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Otago Halls of Residence
- Thread starter Pineapple
- Start date
Zion
Regular Member
With your profile I can't see why you would not be accepted into St Margaret's. I heard that St Margaret's favours those who have some musical talent/background (I don't know if it's true or not) so I don't think you should be worried at all.
One of the most important things at St Margarets is their choir. Just name drop that you've done choir and mention that you're quiet and studious. Combine that with your grades and you're a shoe-in. The Rev Dr Norris loves people like that!
PS - mentioning sport won't get you anywhere at St Margarets
musica209
Deuce.
You'll be fine. Honestly, don't stress about halls. HSFY is the main thing you want to stress about. In the end, you actually won't really care where you're staying.
Hi! I'm hoping to get into Otago HSFY in 2014-
atm, trying to decide whether i want to apply for St Margs or Carrington as a first option
Is St Marg's really strict? what rules do they have (noise, visitors, and in particular; is curfew really strict, to the point where you can't go out to check out any clubs?)
Is the formal wear a significant part of the St Marg's life?
Is it really important to participate in alot of extracurricular activity (id rather focus on study...)?
Why have people said that in Carrington you get briefed on 2nd year med during HSFY?
is Carrington's hill a significant inconvenience (like during snow days)?
What is the party atmosphere at Carrington like?
(i like to study in a quite environment, but i don't want to surround my self with just 24/7 study/no fun/quiet time people, which is what people seem to think of St margs)
i know this has been brought up many times already, but even after reading 100somthing pages i still can't distinguish between St Marg's and Carrington :S
I would really love to hear about people's personal experiences staying there in 2013 (as most of the thread that I've found is from 2009-2010)
by the way- i live in Wellington and won't really have a chance to physically visit the halls, so i'm really relying on this website to help me decide where i stay
atm, trying to decide whether i want to apply for St Margs or Carrington as a first option
Is St Marg's really strict? what rules do they have (noise, visitors, and in particular; is curfew really strict, to the point where you can't go out to check out any clubs?)
Is the formal wear a significant part of the St Marg's life?
Is it really important to participate in alot of extracurricular activity (id rather focus on study...)?
Why have people said that in Carrington you get briefed on 2nd year med during HSFY?
is Carrington's hill a significant inconvenience (like during snow days)?
What is the party atmosphere at Carrington like?
(i like to study in a quite environment, but i don't want to surround my self with just 24/7 study/no fun/quiet time people, which is what people seem to think of St margs)
i know this has been brought up many times already, but even after reading 100somthing pages i still can't distinguish between St Marg's and Carrington :S
I would really love to hear about people's personal experiences staying there in 2013 (as most of the thread that I've found is from 2009-2010)
by the way- i live in Wellington and won't really have a chance to physically visit the halls, so i'm really relying on this website to help me decide where i stay
I haven't stayed at either of those Colleges myself but I've know quite a few students and staff at them, and know people there this year! Someone may be able to give you a better opinion but here's my observations:
Carrington has just got a new Head of College (3 weeks ago). This means that things may change. He (Pete) may make it less of a HSFY College, he maybe stricter, more lenient, who really knows? But he's a great guy so I can't imagine it'd be bad.
Carrington Hill is insignificant, you won't get caught out in snow, it doesn't actually snow here very often anyway.
If you want a quiet College then, in order, I'd say St Margarets first and then Carrington/Aquinas second (both up hills and secluded from street noise).
Neither Carrington nor St Margarets have a great party atmosphere but Carrington would have a greater atmosphere and a greater events calendar/fun aspect
Academically there is not much difference - in fact the support is similar wherever you go.
I think Carrington sounds a better fit for you (I'm unbiased as have never lived at either). Good Luck!
Carrington has just got a new Head of College (3 weeks ago). This means that things may change. He (Pete) may make it less of a HSFY College, he maybe stricter, more lenient, who really knows? But he's a great guy so I can't imagine it'd be bad.
Carrington Hill is insignificant, you won't get caught out in snow, it doesn't actually snow here very often anyway.
If you want a quiet College then, in order, I'd say St Margarets first and then Carrington/Aquinas second (both up hills and secluded from street noise).
Neither Carrington nor St Margarets have a great party atmosphere but Carrington would have a greater atmosphere and a greater events calendar/fun aspect
Academically there is not much difference - in fact the support is similar wherever you go.
I think Carrington sounds a better fit for you (I'm unbiased as have never lived at either). Good Luck!
musica209
Deuce.
I can't tell you about St Margs. I don't think many people can compare St. Margs and Carrington seeing any person in Otago would've only been in one hall, so it's not like anyone could actually give you a genuine opinion unless you talk to a warden who's worked at both places or something. I can tell you as much as possible about what I think of Carrington though:
I don't know by what you mean by "briefed", but it's not like we get sat down in a tutorial and lectured about the overview of Med. Most people in Carrington enter HSFY knowing that they're gunning for med, or dent, or physio etc, so it's not like they really need a brief on what it's about - they've usually done their research.
Personally, I didn't get down to lectures during snow days because:
1. I'm lazy
2. I am incredibly un-coordinated, as many people who know me personally on MSO will second
But all of my other (non-lazy) friends got up and went to the lectures without an issue. If it becomes a problem, apparently socks over your shoes work well. Also, snow day occurs like, maybe once a year? If less? So it's not really an issue. I reckon a year in a place where you're comfortable in with maybe one day of perhaps a little inconvenience trumps a year at a place where you dislike the atmosphere/are unhappy.
Party atmosphere's great. Carrington has a reputation for working and playing hard. We go to town quite often in the first few weeks of semesters cos there's not too much work to do, and other times, we go on the usual Thursday and Saturday nights. We usually know when to get our heads down and start working, so people stop towning about a month before the final exams start up, which means you have a very quiet hall to study in, cos you won't have raucous drunkards coming back late at night and waking you up from your slumber or interrupting your late-night study (if you're a night owl kind of person).
I love Carrington, but I think I would probably love any hall I stayed in if I met the right people and fell into a group that I could relate to. It's the same in any place, I reckon. Don't worry too much about which hall you end up in - it really comes down to food and distance from uni, in the end. Even with food, not so much, cos you end up studying and not really worrying about what you shove into your stomach as long as you're food (quantity > quality lol). HSFY is about working hard, and you'll meet great people whereever you go! It's a little unfortunate that you can't get a 'feel' of your options, but I'm sure it'll be fine either way.
Good luck with Year 13!
Ilol'ed. This iisn't school camp, there are no curfew times you need to be snuggled up in bed by...
Dorky
Regular Member
hey guys, So being the egar bever i am, i really want to get my application into Otago Halls as soon, or l little bit after the application process opens on August 1st. I really want to get into Hayward. Just something about Hayward just seems great, then i think unicol and Aquinas and my next options. All seem like great halls that i could really thrive in. Just kind of confused how the whole process works however. I realise that i apply on august 1, what does this application process entail? then a reference goes to my dean shortly after, and i get accepted/declined about October onwards. BUt another area of confusing-ness i have is how the hell do i pay for it? I should have a savings account of 5k in it by the time i go to otago by saving this year and working over xmas coming up, but the cost is approx 13k and not sure where to make up the short fall? And i assume you cannot put the whole cost of he halls on a loan for after university? Thanks in advance
Hi Dorky,
I don't know exactly how it works at Hayward but I'd assume it's the same as/very similar to UniCol, where I went in first year. Basically, you can chose a few options when it comes to payment: 1) Lump sum (I'm not entirely sure who has the cash for this...), 2) 2 lump sums, or 3) Pay ~5k upfront, and the rest is taken out weekly when your student loan living costs/student allowance is paid to you.
Obviously most people go for option 3, because it's a lot less of a financial strain to find $5k for the start of the year (especially when you've got a few months between the end of year 13 and HSFY to earn money) than it is to find the whole $13k!
I don't know exactly how it works at Hayward but I'd assume it's the same as/very similar to UniCol, where I went in first year. Basically, you can chose a few options when it comes to payment: 1) Lump sum (I'm not entirely sure who has the cash for this...), 2) 2 lump sums, or 3) Pay ~5k upfront, and the rest is taken out weekly when your student loan living costs/student allowance is paid to you.
Obviously most people go for option 3, because it's a lot less of a financial strain to find $5k for the start of the year (especially when you've got a few months between the end of year 13 and HSFY to earn money) than it is to find the whole $13k!
Dorky
Regular Member
Thanks froot!, Can you choose how much you pay in option 3 initially? And obviously option three is the one, but how liveable is option three with the weekly payments, how much (roughly) would you have left each week, i work for the warehouse in hamilton, but have declined the oppotunuty to transfer down to dunedin for HSFY as study will be the main thing, just hoping the only thing i want to worry about next year is my grades, not my account balance.
Hey Dorky,
You can apply for Halls anytime between August 1st and October 1st so plenty of time. On the 1st of October your applications, including your confidential references, will all be sent to the College you put down as #1. Within a couple of days they'll either accept you or pass you on to your #2 pick. And the same will happen at your #2 and #3 picks. If #3 declines you then you get put on the general wait list where any College could pick you up
Hayward, Unicol & Aquinas are all quite different so I'm interested in your motivation to select all 3? Hayward and Aquinas both have 160 residents but Unicol is about 520. Because of this, they have fairly different cultures. Hayward has the biggest rooms, Unicol's are quite small with Aquinas in-between.
In terms of payments, frootloop is right. The upfront payment for 2014 looks like it will be $6,762.00 (due by Feb 1st) with weekly $170 payments thereafter. Alternatively you can pay two more $3K payments. It's basically $13K for the year. This is the same across all the University owned Colleges (Unicol, Aquinas, Hayward, Cumby, Carrington, Arana, Studholme)
Note, Aquinas has some shared rooms (7 i think) which are only ~$10,500 so that could be a good option to save some coin.
You can apply for Halls anytime between August 1st and October 1st so plenty of time. On the 1st of October your applications, including your confidential references, will all be sent to the College you put down as #1. Within a couple of days they'll either accept you or pass you on to your #2 pick. And the same will happen at your #2 and #3 picks. If #3 declines you then you get put on the general wait list where any College could pick you up
Hayward, Unicol & Aquinas are all quite different so I'm interested in your motivation to select all 3? Hayward and Aquinas both have 160 residents but Unicol is about 520. Because of this, they have fairly different cultures. Hayward has the biggest rooms, Unicol's are quite small with Aquinas in-between.
In terms of payments, frootloop is right. The upfront payment for 2014 looks like it will be $6,762.00 (due by Feb 1st) with weekly $170 payments thereafter. Alternatively you can pay two more $3K payments. It's basically $13K for the year. This is the same across all the University owned Colleges (Unicol, Aquinas, Hayward, Cumby, Carrington, Arana, Studholme)
Note, Aquinas has some shared rooms (7 i think) which are only ~$10,500 so that could be a good option to save some coin.
If you go for the weekly payments option, normally the weekly payment is exactly the same as the amount of money you get from your student loan. It's a good option if you want to minimise the amount of money you pay at the start of the year, but if you go for it you're committing to giving your hall all of your income for the year, so you'll need to rely on savings. The good news is that when you're living in a hall you can really minimise the amount of extra money you spend. The only extra regular expenses really are alcohol, snack food, travel, and entertainment/events. All pretty discretionary.
Dorky
Regular Member
Hey Stevo, Well Hayward just stood out for me, I meet Pauline, the RA i think we call her? she seemed sweet as and had a guy give me his email address and cell phone number if i needed a hand with anything, he was not apart of the intro group and ended up being 10min late for his lecture (It was the physics one!) and i thought that was pretty cool. Unicol seemed like a really good 2nd choice as i know that none of the popular halls are on the table when you put it down as a 2nd choice so unicol did not seem like a horrible choice either and actually seemed quite viable, plus, as froot said there is always a library to study in, so unicol seems good. When it comes to Aquinas, i just heard that it was a solid hall, but unpopular as it was 15min away from uni so its a good way to get in if you don't mind the walk, which if it is my 2nd it 3rd option, i certainly will not. But non the less, i have my eyes on Hayward!
Greenglacier, i hope to get savings up so i can make HSFY a bit more easy financially. I have a car and part-time job, so ill just go all out after the exams and this (should) set me up well along with selling my car. And of cource, alcohol, snack food and events must be added into account (yy)
Greenglacier, i hope to get savings up so i can make HSFY a bit more easy financially. I have a car and part-time job, so ill just go all out after the exams and this (should) set me up well along with selling my car. And of cource, alcohol, snack food and events must be added into account (yy)
Ah, makes sense "Dorky", sounds like you've done your research well! Yeah good idea to put "unpopular" Colleges down as 2nd and 3rd options. All the "unpopular" ones are actually sweet as. I've been in all of them and can vouch for them as all good.
Pauline is actually the Head of College at Hayward and you're the first person I've ever heard say something like that about her.
Each College has RA's (Residential Assistants). They're like 3rd - 6th year students whose role is kinda like your big brothers and sisters. Usually one per floor.
Dorky
Regular Member
]
Pauline is actually the Head of College at Hayward and you're the first person I've ever heard say something like that about her.
Each College has RA's (Residential Assistants). They're like 3rd - 6th year students whose role is kinda like your big brothers and sisters. Usually one per floor.
Do tell me about Pauline...... and do RA's get discounted rates?
RA's effectively pay the College about $70 per week to live there. It's a great experience to do in your 3rd or 4th years.
Pauline is lovely :whip:
Dorky
Regular Member
Not 2nd however?
Honeycrisp
Member
Hey guys, I realise it's a bit early but how much stuff to people tend to bring down to the Residential Colleges? In terms of suitcases. Would one be able to get by with just a carry on and a suitcase? And how big are rooms at St Marg's and Aquinas?