Recommended accomodation for University of Birmingham? Watch

Which one would you recommend. I am eligable to recieve the full student loan.
I'd prefer a room which has it's own bathroom or shared between two people.
Not a great cook either, so I was wondering about the catered meal plan? Is the given budget enough for all 7 days? Does the catered meal plan accomodation have kitchen appliances if you do wish to cook?
I have looked through the accomodation types on the website, but I'm still unsure.
Thanks

Hi - sorry you haven't had a response to this yet. I'm just going to bump the thread in the hope that someone sees this and can help

Hi
I am currently living in Elgar Court which is ensuite and on meal plan. I definitely recommend an ensuite room. The meal plan is okay, I can almost get a lunch and dinner for every day of the week (generally make my own lunch on weekends and maybe 1 day midweek). I have breakfast in my flat, but you can actually buy bread, cereal and milk on meal plan as well. The food is okay from Infusion (where you'd have most of your evening meals). Some things aren't so great but I always find something I can eat. It's better than having to cook for myself anyway. For lunch I recommend GoMex and GoCafe on campus, the Melt on the Vale is also good. All meal plan accommodation also has a kitchen, in fact Elgar Court has brand new kitchens this year (had to peel plastic off the appliances when we arrived!). We have one of the biggest kitchens with plenty of space.
Other ensuite meal plan accommodation is Shackleton and Chamberlain (Chamberlain is significantly more expensive however).
Mason is ensuite but not meal plan, it's quite popular.
Away from the Vale, accommodation in Selly Oak is nice as it is a shorter walk to university. I have a friend with an ensuite in Jarrat Hall who loves her flat.
I don't know that much about non ensuite accommodation.
Aitken is meal plan but shared bathroom, not sure how many between though. The people I know who live there really like it though.
The only one I'd recommend your stay away from if possible is Maple Bank.
Hope this helps, if you have any more questions feel free to ask me and I will see if I can answer them.

Hey! Someone from Shackleton here, so am both ensuite and on meal plan. I agree with a lot of the above comments; if you want ensuite, would definitely go for it and it's been so convenient for me. If you do get a shared bathroom though, don't worry! I have plenty of friends sharing a bathroom and they said they've never had to wait to use it.
The only reason I'm on meal plan was to get me onto the Vale (in my opinion definitely the best location), otherwise I would've chosen to go self-catered (and still wish I had gotten Mason). Personally I'm not a fan of meal plan; I usually find myself with money leftover, as you'd be surprised how many free meals/meals out you have during the week, and as the money doesn't roll over to the next week, the university is basically taking £10 a week from you for no reason. The food is sub-par and gets repetitive quickly. That being said, it definitely is quicker as you don't have to cook for yourself, the only positive I can think of. My flat in Shackleton has a massive kitchen, bigger than some of the self-catered kitchens I've seen, with two ovens and a large dining table, so you can definitely cook for yourself if you don't mind wasting the money.

Shackleton, while being nowhere near as nice as Chamberlain, is actually only £300 less per year than Chamberlain, but it certainly doesn't feel worth that much money. You're paying for the convenience of living above infusion, the melt, costcutter, the duck and the atm, and not for the quality of the rooms. All the rooms are different sizes (I got lucky with a decent size room and ensuite), however some of my flatmates have hilariously small rooms. They look like they haven't been updated in quite some time, as opposed to Chamberlain, which is lovely and modern.
In short, for ensuite and meal plan, definitely consider Chamberlain, Elgar Court and Shackleton (if you wanna be in the centre of everything but don't mind feeling a little ripped off) or Mason if you want to be self-catered and ensuite.
And fully agree with the person above - avoid Maple Bank

I have house in selly oak 25 minutes walking distance to University of birmingham if you interested I rent rooms