Changing uni because of bad college?

I was thinking of applying to Castle.. but I've heard the odds of me actually getting in are very, very slim. On the open day I visited Castle and absolutely loved it.. I also went to greys college just to compare another and honestly I feel like if i got allocated there I would rather pick a different uni (Bristol) for my firm if I got offered both.
So what I'm asking is... how big of a difference does it make which college you go to? is it just where you sleep or is it majority of your uni life? would it be better to just go to a different uni if i didn't get castle and got allocated to one of the... less attractive.. colleges?

I was thinking of applying to Castle.. but I've heard the odds of me actually getting in are very, very slim. On the open day I visited Castle and absolutely loved it.. I also went to greys college just to compare another and honestly I feel like if i got allocated there I would rather pick a different uni (Bristol) for my firm if I got offered both.
So what I'm asking is... how big of a difference does it make which college you go to? is it just where you sleep or is it majority of your uni life? would it be better to just go to a different uni if i didn't get castle and got allocated to one of the... less attractive.. colleges?

Personally, I think it's very silly to go to a different university/re-apply just because you don't get a particular college. At the end of the day, colleges are essentially student halls, you're going to university to get a degree, not to live in a castle. You will socialise and study with people from across the university.

The way that it worked a couple of years back (and likely still does) means if you did not get your first choice, you would likely get allocated another college in a similar area (i.e in your case, one of the bailey colleges; Hatfield, Johns, Chads, etc). That being said, if you do get allocated a college and you find that you hate it in the first few weeks/ month or two you may be able to get moved to another (I know someone who has).

But at the end of the day there is a large amount of flexibility in how much time you can spend in your assigned college. You could join some societies + make friends with people on the same course and spend less time in your own college, or you could do the opposite.

I personally would not change my course based on the college that you end up being allocated, but ultimately, the choice is yours.

It is worth noting that the new allocation process does not do what Louis94 suggested from other years. You can read more about it here, but basically you do get randomly allocated. As before, from what I have heard, the Baileys were popular and oversubscribed so it was no longer possible for all of the applicants to stay in the area. I definitely still think you should apply to Durham, I'm just giving you a heads up about the allocation change

thank you, of course I love durham and I'd be happy at the majority of colleges.. just luck I guess then!

I have seen and heard of students choosing another university over durham because they were offered a college that they didn't like. Honestly, the experience you get from, say Castle/hatfield and Trevs/butler are extremely different. There was a Tab article about a student at Trevs who left the university to go to (I think) St. andrews, and one of the reasons that student left was because Trevs was too small and insular for her.

I happened to apply to a larger college, but was assigned Johns which is both one of the smallest + has the religious college reputation (I am relatively agnostic) and didn't find it a problem.

Equally I probably wouldn't pair Castle and Hatfield or Trevs and Butler, as all colleges are different.