Today we have a guest blog post from Luke, who is a student ambassador and member of our Accommodation Comms Team this summer – you may have even spoken to him over the past week! He shares his insight into being offered a residence which wasn’t one of his preferences. We also have an update on where we are with sending offers out.
Moving to university is a period of pretty intense change. For many it’s their first time living away from parents or carers, moving to a brand new part of the country or the world. Often meeting more new people during freshers’ week than at any other point in their lives so far, students’ find themselves with more independence in their academic and social lives than ever before. So it’s no wonder that prospective students all want the perfect university accommodation. Whether it’s catered, self- catered, en-suite or a studio, we all hope to move in to our dream room on our first day at university. For many people this is the case. But the hard-working staff in the allocations team are unable to give every student one of their preferred accommodation choices, as was the case with me. But don’t panic if you find yourself in this situation, my experience was genuinely brilliant and hopefully it will calm any nerves about moving in to university halls.
In my first year I lived off campus at Point Exe in an en-suite, self-catered room located 20 minutes from campus down by St David’s station. I had hoped to be staying in Lafrowda, since that was the accommodation that I had looked at on the Open Day that summer and had put down on campus, self-catered halls for every one of my preferences when I applied. Having never heard of Point Exe or seen where it was, I was ever so slightly disappointed. I wasn’t distraught but I had envisioned myself arriving wide-eyed on campus for the start of three exciting years at university with all my other peers. Instead I found myself moving into an empty flat on a quieter street off campus. The Welcome Team were great at helping me move into the flat, giving me directions to campus and the city centre and letting me know about all the events on over Freshers’ Week. When my flatmates moved in I found out we all had the same apprehensions about living off campus.
I’m happy to say that after a week I was completely sold; I absolutely loved my time in halls. Any fears about feeling isolated or part of an off-campus bubble were quickly dispelled during Freshers’ Week. Walking to campus was easier than I’d expected and it turned out being close to the city centre was ideal for me as it meant I was closer to my part-time job and I didn’t have to walk far to meet people off campus. My flat of six was perfect and we all got on really well, so much so that we continued to live together for second and third year. There was a great community vibe with around 400 students between Point Exe and the next door St David’s residence, and we very quickly became friends with other students in our block. It was nice walking up to campus or into the city with other Point Exe students and between my flat and my other friends in halls I always felt like there was something going on, a night out, a trip somewhere, an event on campus or in the city. It was a really nice way to transition from first to second year as well, since we had all spent a year living in the city already and it meant the process of finding a student house to rent in second year was less daunting than it could have been. Overall I loved my time in halls and even though it wasn’t the one I’d expected to live in when I applied, I met some of my best friends and am very glad it’s where I ended up. No matter where you end up living in your first year, your university experience will be as exciting as you make it.
Update on offers
- If you had Exeter as your first choice, applied within the guarantee and had an unconditional course offer before 21 August then you should now have received your offer of accommodation. Please contact the team on 0300 555 0444 if you haven’t. If you have had your academic place confirmed since 22 August then you will receive an offer by the end of Friday 23 August.
- If you applied between 1-18 August then you will receive an offer by the end of Friday 23 August.
- Home/EU undergraduates who applied between 19-21 August will be sent an update on the situation by the end of Friday 23 August.
- If you applied from 22 August onwards then we will update you from Tuesday 27 August.
Bank Holiday information
The Accommodation Office will be closed from 6:00pm on Friday 23 August and will re-open at 8:30am on Tuesday 27 August. Any email enquiries sent over this period will be responded to from Tuesday.
Our University of Exeter Accommodation Facebook page will also only be monitored from Tuesday 27 August between 9:00am-5:00pm.
We hope the sun is shining for you over the weekend – it’s the last Bank Holiday before Christmas!
Accommodation Team