What makes St Hilda's special?

Now we are obviously biased and think that St Hilda's is THE place to be, but what makes us so proud of what we have to offer?

Our age & informality

The first thing to know about us is our age. Compared to our neighbours along the crescent, we're pretty young In fact, we are only celebrating our 60th Anniversary in 2024!

Having been established in the 1960s, our age sets the tone for a lot of things about St Hilda's. For example, you'll notice that while we are very proud of our history and the people who started our community, we don't have too many formalities While we do all come together for a meal at least once a week in our Dining Hall, this is a fairly informal occasion and is more about our community coming together rather than standing on ceremony

Because our buildings are relatively young, this also means that we can make changes to accommodate our students For us, this includes upgrading rooms every five to seven years Plus, all of our third-year students get their own ensuite and most of our second-year students enjoy a 2-1 ratio of bathrooms as well. This is one of the best of all the colleges!

Almost all of our first-year students use shared bathrooms but enjoy the built-in friend that comes with our 'sinkie' rooms; a shared sink room between two private bedrooms

Our size

The next thing that we think is special about us is our size With around 230 students each year calling St Hilda's home, we are a bit of a 'Goldilocks' college; not too big and not too small With a number like this we are confident that you will get to know everyone who lives here, but you'll also be able to find your own group of people

Our diversity

Our size also influences the third thing that we think is special about us; our diversity. St Hilda's is deliberate about making sure our student cohort is diverse so that you get the best possible experience This means we aim to make sure that our students come from lots of different schools, from different regions and are studying different degrees

Around 50% of our students come from Victoria, with most of them coming from rural and regional parts of the state

Our students come from private schools, Catholic schools, state schools and international schools

Some practicalities

It's also worth pointing out a couple of other practical things that we think are pretty great about St Hilda's, especially for our students who come from somewhere outside of Melbourne (that's most of them!):

Provisional offers - we start interviewing prospective students and of provisional places early in the year This means that as long as you g place at the university, you'll already have your college spot locked i less thing to stress about in your final year of school

Family-oriented

We know that leaving home for university is a big step, not just for you but also for your families

At St Hilda's we recognise that the first few weeks, months and even years away from home are a big period of transition We encourage our students to use their time at college as an opportunity to gain the confidence that they need to become independent adults But we also want to make room for those families who want to be part of the journey

There are two events each year that we really encourage our students' families to be a part of:

Welcome Saturday

This is our move-in day each year for new students We make a day of it with a shared lunch and opportunities for our newest families to get to know our staff and get a sense of where their student will be living

Family weekend

This weekend comprises one of our most-anticipated events of the year, our Paddock to Plate evening. This event includes a gala dinner to raise money for a worthy cause and is also our chance to showcase produce from within our wider community and/or our local businesses

Current students, their family and friends are invited each year to purchase tickets to this event, share in the festivities and chance their luck with our lucky-door prizes, raffle and charity auction The weekend culminates with a shared brunch on the Sunday.