The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

I love Durham. It's got a great student community, lots of options for sport, societies and activities and everything is within walking distance. Unless you're at Butler or Aidan's, in which case you're stuck on top of the hill. Sciences and social sciences have lectures on the science

Absolutely! Everyone that I've met has been incredibly friendly. I'm at Hatfield (it's a great choice ) and although you get small groups of posh/sporty people who don't want to talk to anyone else, they don't affect you in any way.

Hatfield (like all the colleges except Butler and partly Cuths) is fully catered, so a big part of life here is going to meals with your friends. We often spend an hour or more having tea, because people turn up late and we enjoy having the time to sit and talk without people rushing off to do work/go to society events. It's not a big thing for everyone, of course, but it's one of the things I enjoy most about living in college.

I love Durham. It's got a great student community, lots of options for sport, societies and activities and everything is within walking distance. Unless you're at Butler or Aidan's, in which case you're stuck on top of the hill. Sciences and social sciences have lectures on the science site (gloriously named), along with the student support centre and Bill Bryson library. Arts/Humanities usually have lectures at Elvet Riverside, close to the Bailey Colleges (of which Hatfield is one). Education, for reasons best known to itself, has lectures near Hild Bede.

Apart from that I'm not really sure what to tell you... any questions in particular?

I would agree with all of the above reply, however just in case anyone else sees this I'd like to slightly correct the statement that if you live in Butler or Aidan's that you're stuck out of the way. This isn't really true at all - yes they're further up the hill but Jo Butler is literally 5 mins beyond Collingwood, and Aidan's less than a minute beyond Mildert. At least while you're living in college no where is more than 15-20 mins away usually so Durham is a great place to live

But yeah I'd agree with the above statement about how friendly people are. Hatfield, Castle and a few of the other Bailey colleges do have a reputation for having an abundance of 'rahs' (or posh people), which is true to some extent compared to other colleges but wont ruin your college experience!

Thank you for the amazing response!

Durham is a fantastic university and is arguably the best University I've applied too (Still deciding between Durham and Edinburgh). I've been trying to get a feel of what the student life is like but all I've been getting are very studious, posh people; not that it bothers me but I just want to have student's real perspective. What are the major ups and downs considering I'm also an international student?

I know, I wasn't being serious. I have to walk up to Aidan's every week for orchestra and it's only about 20 minutes away, although in Durham terms it feels far away because everything is so compact! But I agree- even the hill colleges aren't out of the way at all, really.



No problem.

I'm one of the studious ones, but most of my friends aren't, particularly. It is a top university so there is a fairly hefty workload, but the people who want to go out five times a week seem to manage it.

It seems to have a good international community. Most internationals arrive earlier so they have time to settle in and make friends before fresher's week starts, and Hatfield certainly has a fairly high proportion of internationals. Where are you coming from? I suppose a slight downside would be how far it is from London, if you're into big cities and major transport centres, but nobody I've spoken to is bothered. The train network is good so if you want to travel a bit it's easy to do, and if you want more lively nightlife you can head up to Newcastle.

As far as I can see the internationals don't have many problems integrating, and colleges are usually good at putting on events for them (we had formal for thanksgiving, and I think we're doing something for Chinese New Year as well). There are also international reps you can talk to if you're having problems or are homesick.

What's the food like in Stevo and how easy is it to get from Stevo to Durham main campus?

I'm from Jordan. I don't really mind that London is too far away, but is it that much of a hassle to go there? I don't mind not having too much city entertainment/night life, so long as the community is friendly!

Legitimately, are there any(i.e more than 10%) black students? From all the videos it looks like a sea of Caucasian and Asian students.

Any law noobs are welcome to talk with me. That is all.

What subjects did you take at A level which allowed to you do law? I'm thinking of English Language, Philosophy, History and Spanish.

Hi,
I just wanted to ask current students about the quality and breadth of the MSci physics course as the impression I got from a q and a session on the open day last year was one of 'dont come here if you are interested in fusion, go to Birmingham' (senior lecturer's words) and we have a lot of students who go on to work in the city in finance. The lecturer didn't really 'sell' the course but seemed to trade on the fact that 'we are Durham'. At the time my son was on a department tour, we divided up our time as he couldn't go to the q and a at the same time. After asking all the questions he gave me, I fed back the answers to my son. However, I didn't say anything about how I felt about the replies as that would not be right, after all it's his degree etc.
What I suppose I, like any other parent, am looking for are some comments from current students who are there for the Masters undergrad degree. Are you presented with enough breadth of study for your projects, are you getting out of the course what you thought you would? Any comments appreciated. I really just want to know that he will enjoy the course as much as Birmingham, his 2nd choice, who actually came across as extremely professional and interested.
Thanks
Fi