By Amelia Wulfsohn, First Year, English and Film
‘What type of university experience do I want to have? What sorts of people do I want to meet? Do I want to be walking distance from campus?’
These are just some of the questions that surround the daunting process of deciding one's first year accommodation. Learning and Teaching Manager at Istituto Marangoni London Wendy Ashall suggests that ‘accommodation is not a peripheral concern. It is central to whether students feel they belong [and] whether they succeed academically.’
Given this, it is understandable that freshers put a huge amount of pressure on which halls they are going to stay in. Although accommodation does matter, perhaps many students have misunderstood why it matters. They assume that their choice of accommodation will control the rest of their university experience. It seems ridiculous to suggest that staying in Goldney Hall in Clifton instead of Hiatt Baker in North Village will make or break the next three years of your life and stop you from meeting like-minded people.
For a lot of students, moving to university is their first time living away from home and so they inevitably obsess over choosing the right environment. Students are chucked into adult life with little to no support. They are expected to work everything out in a naïve hope that this will force them to become more mature and capable individuals. But is this total lack of guidance really necessary to facilitate this sort of character development, or does it just make students’ lives needlessly more difficult?
Hope Black, (BA) English student, had already experienced living away from home at boarding school but still found the sudden lack of rules and support at university ‘difficult and confusing to navigate.’
For Lucy Langford, (BA) English and Theatre student, living five months away from home during her gap year made the move to Bristol ‘less daunting,’ although leaving home was still ‘somewhat of a shock.’ Lucy’s experience stresses how uncomfortable moving to university really can be.
When deciding on first year accommodation, students seem to fixate less on the location, visual appearance and pastoral provisions, instead prioritising social concerns. Felix Bernard, (BA) Philosophy and Economics, moved from Manor Hall in Clifton to Hiatt Baker in North Village at the last minute because of a fear of missing out on what he saw as the ‘stereotypical freshers experience.’ He described North Village as the ‘central hub’ of first year social life. However, upon reflection, Felix confessed that although Manor was more in line with what he actually needed, exclusion anxiety left him in an accommodation where he wasn't all that comfortable.
Felix’s experience raises questions about how students decide on their accommodations. Shouldn’t they be advised to prioritise staying somewhere that feels like home over social factors?
Although rare, some students I spoke to did choose their accommodations by considering what felt most snug.
Ned Lewis, (BA) English student, described staying in Goldney Hall as an environment ‘where both squirrels and students talk openly to each other.’
Ned wanted to live in a place where he could relax after lectures, have some downtime and feel comfortable rather than living somewhere that feels like he must be constantly socialising.
Speaking to Larry Cockle, (BA) Philosophy and Politics, said that Wills Hall is ‘gorgeous’, joking that ‘it's great that my halls look like Oxford’ whilst also emphasising the ‘great social scene.’ Larry feels that staying in North Village has given him ‘access to a larger range of people’ which he feels has made his overall university experience ‘easier so far,’ although not necessarily better. For the most part, accommodation success stories are not actually about the halls themselves rather the flatmates in the hall.
Honey Markham Wroe, (BA) History of Art student living in Durdham Hall, says that while being in North Village makes her feel like she is in ‘the heart of the socialising scene,’ her flat itself ‘is not very sociable.’ Just because you are in North Village, it doesn’t immediately guarantee you the huge, sociable friendship group you may be seeking.
Students in City Centre accommodations seem to have a distinctly different university experience to those in North Village. Their routines, social lives and preferred locations appear more autonomous and the city-based lifestyle suits some students particularly well.
Lucy Langford, (BA) English and Theatre, described living in Metal Works as ‘a really great way to meet people from outside of London’ as North Village accommodations tend to ‘attract more Londoners.’ Lola Gould, (BA) Philosophy and English, described Metal Works as ‘really social,’ emphasising how she felt ‘more independent and grown up’ than some of her friends in North Village accommodations, which she described as being like a ‘boarding school.’
I also spoke to Skye Crewe, (BA) Engineering and Mathematics students, who is staying in Orchard Heights, in the city centre. Skye said that she ‘was sceptical at first about the social scene here but [she has] managed to find a lovely group of people.’ Skye did admit that she reckons meeting people if you are not in North Village ‘takes a little more effort’ but she suggests that this is a positive thing. It forced her to socialise beyond just her flat and get more actively involved in everything else that the university has to offer.
Ultimately, there is no perfect hall. Not only does every student have different needs but there is also no single chain of events that succeeds a choice to stay in any one hall. A sociable building does not guarantee sociable flatmates, just as a quieter hall does not mean an isolated university experience. University is not about where you live, but what you choose to do outside of this. Societies, sports clubs, lectures and events all offer opportunities to build friendships beyond your accommodation.
Perhaps the question first years should be asking isn't ‘which hall will give me the best university experience?’ Instead they need to ask ‘what kind of environment will make me happiest?’ and, even more importantly, ‘what am I going to do outside of my accommodation once I get to university?’ University life is shaped less by where you live than by what you choose to do once you get there.
Grace Bourne
Ruby Hargreaves
Featured Image: Epigram / Mimi Wulfsohn
Do you think your first year accommodation impacted your wider university experience?
