Derwent college

5th in York

Reviews

Anonymous

I'm in a standard, shared bathroom, self-catered room. It can be very loud at nights, and there is no security stopping people from other floors entering your floor and making noise/mess. The kitchen is too small and has to be shared between too many people but there are enough bathrooms and they are cleaned to a high standard. The rooms are a good size but there isn't enough storage and there's no hoover to be able to clean it

Anonymous

Derwent College is the self-proclaimed social college that sits just next to the centre of west campus. Whilst the rooms may not be the most modern, they are cheapest option available, and the tall ceilings make the room feel a lot more spacious and grand. In addition, Derwent has 'extension blocks' which boast much more modern rooms and larger kitchens for the same price. Like me, if you have a shared bathroom, your toilets get cleaned Monday to Friday every week of the year. My first gripe with Derwent is how there isn't a lot of social space within the housing, i.e. no tv or settee but only hard wood benches in the kitchen. If you want to sit on a nice chair you'd have to go to one of the crowded bars that usually have quite slow service for a slightly expensive price. My second complaint is the washing machines. These are terribly expensive and don't even do the job. It is £3.60 for a wash and £1.80 for a dryer typically. Someone I know had used the washer and had holes ripped into their jeans. The dryer also never dries anything fully, so either way your room has to covered with damp clothes. Also I'm not sure why but all the other colleges hate derwent because we're "rough". It's an ongoing joke that "Derwent has asbestos" (even though it doesn't anymore) because our college is the oldest, but it's all in fun and games. At the end of the day your university of choice should be for your course not accommodation, you can always move out in the second year or stay there if you really like it! Overall, Derwent is a lively college where you're made to feel welcome by the people within it, in the centre of a gorgeous campus with lots of wildlife.

Anonymous

Although the buildings are old and fair less modern than some of the other colleges, the location is perfect and there is a good sense of team spirit

Anonymous

Was in the standard accommodation extension block across the road from main Derwent. The location was great for getting to things on campus and to the pub just down the road. Although being slightly apart from the rest of the college may have meant we didn't have quite the same community feel. The rooms themselves are clean and modern, with plenty of storage, and the kitchen on the bottom floor is huge.

Anonymous

The college is great! Really good sense of community, and the location is great. The actual rooms are okay, a bit bare and bland but they serve their purpose. The shared kitchens are quite small and there isn't enough storage space - we always had pots and pans left out on counters. The Wi-Fi was very hit and miss, but that's true for most of campus.

Anonymous

My experience is probably best summed up with a quote from my dad “I’m so glad you don’t live there anymore, now someone else can die in a fire instead.”

Anonymous

Location is really nice, a lot of nature and the lake makes it look great, but the geese really need cleaning up after. The rooms are nice but we are in a great need of a nice common area. But overall living in halls was great.

Anonymous

Location very good because my course was mainly on campus west. I was in the extension so my halls were very nice but we felt isolated from the rest of Derwent. Perhaps more effort to integrate us during freshers week would have been good. My room was a standard size and I really liked that it had a big desk and a sink. Plenty of storage. Derwent is really good because of its events like bigD, and all other d events, also being in catered accommodation was really social as I would see all my friends that lived in other blocks there

Anonymous

Choosing the halls was a really easy method for York, which meant that I could limit the rooms that I was likely to be considered for. My halls in Derwent were a little bit unusual. Most of my floor had been converted into offices so there were only 2 undergrad rooms on my floor, with a kitchen and two bathrooms. This was ideal for me to have a clean bathroom and kitchen, but it was very very quiet. I had to go up a floor to find people to go out with and spend time with, which was a little bit inconvenient but it did mean if I was too ill or hungover to do anything I didn't have to hope that no one would make noise outside my door. My room and the kitchen on my floor had a really lovely view of the lake and Heslington Hall, which was nice to have in the mornings with breakfast and evenings with dinner. I know that my old room has been changed into a twin room since I moved out of halls, which seems a bad idea to me because it definitely wasn't a big enough room to fit two people. My halls were easy to find, close to my lecture halls and seminar rooms, and close to the bus stop to get into town. You did have to leave the halls themselves to find social 'areas' but the kitchens worked fine.

Anonymous

The location was brilliant as it was central to the campus and also had brilliant connections to the other campus. Facilities were good although there wasn’t really a ‘social space’ as the kitchen was relatively small. Room was very comfortable

Anonymous

Excellent location. Poor facilities. Dated. Expensive. Overpriced for what it is. No social areas. Small kitchen.

Anonymous

I really enjoy the social experience of Derwent, the location is very central, and it’s great having DBAR

Anonymous

Great halls, especially extension block if you can get it. This is the standard self catered as an option when you select accommodation. The rooms are big and have plenty of space to put all your stuff in. You get a sink in your room and a bit mirror, but no full length mirror

Anonymous

Great sesh and great people but heavily overpriced but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else really

Anonymous

Handy ensuite. I got a good room but others had smaller rooms for the same price. The kitchen was lacking but we only had to cook on the weekends. Food was decent.

Anonymous

Having an ensuite was good. I got lucky with a pretty big room but others got a tiny one. The kitchen was small and not that great but we only had to cook on the weekends.

Anonymous

Derwent College is one of the original two colleges of york uni, and has a great social atmosphere and location within campus. The buildings are somewhat dated in style, but have been modernised and suit student needs. The dining hall is smaller than the other colleges, but the food is great. DBar is next to the dining hall, and derwent cafe is ajoimed to that, serving food and hot and cold drinks all day. The staff are super helpful throughout the college. Courtyard (a union venue) is very nearby and is a great place to hang out and watch live sports or grab a drink. The college is located on campus west and is in a great location to access the rest of the uni.

Anonymous

Very good social experience because of the corridor layout and large number of people in each block. Location close to everything on this campus. Rooms are modern because recently refurbished carpets and sinks in rooms (in this block only).

Anonymous

Old fashioned but best social life and maintenance team super efficient and quick any issues and they are out the same day or first thing the next day. They could do with better windows as large drafts and sometimes let rain in. The showers are small and have to share between a lot of people. Good kitchens even when catered as there are two on my floor between 12

Anonymous

I absolutely loved my time living in Derwent and would recommend it to anyone! Derwent sometimes gets a bad rep for being the 'party college' but don't let that put you off. There's a real mix of people and even though for a lot of people Derwent wasn't their first choice, I haven't found a single person who didn't fall in love with the college. Most of my friends preferred board games and Netflix to a night out and we all still loved our time. That being said if do like a night out you'll find plenty of people up for a party and Derwent is always holding fun on campus event aswell. I was in P Block which is economy catered ensuite and happened to get lucky with a massive room but all the rooms are decent size and catering is actually quite tasty. Buffet breakfast are amazing and well worth getting out of bed for. Overall a brilliant first year experience and made such great friends both in and out of college.

Anonymous

Rooms are big in block c but the kitchen isn't very nice. Worth it for the money though. Can request to be with your friends In 2nd or 3rd year which is nice. Also, could get a great view of heslington hall if you are lucky.

Anonymous

Pretty Decent Accommodation, I got lucky with the size of my room and my flatmates. Signed up for economy/shared bathroom and was disappointed to see that a lot of my floormates got rooms much smaller than mines so it really is down to luck. The location, however, is great and I literally woke up 10 minutes before a lot of my lectures. Has a great social atmosphere with bonding over the shit state of a lot of the kitchen utilities. SOunds grim but it definitely won't be an experience you regret.