Hi! Congratulations on firming your offer - I also study chemical engineering!
Being catered or self-catered is really up to you. There is quite a lot of flexibility with being catered, as you get
eat and drink credit to spend each week. You do not have to spend it all each week and it also carries forward after 1st year, which can be really useful too. Even if you are catered, you do have kitchens (but there may be a higher ratio of people to kitchen), so the option to cook is always there. Being catered is good as you and your flat might go out together, but that is the same as self catered really. We often cook together and people do tend to eat at similar times. If you are self-catered, you always have the option of eating out at the same eateries as those who are catered.
The en-suite accomodations are
The Quads,
Woodland Court,
Polden Court and
Malborough and Solsbury. By clicking on each of the names, you will be taken to the websites where you can find more information and pictures.
The Quads is en-suite and part catered. This means you have £27.50 credit a week (compared to £55 a week for fully catered). This may be a good compromise for you if you are not sure if you want to be catered or not. In the Quads, you live in flats of less than 10 people. The kitchens in these flats are nice and big. 2 flats share a large communal lounge space, which has tables, chairs, sofas and a TV. The bedrooms in Quads are on the smaller size but I think the large amount of social space makes up for it.
Both Woodland Court and Polden Court have double beds. Polden Court is fully catered and Woodland Court is self-catered. Woodland Court is the newer of the two blocks but both are very nice.
Malborough Court and Solsbury Court are self catered with single beds. The rooms are quite spacious and I think the number of people per flat here is the smallest ratio on campus, meaning there are less people per kitchen.
When choosing accomodation, you have to select category, rather than specific block. This means that if you wanted Woodland Court or Marlborough and Solsbury, you would need to select en-suite, self-catered. You would not be able to specify which out of the two you would prefer.
However, one thing to say that once you get to University, it does not really matter where you end up. I live in Westwood now and I have no issues with it at all. It is a sociable, fun place to live. Sharing a bathroom is really no issue at all. En-suite is often oversubscribed so try not to get disheartened if you are not allocated it.
Anymore questions, please let me know
Leah
1st Year Chemical Engineering