Finding your community

The premise here is that I think living in David Collett encouraged me to leave my room more and to be more friendly, whereas Claudia Parsons is more isolating as you don't need to interact with anyone. There are certain aspects of David Collett that are more social than Claudia Parsons, like going to dinner and breakfast with friends, going to the common room, leaving your room to use the bathroom and seeing people in the corridor.

Everyone is concerned about making friends before university, but moving in, everyone is so kind and really is in the situation so there is no need to worry. Plus, in David Collett, the key card works for all blocks and flats. This meant it was easy to make friends from other parts of the accommodation outside of your own flat, something that is difficult in Claudia Parsons as each flat is locked off from other people who don't live there.

There isn’t necessary one catering option I prefer over the other. I like the communal aspect of a catered hall because of meal time with friends, but with a self-catered hall I can eat what I want. Overall though, I think catered is the easier and better option for first year. 

My favourite memories from living on campus are movie nights in my friends' rooms, late night study session in the Stem Lab and going to Hey Chilli and Bom Bom with flat mates.

Being on campus helps me settle in and motivates me to go to lectures and seminars.

The library is close and there are lots of study spaces so I think academically I am more focused. This was really important for me because I chose to study at Loughborough because of it's academic reputation as a top 10 UK university and the highly ranked teaching quality for my course.

Socially, living in halls with first and second years means that I am meeting people I would not meet otherwise. In my third year, I took a break from my studies. This meant that most of my friends had graduated, so instead of finding a room in a house I decided it would be easier to return to halls. This also made it easier to make friends for my final year.

Both living in halls and living in town after first year are very fun and social in their own ways. I moved to town in my second year to live in a house with friends. There can be more of a social aspect when living in a house, as you can be with your friends all the time. You are closer to food shops, restaurants and other friends living off campus too.

For me living in town meant that I prioritised the social side of university life (as we would go out quite a lot) in comparison to living in halls where I was more academically focused. Though, one downside of living in town is that it can sometimes take a long time to commute to campus as buses can get very busy.

In your first year, don't rush into getting a house with people you just met. Take your time and get to know people better as houses will still be available at the end of January (which is when we got ours) or further into the year.