The Student Room Group

Questions for current Newcastle students

Hi all, I've just firmly accepted an offer of a place at Newcastle, and I know it seems uber prepared but I have a couple of questions about the uni.

I've been to a different uni once before and wound up in halls with people that I found it really difficult to get along with, and this (amongst MANY other reasons) meant that I subsequently withdrew from my course. Do Newcastle try and match people like for like, ie do they ask you questions about basic interests, what time you go to bed etc etc. before assigning your accommodation? I know some unis do and some don't, I'm hoping Newcastle is one of the ones that does. If they don't ask these questions, what were your personal experiences of 1st year accommodation, and do you have any hints and tips about finding friends quickly? I don't want to wind up with people who go to bed at 10:30pm again!

All help is much appreciated and will be rewarded in drinks if I ever meet any of you :smile:
Reply 1
Party animal, huh?

When I went through a few years ago, they asked those questions. I would like to think they were followed and on the whole I was in with people I got on with. Yeah, it was not a perfect world and we did not always see eye to eye but Newcastle is more likely to have party animals in the accom than other unis.

I would reccomend you aim for somewhere like Richardson Road which has a reputation as party central. For finding friends I would reccommend societies, clubs or doing allsorts of things in the union such as the Courier newspaper, student Radio, volunteering, etc

And that drink, find the brown haired photographer that wears glasses :smile:
Reply 2
In some halls its not unknown for people to go knocking on other flats to meet people and randomly join their parties :biggrin:
I recommend during freshers make a batch of vodka jelly, then go round offering it to people and get them to come round for a party.... doesn't work if you're a crap host btw :s-smilie:.... damn my foolishly inept skills
one thing about newcastle: rah central!
Reply 5
Firstly, the whole rah thing really isn't a big deal. Back on topic though, I'm afraid Newcastle doesn't ask you any personal questions on your accommodation application - thats unless they add it this year. I was worried about ending up with people i wouldn't get along with but everything turned out fine and there's a whole group of us now.

If you are interested in the drinking/partying lifestyle (ie bed much after 10.30pm!) I strongly recommend you apply for Richardson Road or Marris House as both are very sociable and as an added bonus, really close to uni (especially if you're studying biomed/med/dent!) and town. Its definitely the most popular choice for first years. You might worry that it would be too noisy, but in all honesty I've only been seriously annoyed by drunken shouting/music/endless ringing of doorbell buzzers once or twice.

And on top of that glowing pile of praise, Richardson Road is the cheapest (self catered) accommodation. And you get nice Geordie cleaners and maintenance staff.
Reply 6
whats the best way of getting into richardson road. my mate applied and got stuck in caste leazes. i would have thought because its the most basic everyone that applied would get in
Reply 7
I'm not entirely sure on that one. I applied with RRoad as first and Marris house second choices. Its surprising to be put into catered when your first choice is self catered. In the application there is a section where you state the most important factor - price, location or facilities. I think i put location and facilities on my app., therefore R road fit the bill perfectly, self catered and close to uni.

However, it may all be down to luck :s-smilie:.
Reply 8
What kind of food do you get in catered halls?
Reply 9
Ricky Road is very popular due to its reputation.

The food is standard fare from what I have been told. Not stunning but not too bad.


And the cheapest accommodation is St Marys College.
Reply 10
hey, as has already been said they didnt ask you questions about yourself last year when i applied so i was quite worried, however they do seem to put you with people with similar backgrounds, for example in my flat all of us went to single sex schools, although i didnt actually coming for 'ladies college' implies i did, so they do consider things slightly i guess...
i live in jesmond road, it was postgrad last year, and personally i think its amazing, i mean its not party central like ricky road is, but depending on what house you get put in it can be great as the house im in is technically 6 flats, but basically its just one big huge house with 36 people in, so i have a big group of friends from this house who go out together a lot, but it also means there is a huge selection of people from which to make friends with, i mean the main thing is to make the effort in the first few weeks to go talk to other people, as there is one flat in the house which didnt really make that effort and stayed just as their flat for the first month, and once people have bonded its difficult for new people to introduce themselves, and jesmond road is just as cheap as ricky road, has 2 bathrooms between 6 of us and is the closest accomodation to uni, even closer then windsor terrace, and the rooms are much larger then normal, with one of my friends rooms at least 6m by 6m, she even has a sofa in there to try and fill up the space
Reply 11
Hi everybody. I'm a student at Faculty of economics in Ljubljana and i'm coming to Northumbria uni next year(that'll be my second year of studies) for an erasmus exchange.
At the moment i'm choosing a courses and I don't really know a level of difficulty of them. I'd be more tha thankful if there is anyone who is studying at the bussiness school and willing to help me with my desicion.
I'd like to know more about level of difficulty of this courses:
-Derivatives and risk
-International business finance and trade
-Business performance management
-Portfolio management
-Markets and customers

Don't want to take grueling courses as I'm not into returning the erasmus grant in case I don't pass the exams.

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