hey, im in grade 12 and i applied to victoria. i know that starez is opening in a few days, and i’ll have to chose a residence to stay in for my first year
from your experience, what’s the best residence in victoria college (upper/lower burwash, rowell jackman, annesley etc.)
hey there,
thanks for asking!
soooooo i have actually never lived in a victoria college residence. i actually live in a little cottage on the moon.
so i’m not sure i’ll be much help on the personal experience side of things, but maybe i can point you towards some resources that might help?
the first thing i would recommend is to tour the residences, but i’m assuming that’s probably not in the cards if you’re asking this question on here. another option would be to see a virtual tour. i think it’s cool that those exist now, and from what i can see these are high quality and have a nice user experience lol.
you can also see videos about each of the residences at the bottom of this page, and more on the bottom of this page.
i’d highly recommend that you do your research and make a decision based on what each one offers and how they would fit your needs. for example, do you want to live with a roommate? how many roommates do you think you can handle? do you want to live with the opposite gender? do you want a kitchen? how many people can you stomach sharing a bathroom with? (it gets kinda gross, i’ve heard).
i know that all vic students are required to buy a meal plan, so maybe you don’t think you’ll need a kitchen. but i had some friends in first year who had meal plans and realized they really missed having a kitchen, and were trying to boil noodles in their kettles. having a kitchen also means having a fridge and freezer. ice cream requires a freezer. just some things to consider.
here’s a quick rundown of what all the 5 residences offer.
annesley hall
annesley hall is an all-women’s residence, which offers a music room and library. here, you’ll be living in either single, double, or triple rooms. you can see the floor plan here.
margaret addison hall
margaret addison hall is traditional dorm co-ed style with a common room and kitchen on each floor, floor plan here. they have single or double rooms here, and also music practice rooms, study areas, kitchenettes, and 6 common rooms.
rowell jackman hall
rowell jackman is an apartment style dorm with both single-gender and co-ed options. each suite has a kitchen, common room, one or two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. idk what the difference would be between a common room and living room, but i guess they have both? and in this apartment-style suite, you’ll be with 3 to 7 other students, in single or double rooms.
i was gonna say that this place seems like the best to me, but it does say that it’s mainly a residence for upper year students and first-years are only sometimes placed here in the double rooms. the rowell jackman floor plan is here.
upper burwash hall
upper burwash hall has co-ed single and double rooms. on each floor is a kitchenette, small eating area, and common room. washrooms are co-ed and the floor plan is here.
lower burwash hall
finally, lower burwash hall offers single, double, and triple rooms with “semi-private” washrooms, whatever that means. again, each floor has a kitchenette and common room. floor plan is here.
full transparency, i just got all that info from this official vic website. sorry that i couldn’t offer you any scathing personal opinions on vic residences. but if you don’t have social anxiety, you could absolutely just send a DM to some vic student group instagram accounts asking if anyone could give their personal opinion on the residences. students are behind those accounts and will see your message, it’s just a matter of whether they have the energy to respond. doesn’t hurt to ask though!
here. i’ll happily dox them for you: @vusac @viccollegelife @vicscarletandgold @vicorientation
and this is how i find out vic college has an mma club?!
if you really wanted to, you could also reach out to the vic registrar at vic(.)registrar(@)utoronto(.)ca , since they have people there who are available to help with new student transitions and answer student questions specific to victoria college.
anyhoo. hope this was sort of helpful? wishing you the best first year ever!
over and out,
aska