How To Choose The Best Hall of Residence For You: Kingston Edition
As a student coming from Northern Ireland, commuting to university wasn’t an option for me – so as soon as I received my offer from Kingston, I started researching all the different halls of residence available. Here’s a few tips of my tips on how to choose the best hall of residence for you.
En-suite or shared bathroom?
One of the big decisions to make when choosing whether or not a hall of residence is right for you is to consider whether or not you require an en-suite. Understandably, if you’re accustomed to having a private bathroom at home, moving to a shared bathroom situation might be slightly daunting; similarly, if you’re someone who likes keeping their living spaces meticulously tidy at all times, having an en-suite might seem like the less stressful option in the long run. Overall, en-suite rooms do tend to cost slightly more than non-en-suite rooms, but it’s important to remember that not all halls of residence will offer them as an option. For example, most halls at Kingston do offer en-suite rooms – that is except Middle Mill, which has shared bathrooms with a hand basin provided in each bedroom.
Location, location, location!
One of the main perks of staying in a university hall of residence is its close proximity to campus – I’ve heard dozens of tales of students staying in Middle Mill who roll out of bed fifteen minutes before their Monday morning lecture at Knights Park and still manage arrive on time! However, different halls will be closer to different campuses, so make sure to double-check what your main campus will be to help narrow down your choice of accommodations accordingly. For example, Middle Mill and Clayhill are quite close to both Knights Park and Penrhyn Road, whilst Walkden Hall and Chancellors Hall are ideal for students studying at the Kingston Hill campus.
Disability Adaptations
The opportunity to stay in a university hall of residence should be open to all students, so it’s common for halls to have disability adapted rooms available that can cater for students who may need specific accommodations. For example, Kingston has a number of wheelchair, visually-impaired and deaf-adapted rooms across five of its six halls, and the number of disability-adapted rooms in each can be found on Kingston University’s Halls of Residence page (https://www.kingston.ac.uk/experience/accommodation/halls-of-residence).
Check Out Your Surroundings
If you’re someone who enjoys shopping (like me!), having a hall of residence that’s a short walk to a town/city centre might be important to you; on the other hand, if you’re someone who prefers calmer, secluded green spaces, being close to a high street might seem like more of a disadvantage. One way to check out your surroundings – especially if you don’t have the opportunity to visit any of the halls in-person – is to type the location into Google Maps and see what’s nearby. I know a big factor in my choice of first year halls (Middle Mill) was its proximity to several grocery stores: Aldi was only a ten-minute walk away and Sainsbury’s/M&S were only fifteen.
I hope this was helpful to any prospective Kingston students who might have to start choosing their halls soon – the accommodation portal typically opens in April/May, which luckily isn’t too far away now!
Eve (Kingston Rep).
En-suite or shared bathroom?
One of the big decisions to make when choosing whether or not a hall of residence is right for you is to consider whether or not you require an en-suite. Understandably, if you’re accustomed to having a private bathroom at home, moving to a shared bathroom situation might be slightly daunting; similarly, if you’re someone who likes keeping their living spaces meticulously tidy at all times, having an en-suite might seem like the less stressful option in the long run. Overall, en-suite rooms do tend to cost slightly more than non-en-suite rooms, but it’s important to remember that not all halls of residence will offer them as an option. For example, most halls at Kingston do offer en-suite rooms – that is except Middle Mill, which has shared bathrooms with a hand basin provided in each bedroom.
Location, location, location!
One of the main perks of staying in a university hall of residence is its close proximity to campus – I’ve heard dozens of tales of students staying in Middle Mill who roll out of bed fifteen minutes before their Monday morning lecture at Knights Park and still manage arrive on time! However, different halls will be closer to different campuses, so make sure to double-check what your main campus will be to help narrow down your choice of accommodations accordingly. For example, Middle Mill and Clayhill are quite close to both Knights Park and Penrhyn Road, whilst Walkden Hall and Chancellors Hall are ideal for students studying at the Kingston Hill campus.
Disability Adaptations
The opportunity to stay in a university hall of residence should be open to all students, so it’s common for halls to have disability adapted rooms available that can cater for students who may need specific accommodations. For example, Kingston has a number of wheelchair, visually-impaired and deaf-adapted rooms across five of its six halls, and the number of disability-adapted rooms in each can be found on Kingston University’s Halls of Residence page (https://www.kingston.ac.uk/experience/accommodation/halls-of-residence).
Check Out Your Surroundings
If you’re someone who enjoys shopping (like me!), having a hall of residence that’s a short walk to a town/city centre might be important to you; on the other hand, if you’re someone who prefers calmer, secluded green spaces, being close to a high street might seem like more of a disadvantage. One way to check out your surroundings – especially if you don’t have the opportunity to visit any of the halls in-person – is to type the location into Google Maps and see what’s nearby. I know a big factor in my choice of first year halls (Middle Mill) was its proximity to several grocery stores: Aldi was only a ten-minute walk away and Sainsbury’s/M&S were only fifteen.
I hope this was helpful to any prospective Kingston students who might have to start choosing their halls soon – the accommodation portal typically opens in April/May, which luckily isn’t too far away now!
Eve (Kingston Rep).
(edited 2 months ago)
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