It’s time to admit it: Self-catered is better than Pollock

One of the biggest things which divides Edi students is whether you’re Pollock or self catered. There are good and bad points to both (it is only student halls, after all), but while self catered can be significantly worse than the palatial conditions of Chancellors court, it is without a doubt better to fend for yourself somewhere away from Pollock.

The most obvious difference is the room situation. While you Pollock folk might be content with living in your spacious rooms with proper bed frames and a plethora of shelving units, you’ve never experienced the bond formed over the shared annoyances of the squeaky beds and prison cell-esque wall paper which makes self catered accommodation so special.

Ah, Robertson Close

Whats more, a flat feels more like a home than a row of rooms on a corridor, where your flatmates become a kind of surrogate family – something you don’t get in a place that is essentially a more grown up version of boarding school.

Another big decider when choosing where to live in first year is the food question: do you live in Pollock and have three meals a day cooked for you, the same as you always have done back at home or do you fully experience student life and try to “adult” as best as you can by cooking for yourself?

the chosen food hall of the landed gentry

Despite the obvious “adulting,” its way more convenient to be self catered, as you can structure your weird eating habits around your busy and productive daily life. Whats more you can eat whatever you want, which sounds like a terrible path towards obesity in theory, but in reality means you can actually try and be somewhat healthy.

It’s true, the choice of the JMCC seems great initially, but one ex-Pollock revealed what everyone secretly thinks: “JMCC got shit after about two weeks.”

they don’t call it grantanamo bay for nothing

Although Pollock can be pretty good for meeting lots of people, having so many on the same corridor, can you really forge stronger connections than you do with your flatmates who you’ve drunkenly cooked post-Hive garlic bread with?

That’s the glorious thing about self catered: you can cook a kilogram of curly fries at 3am with reckless abandon. You can’t do that in John Burnett now, can you?

friends who nap together stay together

It just goes to show really, having to make the most of the grim reality of cheap student halls and noisy clubs on your doorstep sets you up to have a much better time at uni than the seclusion of Pollock. Five minute walk to uni, one minute to Hive; whats not to like?