The beautiful and serene Greyfriars Hall is one of Oxford’s smallest colleges. Very small – the entire population could take a double-decker together. In fact, technically it’s not even a college but a ‘Permanent Private Hall’, although not many people know that and fewer still notice the difference. The Hall with its flint-stone buildings and their eye-catching green spire is home to 50 undergrads (including women since 1992) and seven Franciscan Friars, maintaining a strong tradition of Catholicism and the teachings of St Francis of Assisi in particular (hence the Friars). However, students’ own spiritual preferences reflect a bigger smorgasbord of world religions. A hefty chunk of its undergraduates ended up here through the pooling system – after all, a working friary isn’t the most obvious destination for the student experience – but a bulky slice of them end up being pleased they found themselves in such a uniquely cosy place. Given the dinkiness, students have an admirable record of getting out and about in the wider Oxford scene, dipping their oars in sport, media, politics and, naturally, water. The Hall is some way from the centre of town, on Iffley Road.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 50:50 |
Founded: 1224 |
| Full-time u’grads: 50 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 5 |
Mature: 2% |
State:private school: 50:50
|
International: 20% |
| Academic ranking: n/a |
Disabled: 0 |
No bar, just a drinks shelf in the kitchen and free Pimm’s at renowned summer garden parties; one bop per year; regular parties in the basement. Strongly involved in drama and politics; good on student media and journalism. Pool table, Sky TV, weights room. Catholic church. Well-equipped specialist library (10,000 volumes, 25 study spaces); 3 PCs, 24hrs; JCR IT officer; all rooms have wireless internet access. JCR arranges regular parties, nights out and movie nights; common room with kitchen, living/Sky TV room, weights/pool room. Recent sporting successes in rugby, karate and rowing, for which students join the Balliol banner (where they dominate the women’s first boat), own boat arriving as a result. Just over half the students, including all first years, live in, (accommodation does the job but nothing fancy), comparatively cheap rents. JCR provides free washing machine and dryer. Food is included in catered cost (£80/wk), but rebates are provided for uneaten meals. Eight self-catered bedrooms (£60). Smart formal dinner every evening – students take turns to serve, twice monthly ‘Student Hall Nights’ with invited guests. Bike lock-ups, limited car parking. LGBT and women’s officer and free attack alarms; self-defence classes. Scholarships for academic excellence, drama, sport, journalism, charity and for first and third years. Most arts/humanities subjects can be accommodated; no sciences or medicine.
FAMOUS ALUMNI:
Roger Bacon (scholar and polymath); Robert Grosseteste (13th-century Bishop of Lincoln); William of Ockham (of ‘Ockham’s Razor’ philosophy fame); John Duns Scotus (theologian).