Thank you! Good luck!

Hi Mia, congratulations! Manor is lovely. To answer your question, it is possible to attend events held in other accommodations; they're usually held in the hall bars or communal areas and so, as a guest of your friend, you will be allowed in. This is except for ticketed events, which will (obvs) require a ticket!

Hi! I really can't rank them as they're all so different and everyone who lives in each thinks its the best accommodation going. Clifton Hill House and Wills are much older than the others and so are "prettier" in that way - old stone buildings, wooden fireplaces in bedrooms, etc. Churchill is more modern, but still not as modern as Badock. Churchill is very similar to Wills except it's larger and very much feels more like a boarding school environment in terms of it being organised in one huge quad with large corridoors. Wills is made up of two quads, with each 'block' in the quad forming one "flat" almost. Badock is organised as a cluster of huge blocks comprising of uni flats, and is a more modern design. They have the largest and most frequented bar too, so that's something to consider. Also remember that Wills, Churchill and Badock are in Stoke Bishop - our largest site of student accommodation, referred to as more of a "campus" accommodation, a 20 min bus ride from university. Clifton Hill House is in Clifton, opposite the university campus in the more village side of the city centre, along with Goldney and Manor. These are really near the city and near Harbourside and are a great environment to experience Bristol in the first year. It depends what type of experience and room you want! So to conclude, they're all very different! I'd really recommend looking at the pics online as they're very informative - www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/residences/

They are social but in a different way: socialising occurs more in flats rather than communally, because it's self-catered (i.e. with kitchens). This means you might meet less people and have a smaller social circle because you're encountering adjacent flats etc only as opposed to an entire hall. Still fun though :)

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I hope that things are going well for you! Most applicants get their choice of Hall first time. When clearing, it is tricky to put a metric on and so I wouldn't have an answer for you unfortunately save that anecdotally, I knew a person in Wills who cleared straight in.

Hello - that's fantastic news - congratulations! I have a long reply to this one....: Wills was my hall, I had the best year ever there and couldn't recommend it enough; also had loads of friends at Churchill, who feel the same way about their hall. They are both catered and have large rooms, and a good number of students that make for great socialising during freshers and beyond. I would start by saying that both of these halls have a reputation of being cliquey due to the fact that some people know each other beforehand - I think this rests on the fact that they are two of the more expensive halls, and that they carry a bit more historic weight than the other halls (there is always a handful of students whose parents are also Old Willsonians, for example). However this also applies to halls like Hiatt Baker and Badock. What I will say as an extension of this is that the entirety of Bristol also carries this reputation, as it is one of the most elite universities in the country; subsequently, most of the elite schools in the country (and world) are drawn to it. Accordingly, any top Russell Group university will have a noticeable body of students who know one another - which can be very strange at first if you haven't attended a public or private school. However, this isn't at all an issue; at most it's one group of 5-15 people in a hall of hundreds. Noticeable, but irrelevant! I can safely say that you will discover that all areas of both university and adult life can result in cliques, but that it doesn't affect anyone outside of those cliques... it quickly becomes irrelevant which school you went to, or who you know previously, as you realise that you are all at the same institution and meeting new people all of the time. It can actually hold you back the more people you know - something you will also discover, as you aren't held back by a pre-existing reputation someone who "knew you" has to share of you, etc. Churchill and Wills do have a reputation of being "public school halls" - you do meet these people, they do sometimes hang around with and stick to each other, but it doesn't affect your experience, it's just something you notice, and only if you're paying attention. You will find your friends and enjoy discovering how different social groups from different backgrounds interact in the world; I personally learned a lot "sociologically" from first year halls.. it's such an interesting and dynamic environment! The last thing I will say is that you will (most likely) love wherever you end up and it will really come to shape your experience; don't worry about the cliques, you rarely encounter them, and when you do, you can just avoid them. You're in a student body of 20,000+!

Jade Arole hey! Did you end up getting into one of these halls, if so what did you think of it? X

Natasha Priest hi, yes i ended up staying in wills!

@@Jadearole I’m guessing from your pfp that you’re black. How was it in terms of diversity/ did you feel like you fit in?

@@notwithoutpizza4702 Honestly, Wills is not a diverse hall but this applies to Bristol uni as a whole, being a predominantly white university. I will say that Wills does have a lot of international students so that does help improve the diversity of the hall. I was one of few black people in Wills but I never felt like I stood out at all and I had no issue making friends and did not encounter any racism while I was there. And of course if you would like to make black friends, you can always join the Afro Caribbean Society :))

I hope that it worked out for you.

You don't have to, some choose to stay; most move!

Fab news congratulations! First year tip would be to 1) Make sure you remember it is NORMAL to feel terrified / scared / lonely / unsure of yourself. Everyone feels this way and is trying their hardest to just feel like they fit in. You will find your people! 2) Sign up to everything you're interested in, even if you're not sure you will ever turn up. On top of this, try to turn up to as much as you can to things and get to know people! You end up finding and having friends from all over the place, not just your course and where you live. 2a) Addition to this: you probably won't find your best friends for life on your first day, week, or even year. Everyone's panicking to get into a group for security - by second year you feel more comfortable and begin to feel out your friends, meet twenty times the amount of people, and everything changes again. Don't panic about this. University is incredibly dynamic and you will always meet people you mesh with, and sometimes this takes time, is all. 3) Don't feel pressured about your work, and try to take breaks. Please make as much use of your personal tutors as you can - go and ask all your questions ASAP. And if you're unsure about how to write university essays, just ask them, and make an appointment with a writing adviser (you will be given all of this info when you start). It's best to get these skills as early as you can to avoid the shock of how awful your first grades are because you don't know what you're doing until term 2.... 3a) Another alien thing is learning how to reference. It takes a while, I promise. Google Scholar " (quotation marks under the links to texts) will be your best friend. If you want to learn our system in SPAIS (your politics school), we use Harvard Referencing. You always get pulled up on bibliographies! 4) Try to enjoy it as much as you can, I'm on my last week of my degree right now and feel sad about having to move on from Bristol. It's given me, personally, the best three years of my life, and wish I slowed down a bit to enjoy it! It passes so quickly because you're experiencing so much constantly, that you barely take the time to enjoy it when it's good. Good luck!

And for accommodation, I'd really look online as not many can help you beyond their own personal experience / recommendation. Badock and Churchill are very different in some respects, but also provide you with exactly the same things. Check out the website for details about rooms and socialising as these tend to be the most important things! - www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/residences/

Hiya! I'd personally highly recommend the careers service here. They've managed to help me with every single query I've ever had, and during my time here have provided weekly workshops on all sorts of careers-related things including CV writing, interview skills, assessment centre preps, networking, public speaking, application workshops, etc, etc. which range from group sizes in the 50's to 1 on 1 sessions. They also have a large amount of mentoring schemes - both within SPAIS (our social science 'school') and in the careers service, with alumni who've either studied your degree, or are in your desired career path or sector. I'm currently on a mentor scheme now and have never felt more supported. During my time here, the careers service has also invited speakers and recruiters in almost weekly for panel events, Q&A's, presentations, and the like, from all sectors including public, private, international; from jobs in the media, to voluntary work, to working in parliament. On top of all this, there are daily slots for every student to go in any time to have tailored advice or CV checks, or for any query needing answering. Personally, I've found it extremely helpful, and hope that this answers your question. If not, the website is very detailed, and also our open days / campus tours are thorough on this too. IMO great choice of degree, and great place to study it!

@@JACKETPOTATIFY That really useful. Thanks!

Yes, absolutely this: attend your 1:1 meetings and office hours with ALL of your lecturers. I didn't start doing this until my third year, which made me realise how hugely I wasted time before. Attending makes essays and projects so much easier; content you don't understand can be cleared up in minutes. Discuss the essay you will write and ask for advice, direction on what to read etc. Make it a forced habit to go at least once a fortnight to each lecturer: just show up and ask a question. I promise you won't regret it! Also, don't pick up smoking outside of Priory Road between lectures. Your lungs will thank you in 15 years.