Not the accommodation you wanted? Don’t panic!

I knew, I always knew, that in Warwick’s Accommodation contract it stated very clearly that you had to put down six choices of halls and ‘be prepared to receive any of them’, but to be honest, I took that caveat with a pinch of salt. Realistically, I was going to get Lakeside, or Heronbank, or Sherbourne. Maybe, in the worst of worst cases, I’d end up with my fourth choice of Claycroft. But the fifth and sixth choices? No way. Or so I thought.

I remember how excited I was when I got the email telling me to log into the Warwick Accommodation portal to see my confirmed choice. My phone was on 1% (I had an iPhone 6s, enough said) yet I still was desperate to find out there and then. At the time, I was in the kitchen and my mum was looking at me expectantly, wondering why I stood staring at the screen in silence. “It’s Tocil!” I eventually spat out. And just as my hopes of living in Lakeside Village died, so too did my phone. Really rather poetic, I suppose.

The very next morning I rang up Warwick Accommodation, and the advisor kindly tried to explain that it really wouldn’t be that bad, and that I should read blogs by other Warwick students who’d got their last choice and ended up loving their accommodation. Which I did, but I didn’t take any of them seriously… until I ended up with my own amazing experiences at my sixth choice!

As with many students, one of my main issues was having to share a bathroom with multiple people — but this is genuinely not an issue at all as the bathrooms get cleaned every weekday, and I have almost never been in a situation where I had to wait. I was also worried about sharing a kitchen with several people, and while I was fortunate to be placed in a flat with 8 people rather than 12, everyone does eat at completely different times so we are rarely even in a situation where four of us are trying to cook at the same time! Moreover, a friend at Westwood has assured me that even though she has to share her kitchen with 16 people, cooking has not been an issue for her either due to the amount of space and facilities.

What’s more, your flatmates really do make all the difference. I really don’t understand why other universities haven’t assimilated Warwick’s idea of a personality survey in the accommodation application, because having flatmates with similar lifestyles and hobbies does make life so much easier and more enjoyable!

Plus, as I’m sure you’ll know if you’ve spent as much time obsessively researching halls before arriving as I did, each accommodation has its own perks! For example, for Tocil, the location is amazing. All accommodations are no more than 20 minutes from Central Campus, but having the FAB outside my doorstep is massively convenient. Cryfield Village residents have access to their own Village Hall with a music, meeting, fitness and cinema room, while Claycroft residents can fall out of bed and be at Tesco’s. And you’ll never be lonely in Rootes, whether you all go on nights out/nights in or just want to have someone to chat to!

So, in summary, if you get your last choice accommodation, don’t panic, don’t beg Warwick Accommodation unless you really need to, and don’t sulk that your next year will be absolutely ruined now. Because if (and now this is actually ‘a rare situation’) you reallyaren’t happy with your accommodation, you do have a choice to apply for a transfer after three weeks of the first term.

And the best thing to do if you have any concerns or questions, is to get in touch with Warwick Accommodation or with any of the Warwick bloggers via Unibuddy because no worry is too small or silly!