Bng/Fenner - College stereotypes? (Actually - Bruce/Burgmann/John/Ursula?)

[ben92]

Toad being mature age, and UniLodge being more expensive due to its apartment-like residences, I'm left to choose between BnG and Fenner. What type of people tend to live in these places? I understand not everyone in these colleges would fit these stereotypes, but what are they?

For those curious, I'm strongly considering doing Arts/Law at ANU next year.

Edit: Actually, I might be going catered. Can you guys tell me about Bruce/Burgmann/John/Ursula? I think John's full of drunk jocks.

[florallover]

they don't really have one like the catered colleges do, both of them are too big (approx double the size of the catered colleges). fenner used to have a weird rep like five years ago if you're reading old forum posts, back when it was fairly new, but it's pretty much the same as bng now. maybe it's slightly more arts/cultural-y whereas bng is a bit more sporty, but fenner has decent sport and bng has alright arts stuff, so that's not really a reflection of the residents or the culture.

[florallover]

also the prices for unilodge are set to drop with 20% subsidy, making a 5-share apartment a pretty similar price to the colleges. i think 5 share is $189 now, so it would become about $160. http://www.unilodge.com.au/pdf/9D974D78E58CBC995AA3460.PDF

like i know everyone wants to go to the colleges, but unilodge is pretty cool, especially if you get a good floor community (of course it's up to you to get involved and make friends- not everyone is an apathetic international student). plus the oldest one is kind of functioning like a college now, in that they have sport teams, lots of cultural nights/artsy things, etc etc. my friend is in charge of one of the floors at kinloch, and if you had a party floor like that you wouldn't want to live at college haha. so it's not a total death sentence going to unilodge.

[Eriny]

$160 a week is pretty awesome because you're sharing cooking facilities with only 4 other people, instead of sharing a giant kitchen with 500 people. UniLodge is really convenient too, it's closer to most classes than the ANU-owned residential halls (not for law, but definitely for arts). I heard that fees went down, I didn't realise it went down by that much!

I think that B&G is more conveniently located than Fenner, obviously. Both are fairly non-stereotypical, I guess because they're both so huge! The Fenner building looks more depressing though their rooms are slightly bigger, if that makes a difference to you.

[ben92]

Thanks guys

[ben92]

Edit: Actually, I might be going catered. Can you guys tell me about Bruce/Burgmann/John/Ursula? I think John's full of drunk jocks.

[florallover]

nah, once again theyre all relatively similar- the people who badmouth the colleges are the people who got excluded by the cliques, which is unfair. johns gets the worst of it, sure theres a boys club but plenty of decent people too. ive heard that every college has their groups, esp in first year when people havent matured yet. likewise, burg isnt populated with "wealthy" kids and ursies isnt just "nerdy", some of them go haaard. you have a mix of people everywhere. johns is most into sport (but burg is quite into it), bruce and ursies are more academic. if youre into the arts, probably burg or maybe ursies?  there are drunk people everywhere, and there are people who like their sport everywhere (guessing thats what you mean by "jocks"- college isnt an american teen movie, lol).

that being said, if youre the kind of person who does think in terms of stereotypes and cliques, go to ursies or bruce. just realise that people are people everywhere. hope this doesnt sound too harsh, just trying to give a more balanced view than others might have.

finally, a lot of people hate college and can't wait to be out. but you don't know til you've tried it i guess.

[ben92]

Bruce sounds good to me - no more comments on that one?

[Eriny]

Bruce seems good to me. I live at Burgmann, which I am fond of, I'm in my third year living here, but it's definitely not perfect (I doubt that you'd find that any college is perfect). I think you can be quite happy anywhere. There are some subtle differences as follows:
- At Ursies you get free weekly linen changes.
- At Bruce and Johns your rooms are vacuumed (I think this is once a week as well?)
- Johns and Burgmann are technically religiously affiliated (this doesn't make a difference unless you are religious)
- Burgmann has the lowest Residents Association fees.
- I can't remember who has the biggest rooms, I think it's Bruce? But Johns are pretty big too.
- Burgmann is probably the most conveniently placed for law, Bruce for science, though for everything else the difference is negligible.
- Burgmann rent is higher by about $7 a week or so (not by heaps, but it adds up)
- Ursula has more computer rooms with fewer computers, the others have big computer rooms.
- B&G has the most amount of music rooms (but then, they also have the most amount of people).
- Burgmann and Johns washers/dryers are on floors, whereas the other colleges have big washing areas.

As you can see, it doesn't matter so much. I'm a little weary of Johns, a lot of people there really do hate it, but many have a lot of fun too. I'm put off by the 'boys club' thing, though I'm sure it is exaggerated. The best way to gauge the differences is to actually see them for yourself and get a feel for it, even though that sounds really wishy-washy.

[ben92]

I was at the Open Day, but only looked at one (Burgmann) thinking all of them in terms of appearance would be the same. I didn't think you could really gauge the personalities there in a tour.

Big rooms + free vacuming  sounds sweet.