per night.

All the facilities you need as a student can be found on campus, in second year and beyond most students opt to live in town to take advantage of cheaper rent, larger rooms and the city in general. You can stay on campus for three years if you really want to but most people don't.

Wifi is patchy when you're not in the centre of campus, but you get an ethernet cable for your room so you can plug in your laptop/PC.
Same as the above, the rain. The rain does kill a lot of the out door actives such as sport and going out.

The fact that you may not get the college you want. If you go the open day and look around and really like the look of one college, you may be disappointed to find that you are not allocated that one. More importantly, you may not even get allocated your insurance choice either. I firmed Grizdale and insured County and was placed in Cartmel. It is not a mayor issue, just don't get your hopes up on being part of a particular college.

The internet speed is about 40mb wifi and about 500-600mb wired.
Reply 4
Original post by Yellow2914
Same as the above, the rain. The rain does kill a lot of the out door actives such as sport and going out.

The fact that you may not get the college you want. If you go the open day and look around and really like the look of one college, you may be disappointed to find that you are not allocated that one. More importantly, you may not even get allocated your insurance choice either. I firmed Grizdale and insured County and was placed in Cartmel. It is not a mayor issue, just don't get your hopes up on being part of a particular college.

The internet speed is about 40mb wifi and about 500-600mb wired.


Grizedale til I die <3
Thanks guys! I'm not too fond of rain but it's the sort of thing I could deal with probably. But thanks for all the other info too!

I only visited one college on the open day so I don't have a particular pull to any of them at the moment so hopefully that part won't be too much of a problem. Out of curiosity though, does the college you join affect the kinds of activities you can join in with or can you go to any college's events/JCRs?
Original post by wickedisgood
Thanks guys! I'm not too fond of rain but it's the sort of thing I could deal with probably. But thanks for all the other info too!

I only visited one college on the open day so I don't have a particular pull to any of them at the moment so hopefully that part won't be too much of a problem. Out of curiosity though, does the college you join affect the kinds of activities you can join in with or can you go to any college's events/JCRs?


JCRs do put on events specially for the college members but mostly they're not that popular. If you really wanted to go on one then usually you can just go and nobody so know you're not in the college. Most events are done through societies or the students union so are pretty much open to anyone.

Effectively though, your college is a glorified hall of residence and doesn't affect anything other than who you graduate with.

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(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Manitude
JCRs do put on events specially for the college members but mostly they're not that popular. If you really wanted to go on one then usually you can just go and nobody so know you're not in the college. Most events are done through societies or the students union so are pretty much open to anyone.

Effectively though, your college is a glorified hall of residence and doesn't affect anything other than who you graduate with.

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Its true, they are really just halls of residences.

I would pick a college depending on if you like the rooms and/or location to be honest. The campus bars may look good when you are visiting, but you can just go to any and they are not that well used :P.

Cartmel is quiet and is the furthest away :frown:
Original post by Yellow2914
Its true, they are really just halls of residences.

I would pick a college depending on if you like the rooms and/or location to be honest. The campus bars may look good when you are visiting, but you can just go to any and they are not that well used :P.

Cartmel is quiet and is the furthest away :frown:


Cartmel, Lonsdale and Pendle are all pretty dead most of the time tbh. Bowland, Fylde most consistently have people in through the day, most likely because they do food that's reasonably priced and actually nice and they're in the centre of campus.
Reply 9
I agree with what others have said, although there are a few things I'd add:
Doing your food shop can be a bit difficult, the spar and student union shops on campus are fairly limited in range (especially if you have any special dietary requirements) and are very expensive. Most of the supermarkets in town are difficult to get to if you don't have a car, although Sainsburys and Asda deliver to campus and Sainsburys offers a free bus on a Wednesday.
If you like shopping you'll be a bit disappointed with the city as the only decent clothes shop is New Look, although thankfully they'll soon be opening a Primark.
But, the train links are excellent, so its quick and easy to go somewhere more exciting like Manchester if you get a bit bored of Lancaster city centre.
But overall i would definately recommend Lancaster, these were the only negatives I could think of which shows that overall its a great place to live and study. If you have any more questions I'm happy to help :smile:
Thank you! I do feel like the food shop thing would be a bit annoying, but from what I've seen of other unis that would be the case for most so it's definitely not a deal breaker.

But yeah, thanks for all the extra info, it's really comforting because I'd be coming from really far so it's a big decision! I'm glad you're enjoying it :smile:
Original post by FernGreen
I agree with what others have said, although there are a few things I'd add:
Doing your food shop can be a bit difficult, the spar and student union shops on campus are fairly limited in range (especially if you have any special dietary requirements) and are very expensive. Most of the supermarkets in town are difficult to get to if you don't have a car, although Sainsburys and Asda deliver to campus and Sainsburys offers a free bus on a Wednesday.
If you like shopping you'll be a bit disappointed with the city as the only decent clothes shop is New Look, although thankfully they'll soon be opening a Primark.
But, the train links are excellent, so its quick and easy to go somewhere more exciting like Manchester if you get a bit bored of Lancaster city centre.
But overall i would definately recommend Lancaster, these were the only negatives I could think of which shows that overall its a great place to live and study. If you have any more questions I'm happy to help :smile:


I definitely wouldn't say it's difficult to get to sainsburys from campus. You take any bus going to "Lancaster", "Heysham" or "Morecambe" so that's pretty much the 3, 2, 2A, 4, 40, 41 or 42 routes. Then you get off at the bus station and it's a three minute walk. It's not difficult. ASDA is tricky though. You'd need to get a bus going to Morecambe or Heysham then get off somewhere around Scale Hall but I wouldn't recommend that as it's not much cheaper than sainsburys.

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