President's Welcome
Welcome to Balliol MCR.
Balliol College is unique. With around 800 students, it is one of the largest Oxford colleges. But unusually for big colleges, it has an even balance of graduates and undergraduates. This means that our graduate community is large enough to have an independent sense of identity, but within a large, vibrant, ancient institution.
Like the big graduate-only colleges, our MCR has an active social program, a self-contained graduate complex (based around Holywell Manor) and a rich diversity of disciplines and backgrounds. But we remain an integral part of College, with its historic buildings, traditions and unique culture. And Balliol's large undergraduate community brings useful benefits for graduates, including strong sports teams, a sizeable library and a good dining hall. Every year a large number of Balliol undergraduates return as graduates, providing a link between the JCR and MCR, and helping those of us from elsewhere find our way around.
In such a big college, it might be easy to feel lost. The institution of the MCR is here to make sure you do not. Our central site, Holywell Manor, has a very human scale: as you wander through you will see people reading newspapers in the Common Room, having coffee in the Cockpit, watching a DVD in our TV room, or having a drink with friends in the Megaron bar. Our philosophy is that this is your home, for one year or five, and that's how it should feel.
Our community is diverse and interesting, with graduates having done an amazing range of things before converging on Oxford. A conversation in the MCR can swing from sport to politics to science and back again in very short time. It's difficult to generalise, but it's fair to say that Balliol graduates are intelligent, committed, interested and socially aware — but also know how to enjoy themselves.
There are limitless ways you can become involved in the running of the MCR, from standing for election to the Committee to occasionally helping out with social events or ideas. Balliol is justly famous for our high level of student involvement at both undergraduate and graduate levels: it's one of the things that makes us unique.
If you're already an MCR member, welcome to the new website, and see you around the Manor.
If you're thinking of coming to Oxford as a graduate, you're working your way down the list of Colleges alphabetically, and you've just reached 'B'alliol (after discovering that 'A'll Souls doesn't take students), then look no further, and see you in Michaelmas 2010.
Andrew Whitby
President, Balliol MCR
mcr [dot] president
balliol [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk