Otago Halls of Residence

[CourtSauce]

I was wondering, what type of people normally get placed in the houses/villas and what sort of people normally get placed on a floor? Are the people living in the houses pretty quiet and are those living on the floors reasonably loud or is it a bit of a mixture?

 

[CourtSauce]

*At Carrington

 

[stevo140]

I was wondering, what type of people normally get placed in the houses/villas at Carrington and what sort of people normally get placed on a floor? Are the people living in the houses pretty quiet and are those living on the floors reasonably loud or is it a bit of a mixture?

If it's anything like other Halls (apart from Unicol), then it's totally random. I know Unicol puts HSFY residents in their flats but most other Halls have a random assignment

 

[hermafish]

I was there last year and I reckon its pretty random! Unless you choose an alcohol free area, in which case you'll probably naturally have more quiet people. But honestly, every house or floor will have a good mix of different types of people you'll find friends wherever

 

[CourtSauce]

I was there last year and I reckon its pretty random! Unless you choose an alcohol free area, in which case you'll probably naturally have more quiet people. But honestly, every house or floor will have a good mix of different types of people you'll find friends wherever

Oh sweet did you enjoy it last year? What did you end up being on, the floors or in the houses?

 

[zozie]

Hey guys, I'm absolutely new on here but you guys seem to know what you're talking about!

Anyway I am in the midst of applying for halls at the moment.
My 3 are:
1. Carrington
2. Studholme
3. Hayward

What do you guys think of these? Also I am mostly a merit student, but at school I am dep head of the health and enviro council, head of z-club, peer support leader, in the chorale, in the dragonboating sports team, did outward bound, do a bit of cycling and stuff like that. What do you think of my chances?

 

[Zion]

Hey guys, I'm absolutely knew on here but you guys seem to know what you're talking about!

Anyway I am in the midst of applying for halls at the moment.
My 3 are:
1. Carrington
2. Studholme
3. Hayward

What do you guys think of these? Also I am mostly a merit student, but at school I am dep head of the health and enviro council, head of z-club, peer support leader, in the chorale, in the dragonboating sports team, did outward bound, do a bit of cycling and stuff like that. What do you think of my chances?

Switch Studholme and Hayward around and you're good.

 

[Neshybear]

Hi all

I know my questions may have been answered indirectly previously but in my defence there are currently 105 pages of posts.
I am considering 3 colleges: Arana, Carrington and Cumberland for 2014. Currently im in the military overseas so I cant head down to Dunedin to check out the place, or interact with people who have been there. Therefore I would greatly appreciated it if anyone could answer my inquires

1. From my understanding, all 3 colleges have both hostel-like and individual villas type of accommodation. Am i able to chose which one i want or is there some sort of selection process involved? Also is the environment staying in the villa same as the hostel?

2. Are all the tutorials conducted at the same standard/level? And who conducts these tutorials? I ask this because on the Arana website they seem to be boosting about their academic support...so just wondering if it is actually true.

3. In terms of work-study balance, events, extra curricular activities, partying etc, what are the differences between Arana, Carrington and Cumberland?

4. Lastly haha how big/well equipped are the gyms?

(Additional!) I was reading the Arana College Handbook rules and regulations....do all the colleges have the same rules and regulations? Residential Information and Regulations, Arana College, University of Otago, New Zealand It looks pretty strict from what its saying!

Thank you very much

Hey, I'm at Arana College this year so I'll answer from the perspective of an Arana resident.

1. Nope, you don't get to choose. You get randomly allocated to either a house or a block. There's a huuuge variety in the rooms here at Arana, which range from really nice to fairly decent. The environment will be quite different depending on where you get randomly allocated to, but to be honest, if you don't like it you don't have to spend much time there. If you make friends with people in other blocks/houses you'll probably spend a decent amount of time there anyway.

2. All the Arana tutors we've had for the Health Sci papers are med students, except for the CHEM191 tutor who was a Chemistry PhD student. I can't speak for how good they are in relation to the tutors at other colleges obviously, but the ones here are pretty good. I found the tutorials quite useful last semester, especially the PHSI191 tutorials where they just went over past year exam questions every week, which meant that I was always up to date and comfortable with Physics. The HUBS and CELS tutors kinda just went through the content again as well as going through the difficult concepts in a bit more detail, while the CHEM tutor focused mainly on going through the challenging concepts again. I found that all the tutors gave me exactly what I needed for that paper. The tutors this semester seem quite promising too.

3. Again, I can't speak for the other colleges but I'd say Arana is very balanced. It slightly depends on the type of crowd you get into, since there are quite a few party people around but I've certainly never had a problem. The residents here, especially the Health Sci students, seem to know exactly when to party and when to buckle down and do some study. And there always seems to always be SOMETHING sporting or cultural every week to do, if you so wanted to.

4. The gym here is pretty small. There are a variety of dumbbells of different weights, mats, a couple of rowing machines and some treadmills and cross-trainers. I personally have never really been to it since Unipol (the free student gym) is only around a 10 minute walk away and it's awesome.

Hope that helps!

My current choices are:
1. St Margs
2. Arana
3. Salmond.

Could someone comment on my current choices? Am I making the right decision? As others have said Arana is a first-choice hall but does that mean none of the people who put them as 2nd are even considered?

I prefer a quiet and studious hall which St Margs has a reputation for. But none of the other halls really stand out for me which is why I picked Arana and Salmond. Does anyone know what Salmond is like?

Please feel free to give me any other suggestions. Thanks.

Yeah, what stevo said - if you're not putting Arana as your first pick, there's no point in putting it at all because they get so many applications from people as their first choice that you practically have zero chance of getting it as your second or third choices. Ditto with Carrington. If you're looking for a quiet and studious hall, St Marg's does sound like your best choice. It's really close to campus too. Salmond is alright from what I hear, although it is a tad far away. Same with Aquinas. You might want to look into Studholme and Cumby as well.

 

[1Pro8]

From what I've learnt from the liaison officer from Otago is that she mentioned Carrington, Hayward, Arana and St Margs all fill up on first pick. She mentioned that out of 200+ spaces offered, 1300 students applied. Should I change my first preference to Carrington instead?

 

[Cazza]

I would put carrington down as no1. However getting in is quite a lottery though, I got in off the waitlist even though i had Carrington as no1.

 

[buttercream]

Kind of a random question, but is it common for people to stay in halls during their 2nd and 3rd years? Or are the halls strictly for first years?

 

[rustyedges]

Kind of a random question, but is it common for people to stay in halls during their 2nd and 3rd years? Or are the halls strictly for first years?

Depends on the hall. It's possible at the independent ones, such as Knox and Selwyn, but I think the university run ones typically just have first years. Also, the RAs/subbies at all the halls will generally be in their third year or above.

 

[Neshybear]

At Arana there's quite a few people who aren't first years (and aren't RAs either), but it's not extremely common. The halls aren't strictly for first years though, as far as I'm aware, and certainly not at Arana. Although, I'm quite sure all of the non-first years are returning residents. I'm not sure how common it is for halls to accept random non-first years.

 

[musica209]

Kind of a random question, but is it common for people to stay in halls during their 2nd and 3rd years? Or are the halls strictly for first years?

[offtopic]Yum! Buttercream! [/offtopic]
In Carrington, there is a handful of second years (usually one building full) and the other returners (who may be anywhere up to 5th years) are usually HT's (house tutors) I know a couple of my friends are returning to Carrington, but it's not tradition, like Knox.

 

[hibuds]

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.

I put selwyn first! This makes me feel really good about my choice! I hope I get in!

 

[silverfalcon]

I was wondering, what type of people normally get placed in the houses/villas and what sort of people normally get placed on a floor? Are the people living in the houses pretty quiet and are those living on the floors reasonably loud or is it a bit of a mixture?

Hey, like Hermafish I was at Carrington last year. I was in a villa and it was awesome - seemingly random selection though.
I know that they do attempt to put people together that they think will get on well (how they do this I don't know) so I guess it is just luck of the draw which house/floor that group of people ends up being put it
Some people seem to choose not to go to carrington because of the villas, but it is really a non-thing. The villas have a lot of character and you get to know everyone in your house really well (just like people do with their floors anyway) but you do still get to know other people around the college.

 

[CourtSauce]

Hey, like Hermafish I was at Carrington last year. I was in a villa and it was awesome - seemingly random selection though.
I know that they do attempt to put people together that they think will get on well (how they do this I don't know) so I guess it is just luck of the draw which house/floor that group of people ends up being put it
Some people seem to choose not to go to carrington because of the villas, but it is really a non-thing. The villas have a lot of character and you get to know everyone in your house really well (just like people do with their floors anyway) but you do still get to know other people around the college.

Yeah I must admit I kinda was put off with the whole villas thing, but it seems like a really good college so yeah like you said it is a non-thing, just as long as you get a roof over your head haha so how many people typically get put in each villa and how many floors are there? And are the villas single sex or a mixture of guys and girls? Thanks

 

[Moii]

Hi, I'm thinking about putting Te Rangi Hiroa, Cumberland and Hayward in that order for my form but I haven't really heard anything about te rangi (including fees) except that each room has it's own bathroom.
I also read that in Cumberland they allocate the rooms by course, does anyone know if they do that for hayward or te rangi?

 

[Havox]

Hi, I'm thinking about putting Te Rangi Hiroa, Cumberland and Hayward in that order for my form but I haven't really heard anything about te rangi (including fees) except that each room has it's own bathroom.
I also read that in Cumberland they allocate the rooms by course, does anyone know if they do that for hayward or te rangi?

Hi, I've removed your duplicate thread, if this question is going to be answered it'll probably happen here.

 

[Voldemort]

I also read that in Cumberland they allocate the rooms by course, does anyone know if they do that for hayward or te rangi?

[OFFTOPIC] Is it bad that I've never heard of Te Rangi Hiroa? [/OFFTOPIC]
Welcome to MSO Moii! You may want to rethink Hayward in third... read a little bit around this thread for more advice on this