Why the summer ball will be the highlight of your entire year

The Golden Ticket

Summer Ball is the only mandatory fixture in the RHUL SU calendar. The eye-baulking £75 price tag may be fifteen times the price of a Friday night in the SU but we begrudgingly pay up anyway. Why? Because the cost of missing out would be even worse.

You got to put off revising by planning your ball outfit

Browsing every corner of the internet for the perfect dress/suit/shoes gives you a perfect excuse to procrastinate when you’re meant to be revising. Sure, you could have been better-prepared for your exams without the summer ball as a distraction but this outfit is an important investment. You tell yourself “It’s worth splashing out, I’ll wear it all the time” but the truth is you won’t. Who cares though? Summer Ball is all the justification you need for that price tag.

You’ll never get a better pic of your squad

OMG Look how much we’ve changed

With the whole squad on point, it only takes one Instagram in front of Founders to make the preparation and depleted bank balance worthwhile. You’ll be posing for team photos all night long, just don’t be Ashley Cole in a tux. Look like you belong.

You’ll get a beaut new profile pic afterwards

Summer Ball is the ultimate vanity project. Don’t be that one person without a profile picture taken at Summer Ball. Everyone else is going to do it, to the point where it plagues your news feed so you may as well embrace it. It’s easier that way.

You don’t have to worry about FOMO

Really late or really early?

It’s worth going to the ball if only to avoid having to put up with the inescapable hysteria of the night thrown in your face from every direction on social media, reminding you what you’ve missed. Instead, the three minute long Snapchats sent by seemingly everyone on your contact list will help you piece together the parts of the ball you’re too drunk to remember rather than rub your face in the fun you weren’t there for.

Founders is an epic ball location

Summer Ball is, in many ways, the most Royal Holloway thing imaginable. Founders is the reason we obviously all turned down our Russell Group places to come here, and it’s one hell of a backdrop for a party. The mental image of strolling across both quads at 4am, recognising everyone in eyeshot, is enough to make university rankings and job prospects completely unimportant. No matter your state of inebriation, it’s impossible not to look sophisticated within the walls of a castle.

Fairground rides release your inner child

Who doesn’t love a fair ground ride? Doesn’t going on one while drunk sound like the best idea ever? Ignore all logic and convince yourself there’s no way spinning in alternate directions at violent speeds will cause you to share your drink and dinner with your friend’s dress. It’s worth it.

The SU haven’t booked music this good all year

Expectations of the SU’s pulling power have sunk so low, it’s not shameful to admit you’re quietly impressed they’ve landed Duke Dumont and Katy B for our Summer Ball. Yes we had Annie Mac and Major Lazer last year but a year of silence and nothingness has passed since then. Mates at other unis don’t know our struggle.

You’re going to last all night and make it into the survivors photo

Ever wanted to be in Where’s Wally?

Likelihood is if you make the survivor’s photo you’ll be wondering what you actually did all night. How many times did you go to your car to top up your glass? And did you really spend an hour queueing for your free meal? When faced with these questions remember: free food is always worth the wait.