The Student Room Group
Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
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Reply 1
When I went up for an Open Day, my impression was that there are more "toffs" (if that means privately-educated, well-spoken people) than at many universities, and certain colleges have more than others, but like anywhere, there was still a pretty good mixture of people.
Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
Visit website
Reply 2
Durham does have a lot of toffs. In fact some say more than Oxbridge - I don't know. Some of them are rude but most are very friendly. You will find them at all the Bailey colleges usually.

When I did my open day all those years ago (!) I was given my own room. Very nice!
As many as any prestigious university I would imagine (and have heard) but don't worry about it, there will be all kinds of people there :smile: You're going for van mildert aren't you? I think we'll get our own rooms there because there aren't many shared rooms. x
yes its true, durham is full of rahs, if you dont take the correct evening wear you are likely to be ridiculed and told to "get lost you scruffy little creature". this ofcourse is nonsense.

have fun on your openday.
Reply 5
lol i dnt mind the mix of ppl just that some ppl might classify me as one too! :redface:

im cool with all kinds of people (hpefully lol).

yep going to VM open day!! w00t cnt wait!!!
Reply 6
Going to Van Mildert?

You can't be a toff.
Reply 7
lol!!!!!! heh heh.
Reply 8
can't wait till the castle open day on the 21st....hopefully lots of nice people there to get p*ssed with!
snak3uk
can't wait till the castle open day on the 21st....hopefully lots of nice people there to get p*ssed with!



not something you may want to mention to the current acting master (paula sterling), she doesnt exactly like those who enjoy the lash. also dont let the cock of a senior man put you off. next yrs one is far better :smile:

have fun
I'm a castleman and this is supposed to be one of the "rah-est" colleges, along with Hatfield. The vast majority of people I know are not in the slightest bit rah, although there are, of course a few who are, but in the main the rahs keep themselves to themselves and are generally nice people, if a little cliquish. This would be the same at any university, and if it wasn't rahs it'd be jocks or something else. To be honest, I've never felt excluded from college life because I'm not rich/precocious enough, and 99% of the people here are really nice, including the rahs. Don't let the preconception that Durham (castle especially) is a snobbish institution put you off applying. I was a little worried the weeks preceeding arriving here that I'd feel out of place and not enough of a public schoolboy (I went to a state grammar) to fit in, but within minutes of my parents leaving me I knew that this was all stupid. Yes, we do do lots of "posh" things, like having formals and balls, but we also have fancy dress ents and all-college bar crawls, which are quite the opposite. At no college is there a requirement to go to any of the formals (except perhaps parent formal, but if you really wanted to get out I'm sure you could), but half the fun of doing the 'posh' things is that it's just really an excuse to get drunk and have a good time wearing nice clothes. We have formal twice a week, which doesn't cost anything extra, and I figure that these are things that you're never going to get to experience anywhere else, and they're part of what makes your uni experience unique. I really like going to formals, I've only missed 3 ever, but I also like rock'n'roll music and go out with my friends to various alt/rock events or bars regularly. If you're more into other types of music (especially cheese) there's plenty of place to go too. You could do your entire degree and not go to one formal event (except for matriculation and graduation) or feel in the slightest bit rah, or you could go to all the events you wanted. I figured I'll never get this chance again, so I make the most of it.
One last thing, don't be put off by the fact that the open day is full of people who talk like 'tim, nice but dim', most of them won't get in for that precise reason, they're nice but DIM. Most people here are really nice (even, admittedly, some who go to Hatfield). If you're in a hill college, I doubt you'd even see a rah, except perhaps if you decided to frequent their haunts on saddler street and near elvet bridge, being mainly the overpriced coffee bars.
Reply 11
To be quite honest there are far far more rah's in hild/bede than there are in castle and hatfield (my god i'm defending castle....what is wrong with me!)
Mattmoy_2000
One last thing, don't be put off by the fact that the open day is full of people who talk like 'tim, nice but dim', most of them won't get in for that precise reason, they're nice but DIM. Most people here are really nice (even, admittedly, some who go to Hatfield). If you're in a hill college, I doubt you'd even see a rah, except perhaps if you decided to frequent their haunts on saddler street and near elvet bridge, being mainly the overpriced coffee bars.


In the spirit of intercollegiate niceties- i know some great people at Castle :biggrin:

There are rah's at hill colleges, they just aren't as easily spotted as Bailey rah's as the Bailey is a lot smaller.
Rahs are just another pisstake group, like chavs.

Only rahs are usually less likely to be found in a nissan micra.
Reply 14
Rebecca/Becca
next year's Senior Man
:confused: :confused: :confused:
Reply 15
The Senior Man (who can of course be a woman) is the president of the JCR - basically similar to a head boy or girl at school.
Reply 16
do people think its bad if durham is full of 'toffs'
no! public school boys! (L)
Reply 18
although we dont have that system at hild bede, we have the SRC(student representitive council)
Reply 19
There is a relatively large proportion of rahs compared to some unis but the number varies from college to college. They get ridiculed more by the non-rahs than vice versa. There will have seemed to have been loads of rahs at the open day because for some reason lots of people like to try and pretend they're a rah in the hope that they'll fit in more. This is not the case.