The experience of a real Queen Mary student

The bedroom

For what I was paying, I would say the room was a good size. There was a lot of space in the room that I was able to use for storage so if you’re good at organising and keeping the room clean then storage is not an issue.

The lighting is very good and we had an additional desk lamp which I liked putting on in the evening. The noise, I thought was a bit noisy, but this is coming from someone who used to live in a village in the middle of nowhere. So I guess the noise was just standard city noise but Dawson Hall is not on a main street/road so it’s a bit quieter.

What size was the bed? Single

Did you have an ensuite? No

What was the shared bathroom like?

The shared bathroom wasn’t what I expected at all. I thought it was going to be 1-2 bathrooms in the flat, instead they we had cubicles at the end of the flat hallway. For my flat we had 3 toilet cubicles and 3 shower cubicles. Toilet roll was included so we didn’t have to worry about buying it. We also had our bathrooms cleaned daily. 

I made sure to clean up after myself and left the cubicles as I found them. Don’t worry about sharing a bathroom when you move in. It’s actually not that bad as long. What’s not included is your shower products so I would recommend you having a shower basket and robe so you can carry your belongings easily to and from the showers.

The kitchen

How many people lived in your flat? 14

Considering there were a number of us, I think the space was decently sized. It does look big and it was big when only 2-3 of us were in the room but it definitely felt more intimate when there were 9-10 of us in the room.

In the kitchen itself, we had 2 of everything so 2 hobs, 2 sinks, 2 ovens and 2 freezers. Toaster, microwave and kettle there was only one of each. As for the fridge, we did not have one in the kitchen, instead we had mini fridges in our rooms which I felt was the best part of my room. Even now I don't live in halls anymore, I miss my mini fridge.

Cupboard space was labelled with your room number and everyone had 2 cupboards: one on the top shelf and one on the bottom shelf. Freezer space was also labelled with our room number and everyone had one drawer to themselves on the freezer. You will have plenty of space in the kitchen so don’t worry about that.

Laundry

We had a laundry room in the basement of the building. I recommend downloading the circuit app on your phone so you can see which washers and dryers are available. Looking back I wished we had more washers and dryers to accommodate for the whole building as I felt the number then was not enough.

I would also recommend to not do your laundry at peak times like on a weekend at 5-7pm as it will always be busy. Instead do it at unconventional times like early morning for example. That’s when I did it and there would always be availability.

Social spaces

We had our own garden space which was so lovely during the summer and spring time or whenever the sun came out. A lot of people brought blankets to sit on the grass, some had picnics then as well. We also had our own cafe inside the building where people would use to study and sit with friends. Personally, I didn’t use this facility as I preferred to study in my room but it’s a great place to have and some of you may prefer this place instead.

Where did you and your flatmates usually hang out?

In the kitchen, I’ve had a few evening conversations with my flatmates, while one of us was cooking. I think as a flat we didn’t really hangout often but on the rare occasions we did it was in the kitchen.

Location

Dawson Hall is at the Charterhouse Square campus, in the Barbican area of London.

What do you study, and on which campus did most of your classes take place?

I study Dentistry and in first year most of my classes were on the Whitechapel campus, however I did have a few classes at Mile End with my exams happening there as well.

The commute from Dawson Hall to either Whitechapel or Mile End was not bad. It’s only one line which was the Hammersmith and City line from Barbican and it took roughly 20-30mins to get there. Personally, I hated being late so I would leave early which gave me enough time to get to my classes and speak to friends before the lecture started. Ironically, this was how I made friends and we are still a friend group to this day.

What were the transport links like?

We were very close to Barbican tube station and also Farringdon tube station, meaning we had great links to central London and didn’t take long to get there. Technically, Barbican is central London as we were a part of zone 1, and the station is on the circle line which made getting around central much easier.

What were the best parts of your hall's location?

During my time there, I wished I lived on the Mile End campus and had the benefits of the student village and the convenience of having everything close together. Now looking back I think I preferred the experience of living in the city and I really liked how everything was so close to central. In the end, the location was my favourite part of living at Dawson Hall.

What were the worst parts of your hall's location?

In my opinion, there wasn’t a worst part of the hall’s location, everything about it was my favourite. I do understand when people feel distant from the Mile End campus, but most of my classes were not there so it didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I guess the only bad thing about it would be hearing about tube strikes and the difficulty of getting to campus with them, so make sure you have alternative routes planned in case something like this does happen.

Community

Most of the med students lived at Dawson so there was a big community amongst them. As for the dental students we were all in the same flat so we would go to classes together which made first day icebreakers less daunting.

We did have a Dawson Hall group chat where people would talk. I guess if you made the effort to create a community with others it would out very well. I didn’t do that per se as I’m quite introverted so preferred sticking to myself but I did feel like there wasn’t some sort of community in my flat.

In conclusion...

I think living at that location gave me the skills to navigate central London and actually understand the complicated tube map. So don’t worry if you look at the tube map and think ‘what the hell is that’, after 2 months living here you’ll be an expert with that map.

I’m happy I got the opportunity to experience living in a city and within student halls at the same time. I don’t regret anything during that time and looking back it gave me some really memories.