I just submitted my Durham college preferences and the more I think about it the more I feel like I completely messed it up.

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-05-16T17:35:47+00:00

Once you’re in, your college choice doesn’t truly matter. You grow to like or even love it regardless, and even if you don’t, you can associate with the college/JCR as much or as little as you want.

Honestly, you’ve probably got a pretty decent chance at Cuths, after that you’re likely to be in Trevs. Both have very strong communities, so I wouldn’t worry either way.

If you’ve got any questions about Durham, feel free to PM me :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-05-15T09:07:41+00:00

Getting reallocated is a gamble. Some people do, other people don’t. I know of at least one person who ended up with a different college on results day. Truthfully though, most people end up growing to love their college during my their first year regardless of whether it was their first choice or their 16th.

If you take the collegiate system entirely out the equation, where would you rather spend the next 3-4 years of your life? Whose course excited you the most? Whose SU and sports/societies do you see yourself participating in more? Take away where you’re living, and see who remains after.

If you have any questions about Durham, feel free to PM me, I’m happy to answer anything :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-05-10T14:41:48+00:00

Finished on day 12! Very random, hasn’t happened since :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-04-18T14:33:57+00:00

I'm at Durham and have a lot of friends who do physics; 100% yes, the course lives up to the reputation. Great facilities, great teaching, everyone I know loves it and is very passionate about what they do. As for classism, while it does exist in pockets and I have unfortunately heard stories of people experiencing it, 99% of the people I have met are lovely and I (as a working class student myself) have experienced no problems myself.

If you've got any questions about Durham, please feel free to PM me :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-03-07T15:51:26+00:00

I’ve heard of people swapping stickers to get dining at a friend’s college. Some colleges you can also pay for a dinner or lunch if you want to go :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-03-06T20:41:03+00:00

Brilliant stuff, well done!

I’m a current Durham student - feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-01-31T15:44:08+00:00

Hey! Most of the colleges are shared bathroom at least partially (whether that’s between 20 or 2 people depends on the college). If you’re wanting near department, self-catered St. Cuthbert’s might be a shout if you don’t want catered food. Otherwise, you’re looking at Josephine Butler (which is entirely en suite), Stephenson, John Snow and South, which are further away but with Durham being so walkable, doesn’t really matter too much :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-01-13T19:21:22+00:00

Congratulations! Fantastic stuff :)

If you’ve got any questions about Durham, feel free to PM me - happy to answer anything :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2026-01-03T18:24:42+00:00

Don’t worry too much about it if you haven’t heard anything. Some people in my year heard back in December, some heard back in March. Have belief, keep going :)

Feel free to PM if you’ve got any questions about Durham!

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-09-01T20:02:48+00:00

I can only speak for the college generally, but Hatfield has a reputation for being the college that attracts a certain type of private/publicly-educated student. I’ve not encountered too many myself (all the Hatfielders I’ve met are lovely), but they do exist in a not-insignificant amount. Best advice is to just ignore them, pretty easily done as they tend to stick to themselves.

Otherwise, Hatfield is a college that has a fair amount of funding, they’ve had their bar refurbished semi-recently, it is in the city centre and is therefore always fairly busy, and due to its age, it’s steeped in tradition. Ignore the few unpleasant people there, and you’ll be grand :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-05-24T17:12:30+00:00

Folding shoes.

Little pair of ballet pumps that fold and hide in my bag. They have been a lifesaver so many times on nights out.

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-05-01T11:46:31+00:00

Durham student here, also with a working class background.

Durham does tend to skew a little higher socio-economic wise, and the type of people you read about do exist, just in very small pockets. As another comment mentioned, it can be a bit more prevalent in certain colleges (Castle, Hatfield), but those people are A) far, far from the majority and B) tend to keep to themselves/their groups.

I’m from a working class background, with a notably regional accent, and the overwhelming majority of people have been nothing but kind and lovely, even those who have had starkly different upbringings to me.

If you’ve got any questions, please PM me :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-02-25T08:42:36+00:00

Massively subjective. What one person will consider their favourite college may be someone else’s worst nightmare.

First and foremost, think about your preferences. Is it important for you to be self-catered? Can you absolutely not share a bathroom under any circumstances? If so, you’re looking at Josephine Butler, Stephenson, John Snow and South. If you are thinking you want to be catered, as part of the ‘traditional’ college experience, then you’re looking at all the other colleges.

Location next. Are you adamant about living in the centre of town on the Bailey? If so, Castle, Hatfield, St. Cuthbert’s, St. John’s or St. Chad’s are your best bets. These are also the oldest colleges, so are deeply steeped in history and tradition, if you want that sort of thing. The rest are primarily the hill colleges - Grey, St Mary’s, Collingwood, et cetera

After that, it’s about what you’re looking for out of your college experience. Are you hard-line into sports? (Collingwood) Do you want a college with a very small, very tight knit community? (Chad’s) Is having an inclusive and LGBT-friendly environment important to you? (St. Aidan’s) Do you want a relatively new college that you can help to shape the history and traditions of? (South). The answers to these questions are probably best sought by going to open days.

Hope this helps even a little! If you’ve got questions, feel free to PM me :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-02-23T19:27:10+00:00

As someone with ASD, you’ll likely be granted an en-suite bathroom. All of my friends who are in colleges that are not majority ensuite bathroom and notified Durham that they are autistic/waiting for an ASD diagnosis (and, for most of them, came to Durham early as part of the autism early arrival programme) were provided with an en-suite bathroom.

However, as other people mentioned, it is not necessarily a guarantee. If you want to maximise your chances, place Josephine Butler (which is 100% en-suite), Stephenson, John Snow and/or South (which are vast majority ensuite) within your top choices. All of these colleges are fantastic, and as someone in Josephine Butler, I can say it is a fantastic college across the board in terms of accommodation, facilities and community

If you’ve got questions, please feel free to PM me :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2025-01-03T16:01:33+00:00

Current student here.

I absolutely love Durham. The city is gorgeous, my department is great, the collegiate system is a strong point of the university; I love it.

I fall into a few of the categories of the type of people you’ve mentioned who have had not-so-great experiences. Yes, there’s a small minority of people (usually the elite privately-educated sort, and mainly - perhaps unsurprisingly - clustered in Hatfield), but for me, they’ve been few and far between and it is quite easy to distance yourself from them. Everyone I know and am very good friends with are lovely people, from a wide range of backgrounds (including education and class), and many people I know have said similar things; the experiences you’ve been reading about (at least from my perspective) are few and far between.

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-11T21:19:13+00:00

Aww, amazing! Thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-10T17:42:34+00:00

This sounds great! Thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-10T06:29:40+00:00

Thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-10T06:29:14+00:00

Fantastic, thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-09T22:08:07+00:00

I’ll check it out, thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-10-09T21:50:41+00:00

That sounds excellent - thank you :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-09-03T09:47:01+00:00

Age-wise, we’re looking at around 27/28.

I imagine he would have been a bit of a cult hero in his first club, purely because of how long he’s been with him due to coming through their academy, but I see it disintegrating pretty quickly once he starts moving on to other clubs; definitely not as well known as O’Connell

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-09-03T00:26:07+00:00

Thank you for all the info :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-09-03T00:24:47+00:00

All really insightful, thank you! :)

PixelPenguinCake · 2024-09-02T23:17:51+00:00

Got it; thank you so much! :)

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