Hi, anyone know anything about Brum uni halls? Eldest is off there next year, and we need to choose. Any to avoid or go for? On line reviews are pretty old.
Cheers
Since no one else has chimed in,
did you do the open days? My kids ultimately went elsewhere, but I've trawled round the place twice in the past five years. That student village with the lake ten minutes walk to the north seems like the best bet, mix of older and newer, and the meal card system covering on campus meals as well as at the hall is popular. Newer generally means smaller room and a tiny en suite pod at the end of the bedroom, older gives a bit more room to swing a cat, but also bigger common areas and more sociable. Hence the older, bigger blocks on the Vale got the nod from my two.
My wife was in Tennis Courts but this was 11 years ago. She said it was ideally placed for campus, town etc. Good sized rooms. Recommends it.
Might be worth a look.
In her time they ran open days for accommodation so might be worth keeping an eye out if they still offer those.
Edit: this relates to university of Birmingham - Edgbaston
My daughter lived in one of the newer blocks near the lake through her first year. She loved it.
A relative’s son was there recently. Biggest gripe was the £50 prepaid food card. Can only use on campus where more commercial eateries are expensive (£10 pizza would use a 1/5th of week’s allocation). There’s no roll over so if use £40 one week, it still £50 the next and you don’t get back any unused credits if home. He was in Chamberlain - clean, safe, well equipped but expensive. En-suite rooms more akin to a Premier Inn than “The Young Ones”
I was in Tennis courts, nice and close for Campus but still 'on the vale' where most of the halls are are so good for socializing which is.... let's face it... the priority.
I was lumped in a flat with a load of drugged up muppets and didn't have the best of times but that wasn't the accomadation's fault, made plenty of mates elsewhere and spent most of my first year hanging out round the vale with them.
Happy days really
EDIT: The student house we moved out of halls to was Full-On Young ones scuzzy, but huge fun was had.
Cheers all- Te Vale is looking the favourite. We did visit a couple of times but didn’t really think about accommodation at the time.
The best parties are always at the cheapest nastiest halls.
Sod this food card shit are there no self catering?
The two outcomes from uni are
1. Knowing you'll never live somewhere as shit ever again but you'll miss it for the rest of your life*.
2. Being able to cook.
3**. Learning something.
* Turns out thus isn't the case but the worst flat you'll ever live in will STILL be the best parties you'll have after uni
**Not counting.
Yeah, not sure about food card. I suppose if he learns to cook, he can impress all the lady’s in his block. At the moment his cooking skills are limited to cheese toasties, so he’ll need to up his game.
"At the moment his cooking skills are limited to cheese toasties, so he’ll need to up his game."
Sounds like the full student cooking repertoire is already sorted;
Baked bean toasty
Baked bean and brown sauce toasty
Cheese toasty
cheese, ham & pickle toasty - (On those push the boat out days!)
I lived in Queen’s Hospital Close for three years, but it was twenty years ago now, and they’ve since sold them anyway.
One thing I would say, is for your eldest to decide if they want to have a campus experience or not. My hall was right in Birmingham city centre, which I loved, but I did miss out on the campus stuff because it was such a pain to get in. Those who lived on the Vale had it easier.
And if there are still self catering halls, with en-suite bathrooms, get one of them. Not being at the mercy of other students using the bathroom is worth every penny!
I was at lake hall - 25 years ago . Wow that went quick . Prob 5 years ago we had a beer at whatever it is now called , and all seemed similar . Felt the best of the bunch to me at the time, but anywhere near the vale should do it .. I looked at the halls when I did my visit to the campus ..
Go for the cheapest halls that are relatively near to the university.
Expensive halls tend to attract the richer overseas students, mainly Chinese, who generally don't interact much with other students, so make of that what you will.
JP
My daughter was in Liberty Gardens and was happy there. A bit of a trek to the Uni, but a nice area. Self catering.
We did the open day for accommodation. All looked okay. My daughter has gone for Vale first (both old and new as two choices) and Selly Oak I think as her next as she quite liked the village-y feel of it.
Talking to students at Vale, they liked it as it was a £1 to get to the bull ring in 10 mins and a short-ish walk/cycle to the campus and it’s in really nice grounds. They’ve changed the payment card this year so it rolls over if you haven’t spent it all.
There’s a brand new building that wasn’t open when we were there. Half way to Selly Oak. Might be worth checking that out as well.
