Student Halls v. Bedsit for a "mature" student?

Yes it is me again, pestering you with yet another question!

I just got my student packet today (!). In the packet was a lovely cdrom, with all sort of videos about student life.

I am moving to London from the US for study. My uni's accommodation has very large (for halls) accommodation, many of them ensuite, all of them singles. I am pretty quiet, and I need an environment where people won't be partying all of the time, or very, very dirty. I'm also older (22 later this month), and I am moving out of a non-peaceful home environment- so I do need a decent amount of peace.

Do halls typically kick you out during breaks? I would like to stay my summers in London.

But I also want to have a diverse group of friends and to network. I also know that I will probably never have a chance for the living in a hall experience again.

I'm a bit torn as what to do. I have thought about living in the halls for the first year, then going on my own - and no offense to our younger posters, but I do have concern about being surrounded by people as much as 5 years younger than me.

Any ideas?

I have to interview with my prospective uni because I'm 30 years older than most of my classmates!  I will be living in the halls for a few reasons.  The first is money.  I will have decent accomodation for very little money in downtown Edinburgh.  What would an equivalent-sized place cost you in London?  What about transportation to the campus?  Second, living in the city instead of with family will allow me to work and make more money.  Last, living on campus and having a job will allow me to meet lots of people.

The down side will be living with other people.  I hope that all of my roomies have headphones for their electronics.  Ground rules right from the start help everybody stay off each other's last nerve.  (I love bagpipe music.) 

If the noise level from neighbors gets too high and my pleas are ignored, I'll have a resident advisor to help sort it.  RAs get faster results than the Council does if you have a problem with noisy neighbors.

Check with the Accomodation Office.  They might be able to offer you a year lease.  My uni has 40 and 50 week leases.  Everybody has to go while they clean the place out for 2 weeks.  You might be able to move to a different building for the summer.  Like a mini-vacation.  The Accomodation Office can also offer advice on moving out after the school year starts if conditions are really stressful. 

Good luck!

As a more 'mature' student than you Sprigged (I was 30 when I went to Uni here), I can attest to the great experience of living in halls. However my Uni had a whole wing of one of the complexes dedicated to 'mature' students. This meant that most of the students were either doing post grad work (MAs and PhDs) or serious, mature undergrads. They also tended to be non-English. For example, my first year there we had myself, 2 English men, 1 Chilean man, 1 German woman, 1 Greek woman, and 2 Singaporean women. All but the Singaporeans were post grad students and they were very mature.

I had an absolute blast that year. Heck, it was so good, I went on to marry one of the English guys!! We had international dinner nights, we had the occasional party, and we all did really well at our studies.

However, I didn't click so well with the next year - they were nice but just not as good as the first year.

Many of the students did stay over term breaks and summer. However, you might get moved to another room/building and you might also get a revolving door of students through the summer. It just depends upon what your Uni's policies are.

Make SURE you check with your Uni to see if they offer areas for mature students as I can't think of a worse nightmare than being with the youngsters... they party - HARD!! 

  I hope that all of my roomies have headphones for their electronics.  Ground rules right from the start help everybody stay off each other's last nerve. 

You're joking, right?!     
I've never been to Uni, much less stayed in halls, but im just imagining all these 17 & 18 year olds, revelling in their first taste of freedom, and doing it (everything!!) to excess!   

II hope that all of my roomies have headphones for their electronics.  Ground rules right from the start help everybody stay off each other's last nerve.  (I love bagpipe music.) 

If the noise level from neighbors gets too high and my pleas are ignored, I'll have a resident advisor to help sort it.  RAs get faster results than the Council does if you have a problem with noisy neighbors.

Are your roommates all mature students?  I hope they have a mature student wing like balmerhon mentions.

I work at the uni, and our freshers all call it 'B*ll*ck Stalls' rather than 'Pollock Halls' for all the debauchery that goes on in there.  The RAs are only 3rd year students, there for the free accommodation, who all too often join right in or couldn't care less.  After being nagged by Mum and Dad about loud music, squealing mates, curfews and noise too late at night, they're all too happy to cast off the iron chains and run wild.

They are also legal to drink at 18, and take full advantage of this.  Drinking is allowed on campus and in rooms, so are visitors of the opposite sex (no curfews or restrictions on this).

The uni's student population is also about 80% English.  You won't hear a lot of bagpipe music unless Coldplay and The Black Eyed Peas have learned to pipe. 

These are very good questions.

After being nagged by Mum and Dad about loud music, squealing mates, curfews and noise too late at night, they're all too happy to cast off the iron chains and run wild.

This is exactly what I fear. I get tired of toddler behavior rather quickly.  But on the other hand I don't want to be isolated.

These will mostly be art and communications students in my hall. They do know the importance of concentration, but they can also party.

Also, 50% of my school is considered "mature". Finally, the university only has accommodation for about 10% of it's students, which means many are living elsewhere anyway.

My classes will be small and workshop based which is both advantageous and otherwise - If I hate my classmates, they are the only people I know, and I'm stuck, alone in a different country; On the other hand If I love them, we are more likely to become real, rather than superficial friends.

And I can join societies to meet a more diverse group, and there is orientation.

I will be living in the halls for a few reasons.  The first is money.  I will have decent accommodation for very little money in downtown Edinburgh.  What would an equivalent-sized place cost you in London?

A bedsit near my school will typically be cheaper. The halls are spread across London, so I will have to rely on public transport that way, but I could at least ride with a friend. I can get a bedsit within walking/bike distance.

Second, living in the city instead of with family will allow me to work and make more money.  Last, living on campus and having a job will allow me to meet lots of people.

Fortunately, I will not have to work until my 2nd year summer.

Your final point is the one I am most concerned about. I need *peace* but, I don't want to be isolated! A dilemma, indeed. 

By any chance, does anyone know if I choose to go into a private first my first year, if I can choose the halls the 2nd year?

It seems that halls are different, at least for my uni, in the UK. They are bigger, with private bathrooms, sharing only the kitchen. If you really wanted to, you could get a minifridge and a microwave. There are no roomates (thank the good Lord who art in heaven!)

I suppose that it is just as likely that if I live in a bedsit that a neighbour might like to get drunk and blast rap music - with no security or RA's to interfere. And reading the thread about horrible, dirty people in a houseshare has me concerned.

I really just don't know what to do. :-/

The final, and somewhat silly concern- I have a huge dream about living in a historic building. This is unlikely for the halls. I don't want to regret my choice; I only have 3 years there.

Most important, if I am greatly unhappy in my accommodation, I will not do well in my studies. That is why I am weighing the importance of this decision so very much.

Why not move into a hall for the first term anyway, then if you don't like it you can look for a flat share or bedsit.  Once you've made some friends you might be able to rent a place together.  Just a suggestion.

As someone who has both been to university (both here and in the US) and who currently works on a university campus, I'd say that if you're looking for a peaceful environment, university dorm-type accommodation is not the way to go (unless you can get into a hall for mature students).  As someone already mentioned, the drinking age here is 18 and English students take full advantage of it (and don't forget that most pubs are closed before midnight, which means the party has to go back to the dorm or the students' homes).  However, even living off-campus isn't a guaranteed ticket to a quiet neighbourhood -- students tend to cluster and take over all the homes on entire streets, so you're likely to be surrounded by students, no matter where you live.

I only recently attended a presentation given by the chaplain of the university where I work -- he's doing his doctoral studies on the "culture" of university students and has been working on it for nearly four years.  Based on what he said, international students (of a traditional university age) can have some difficulty blending in with British students.  He pointed specifically to Asian students who are actually at university to study (imagine that!) -- they have a very hard time learning to live with the hard-drinking techno-loving Brits.  As a result, my university has had to designate particular halls as "international and mature students only".

Obviously, there's some generalisation going on here -- there are plenty of studious Brits and you may luck out and have some really fantastic suite-mates...just the luck of the draw, really.  

Why not move into a hall for the first term anyway, then if you don't like it you can look for a flat share or bedsit.  Once you've made some friends you might be able to rent a place together.  Just a suggestion.

This sounds like the best idea.

Are your roommates all mature students?  I hope they have a mature student wing like balmerhon mentions.

Yes, Napier has houses for mature students only.  I'm hoping that the roomies will be international students too (read dedicated to studies).

They are also legal to drink at 18, and take full advantage of this.  Drinking is allowed on campus and in rooms, so are visitors of the opposite sex (no curfews or restrictions on this).

And the pubs stay open really late in Scotland!   Never thought I'd see that as a drawback.   Thanks so much for your input.  I truly appreciate it.

Well, I went for a long, introspective walk today, and I am pretty set on a desiscon. I have decided to do the halls for the first year. It seems to me to have all of the disadvantages of a bedsit (weired people sharing bathroom, bad neighbours, etc.) as well as more advantages- such as a "family" enviroment with less isolation, historic building, nice space for little money, no bills, etc. I have pretty much planned to do this:

Why not move into a hall for the first term anyway, then if you don't like it you can look for a flat share or bedsit.  Once you've made some friends you might be able to rent a place together.  Just a suggestion.

Thank you for all of your help everyone, as always

Now to the next question - would anybody here live in E1?

Yes, Napier has houses for mature students only.  I'm hoping that the roomies will be international students too (read dedicated to studies).

Whew!  I was even scared thinking about a normal person going to live among the freshers in Pollock  .  Yikes!  Someone needs to install washing machines in every room in that place to get those residents to wash their bloody clothes every now and again!  If the noise didn't kill ya, the smell would. 

The pubs around here (Leith) fortunately close at midnight during the week and some stay open till 1 at weekends.  Which is not bad thing if they get the karoke machine out.

Well, after that decision, it seems that the halls are in unsafe areas, according to google! 

Tell me, if you were a single young woman would you want to live in:

Camberwell, London, SE5

Hackney, London, E9

Tooting, London, SW17

London SE17
 
London, E1

South Tottenham, London, N15

New Cross, London, SE14
 
London, SE1

London, E2

London, E1

It seems that the only remotely safe one is the one in SE1.

Oh, I need help. As always, I am most grateful

Sprigged, what is it that you're actually worried about, in terms of safety?
Are you worried about being safe in your own bed while you sleep?  Break-ins?
Being dragged into a hedge while walking alone after dark?

It might help us if you give us your definition of 'safe'!