This post was written by a member of GradTouch's community of online writers. Here, Maria Petrutz gives her own take on life at Lancaster University's Cartmel College.
When deciding on which university you’re going to, colleges are not usually on the list of things you need to consider.
Unless you go to Lancaster, of course.
If you don’t happen to know anything about them, you might go with the flow and follow your friends, or listen to the student guide, or… end up in Cartmel.
1. It's so far away you actually have your own postcode.
‘It’s a university campus, it can’t be that far, right?’ Cartmel’s postcode is different from the rest of the university – how’s that for far? And if you happen to have a 9am in County… Well, good luck with that!
2. Not to mention expensive.
So you thought you’d splurge on accommodation and make the best out of your university experience? A university year in Cartmel is likely to cost you about £5800, so when all your friends go to Sugar, you’ll probably be mixing your own drinks in the shared kitchen. If you go for catered accommodation (£7400), then you might as well forget going out altogether.
3. Despite the cost, your accommodation seems smaller than everywhere else's.
Surely, given how much you’re paying, your college is the best?! After all, your room is a ‘Superior En Suite’. Until you visit your friends in Bowland, in their regular en suites, which happen to be HUGE and cheaper than yours.
4. Baker House Farm Food
Catered accommodation can be great if you don’t know how to cook or can’t be bothered… Or have no taste-buds. While they try to provide a varied menu and cater to vegetarians, too, the food is not to everyone’s taste. Could have done with knowing that before you opted for catered accommodation…
5 . "Oh, you must hate fun, then."
Cartmel really has an undeserved reputation for being full of quiet nerds who never do anything fun. (My theory is that this is because Cartmel is so far away nobody ever sees its students doing cool things.)
6. At least you’ve got a pretty cool mascot.
Fair to say that a griffin makes a cooler shirt than a mountain range, a boar, or an oak tree…
7. You probably won’t graduate with your friends
While it is possible to switch around your graduation date in order to graduate with your friends, it’s quite unlikely they’ll be in Cartmel. You know, because they knew better than to choose it…? Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with Cartmel, but let’s just remember about its own postcode…
8. At the end of the day though, there is a Starbucks on your doorstep.
Everything else is forgotten and forgiven in light of the fact that Starbucks is within a few minutes of any accommodation in Cartmel.