Otago Halls of Residence

[Combat Wombat]

Hi guys, I was looking at the different halls and was wondering what sort of reputation Knox has? From perhaps a person at knox and someone elsewhere?

From an outsiders point of view...

In all seriousness though, it did have a slightly strange reputation once upon a time, but the majority of people I've met have seemed quite down to earth.

 

[musica209]

What are the chances of staying for the second year at Knox, St. Margaret's, Arana and Carrington?

I can't speak for the other halls, but I can speak for Carrington - some people do apply for second year returning at Carrington, and a few people do get in (like we have one building just for second-years), but mostly they apply for HT positions or president, rather than just a normal returner. Most people from Carrington prefer to flat and get out there in their second year, rather than staying well-pampered in a residential hall, and then return to be a HT or something if we really feel like a hall is where we want to be.

Hi guys, I was looking at the different halls and was wondering what sort of reputation Knox has? From perhaps a person at knox and someone elsewhere?

From an outsider's point of view, Knox has a pretty "party hall" reputation. Buildings are great, people are great. Doesn't really matter what hall you go to, tbh

 

[Sam]

Only weirdos who are too scared to flat or people from Knox (weirdos for various other reasons) stay at halls for the second year.

 

[Squidward]

If you're looking for quiet halls to put as 2nd and 3rd choice, then put in Salmond and Aquinas. Salmond is fairly quiet, even in a Thursday or Saturday night. Studholme can be very rowdy as they have a lot of PE students, and I don't think putting Selwyn as your 2nd or 3rd choice would get you in.

Ok, so now I'm thinking of putting Aquinas as my 3rd option. Are there many HSFY students there? Proportionally, do many of the HFSY's get into medicine/dentistry, like Carrington/St Margarets etc?
What are the rooms like and is it a problem getting to the uni when it snows, since its not that close to the uni?
Also, it says on their website that they have alcohol free/single sex floors, but do they have alcohol free and single sex floors, or is it just one or the other? (do you even them in any of the halls? :unsure

 

[Voldemort]

Ok, so now I'm thinking of putting Aquinas as my 3rd option. Are there many HSFY students there? Proportionally, do many of the HFSY's get into medicine/dentistry, like Carrington/St Margarets etc?
What are the rooms like and is it a problem getting to the uni when it snows, since its not that close to the uni?
Also, it says on their website that they have alcohol free/single sex floors, but do they have alcohol free and single sex floors, or is it just one or the other? (do you even them in any of the halls? :unsure

Heya Squiddy! I am quite sure Aquinas' Med/Dent ratio is not as high as Carrington/Smags, but remember, as mentioned many times in this thread, your hall is not a determinant of whether you get Med/Dent or not. If you work hard, then even if you live in a pub, you will still get Med.
You definitely have Alcohol Free floors, and I do think there are Single Sex floors (someone correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't live in a hall so my knowledge is limited )
There is apparently a shuttle going between Aquinas and Uni, so you should be good in the snow (it doesn't actually snow that often )
[OFFTOPIC]Love your DP by the way XD[/OFFTOPIC]

 

[Aftermath]

You definitely have Alcohol Free floors, and I do think there are Single Sex floors (someone correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't live in a hall so my knowledge is limited )
There is apparently a shuttle going between Aquinas and Uni, so you should be good in the snow (it doesn't actually snow that often )
[OFFTOPIC]Love your DP by the way XD[/OFFTOPIC]

Yeah, I think most halls, if not every hall, has a single-sex floor. Or at least a wing (e.g. Salmond). Definitely every hall has an alcohol-free floor.

And yes, I know it's about every hour and you'll get to lectures on time but I'm not sure about the exact times and if you're able to have the shuttle available throughout the day. I do know for sure that there are shuttles during the day (latest I saw the aquinas van in uni was 11am and earliest is 8am, but since I only walk around to go to a lecture or to go home I don't really know if they'd go later) and there are definitely shuttles at night.

 

[Squidward]

Yeah, I think most halls, if not every hall, has a single-sex floor. Or at least a wing (e.g. Salmond). Definitely every hall has an alcohol-free floor.

What I mean is that do they have a floor that is alcohol-free and single sex?

 

[CourtSauce]

Hey! Im looking at Selwyn College and Carrington for my first choice but i cant decide between the two I really like Selwyn because it seems to have a really good interhouse sports competition running with Knox (im quite sporty myself), and its pretty close to the university but then I also really like the sound of Carrington because it seems to have a good balance of study and fun and from what ive heard it seems to produce a lot of successful med students. There hasnt really been much info on selwyn on here....whats the balance like in terms of study and fun? and whats the drinking culture there like? Oh and also, do many med students go there and which out of the two have the best family/inclusiveness kind of vibe? Thanks in advance!

 

[Sam]

Hey! Im looking at Selwyn College and Carrington for my first choice but i cant decide between the two I really like Selwyn because it seems to have a really good interhouse sports competition running with Knox (im quite sporty myself), and its pretty close to the university but then I also really like the sound of Carrington because it seems to have a good balance of study and fun and from what ive heard it seems to produce a lot of successful med students. There hasnt really been much info on selwyn on here....whats the balance like in terms of study and fun? and whats the drinking culture there like? Oh and also, do many med students go there and which out of the two have the best family/inclusiveness kind of vibe? Thanks in advance!

I'd be hesitant to say that any hall "produces" med students, the popular opinion is that hall has little to do with how well you'll preform in HSFY. It really comes down to your ability to focus and ignore distractions - granted you might find less distractions from study at Carrington than say, unicol, so there is always that to keep in mind. I think *most* halls have a pretty good family/inclusiveness vibe, you tend to get that from living with a bunch of people for a long time! In saying that, it seems like the longer a hall has been around the more of that vibe it tends to have (I've heard some of the newer halls - citycol etc., are a bit shit in that regard) so both Carrington and Selwyn are probably pretty good choices re: that.

 

[stevo140]

Ok, so now I'm thinking of putting Aquinas as my 3rd option. Are there many HSFY students there? Proportionally, do many of the HFSY's get into medicine/dentistry, like Carrington/St Margarets etc?
What are the rooms like and is it a problem getting to the uni when it snows, since its not that close to the uni?
Also, it says on their website that they have alcohol free/single sex floors, but do they have alcohol free and single sex floors, or is it just one or the other? (do you even them in any of the halls? :unsure

Hey Squidward,
I'll try and answer your questions:
- Aquinas definitely has an alcohol-free girls floor but I don't think they have a single sex guys floor
- No problem with the snow, the shuttles operate in most circumstances and run from 8am - 6pm and then they do a few shuttles in the evening in conjunction with Salmond and Knox
- Aquinas doesn't have a high success rate in getting into Med/Dent like SMAGS/Arana/Carrington BUT as everyone mentions on this forum; your College is not a significantly determining factor in your academic success. I think the HSFY proportion of their College is usually around 40%.
I've spent quite a bit of time at Aquinas and it's a good wee College. Very friendly, nice staff, great food and well balanced. A good #3 option.
-

 

[Zion]

What I mean is that do they have a floor that is alcohol-free and single sex?

I'm not sure about Aquinas but at Knox, we do have a floor that is both alcohol free and single sex (well at least we do this year, not sure about next year). However Knox is not a good 3rd choice.

 

[Aftermath]

What I mean is that do they have a floor that is alcohol-free and single sex?

Your profile says you're a female so yep, most halls can accommodate that need (I don't want to say every because I may be wrong). If you're ever in doubt you could always contact the dorm anyway.

 

[static]

Hey! Im looking at Selwyn College and Carrington for my first choice but i cant decide between the two I really like Selwyn because it seems to have a really good interhouse sports competition running with Knox (im quite sporty myself), and its pretty close to the university but then I also really like the sound of Carrington because it seems to have a good balance of study and fun and from what ive heard it seems to produce a lot of successful med students. There hasnt really been much info on selwyn on here....whats the balance like in terms of study and fun? and whats the drinking culture there like? Oh and also, do many med students go there and which out of the two have the best family/inclusiveness kind of vibe? Thanks in advance!

Selwyn tends to attract a wide range of people - you'll find people who go out most Thursday/Saturday nights and some who go out very occasionally. The balance bit is kinda difficult to answer since it really depends on you and how you want to distribute your time. In terms of drinking culture, we're like any other college, some of us drink and some of us don't. You don't usually get disturbed by people who're drinking - you may get woken up by someone coming back late at night but it's not too bad. If you do find your floor getting a bit rowdy, you can go to the sci lib (~3-5 min walk) or other study areas all about a 2-5 mins walk away. The med students depends on the cohort - for example, there aren't many med students this year but last year there were around 20 from what the returners tell us. Nobody knows how many there'll be next year. Selwyn has a strong returning culture - around a third of the residents are returners so there is quite a strong family/inclusiveness vibe. This only gets reinforced by the Selwyn traditions. Also, since we only have like 160 residents, you get to know everyone super quick so yeah in some ways we are a bit like a family.

Hope that helps and feel free to ask any more questions.

 

[CourtSauce]

Selwyn tends to attract a wide range of people - you'll find people who go out most Thursday/Saturday nights and some who go out very occasionally. The balance bit is kinda difficult to answer since it really depends on you and how you want to distribute your time. In terms of drinking culture, we're like any other college, some of us drink and some of us don't. You don't usually get disturbed by people who're drinking - you may get woken up by someone coming back late at night but it's not too bad. If you do find your floor getting a bit rowdy, you can go to the sci lib (~3-5 min walk) or other study areas all about a 2-5 mins walk away. The med students depends on the cohort - for example, there aren't many med students this year but last year there were around 20 from what the returners tell us. Nobody knows how many there'll be next year. Selwyn has a strong returning culture - around a third of the residents are returners so there is quite a strong family/inclusiveness vibe. This only gets reinforced by the Selwyn traditions. Also, since we only have like 160 residents, you get to know everyone super quick so yeah in some ways we are a bit like a family.

Hope that helps and feel free to ask any more questions.

ok sweet thanks so much, helped alot! So how overall how strict is it? and are the people/staff etc there friendly? and do you know how many people got through to med last year? I was also wondering how to get in....I got excellence for level one and two with around 93 excellence credits for level 2 and i played senior a basketball for 3 years and regional rep teams and was in the ball committee etc, however I dont really have any leadership roles and their website said that leadership is quite a biggy....do you think I'd have a reasonable chance of getting in? What about the Cameron shield..whats that like? Oh and just out of curiosity, what are they majority of people studying there? Sorry for hounding you with all the questions :blink:, just really keen to know more about it.

 

[static]

ok sweet thanks so much, helped alot! So how overall how strict is it? and are the people/staff etc there friendly? and do you know how many people got through to med last year? I was also wondering how to get in....I got excellence for level one and two with around 93 excellence credits for level 2 and i played senior a basketball for 3 years and regional rep teams and was in the ball committee etc, however I dont really have any leadership roles and their website said that leadership is quite a biggy....do you think I'd have a reasonable chance of getting in? What about the Cameron shield..whats that like? Oh and just out of curiosity, what are they majority of people studying there? Sorry for hounding you with all the questions :blink:, just really keen to know more about it.

Glad to hear it helped. We do have rules and regulations like most other colleges (if drinking, gotta be out by 9.30 for example) and they are enforced by the SRs but there is a push towards self regulation. In short, not super strict but they are there to account for others. Not too sure on the numbers mate since not all of them returned to Selly but as I said before, not as much as the year before.

The main thing when applying to Selly is to show them that you are well rounded, which it sounds like you are. Might help to mention something about community service in you application, if you've done any - this isn't crucial but it does make your application a little stronger. Leadership is a biggy as you say since the majority of the peeps here were prefects/heads but don't let that deter you. I wasn't a prefect or anything but I got in no problem. As long as you can show that you have exhibited some leadership before, you'll be fine. Your achievements sound solid so I'd say yeah you stand a decent chance of getting, obviously can't make a definite call since I don't know who else is applying.

The Cameron Shield is what Selly and Knox compete over. There are sporting events throughout the year, each worth a number of points and the college with the most points wins it. There is the Neville Cup as well, which is for cultural events and works the same way as the Cameron Shield.

There's quite a mix at Selly with regards to what people study. Don't know the definite numbers for anything else apart from health sci, which is around 45. At a guess, I'd say half of the others study law and the rest are distributed between BSci, Music, BAs etc. So to answer your question, there is no majority as such but there are a fair few health scis.

Hey no problem, feel free to ask about anything. I remember being in your position last year wishing there was more information on here haha.

 

[Squidward]

Hey could someone please compare Aquinas and Cumberland, in terms of loudness, drinking culture and amount of HSFY students? Also, how are there any other major differences, apart from how far they are from the uni?

 

[Bluerock]

Hey could someone please compare Aquinas and Cumberland, in terms of loudness, drinking culture and amount of HSFY students? Also, how are there any other major differences, apart from how far they are from the uni?

Cumberland got quite loud on drinking nights and had a pretty hefty drinking culture. My floor had 5 health sci's, there was an all-girls floor that had between 30-35, and some more spread throughout the college.
They've recently implemented a fining system - for being excessively noisy, drinking during exam time etc. I don't know how that would have changed the culture though as I don't know anyone in cumberland currently.

 

[Sam]

Hey could someone please compare Aquinas and Cumberland, in terms of loudness, drinking culture and amount of HSFY students? Also, how are there any other major differences, apart from how far they are from the uni?

I know a fair few people who went to Aquinas last year and I don't think it had much of a drinking culture and is no doubt more quiet than Cumberland.

 

[Raro]

Hey, does anyone at Carrington know if there's wireless internet access in the bedrooms? I see no mention of it on their website.

Study Bedrooms at Carrington College, Carrington College, University of Otago, New Zealand

Same applies for Studholme and Cumberland Colleges, as they're my second and third choices respectively. And does anyone have information on the new college, Te Rangi Hiroa?

 

[Raro]

Sorry, I thought I just posted but have refreshed multiple times and can't see anything.

What are your opinions on these as my Residential Colleges?
1. Carrington
2. Studholme
3. Cumberland / Ti Rangi Hiroa

Does anyone who has stayed here know if there's Wireless access in the bedrooms? I don't particularly want to be up late in the dining hall studying, and I didn't see any mention of it being available in rooms.

Thanks!