Help. Uni of Leeds Halls..DD been assigned to a "Shared House"

[LeedsUniPlanning]

DD is off to Leeds. Applied for accommodation v early (non-catered) and did not get any of her preferences...but has been put in Springfield Mount.

Does anyone have any insight/experience of these please? Do they offer the same experience as being in halls (socially for example).

Anything she should be aware of? Preferably positive, but anything would help?

It is uni accommodation, just laid out differently?

The location looks good.

https://accommodation.leeds.ac.uk/small-residences/

Many halls are set up as flats now.

I went to uni there and whilst I was in Leodis, I had friends there and in Clarendon. It’s the same as halls only smaller number of people. It was really sociable. My friends who lived there met on day one and have been married with 2 kids for 10 years now.
right on campus which is sooooo handy as the union nights are really popular, close to all the facilities!

Hi, @LeedsUniPlanning my DS just graduated from Leeds. Wasn't in the accommodation you mentioned but lived in halls first year and shared flats after that. Everywhere he's lived he's had an individual lock on his bedroom door, if you're concerned about safety/security of belongings. His initial accommodation all the rooms were en suite too, can you find out if your DD's is? As maybe she would prefer not to share a bathroom with strangers. They usually put the freshers in the more secure accommodation, as second year etc they're choosing who they live with and can then decide if happy with shared bathrooms etc.

My sons both went to uni flats that had individual ensuite lockable rooms, with shared kitchen/bathroom, and were mixed boys/girls and it worked well. DD goes next year and I'll be happy for her to be in a flat with boys in if she's got her own bathroom.

Sounds like the accommodation your daughter has been given is fairly near the uni - they mostly seem to hang out in the union bar (cheap beer) and so on. A larger gang in a house could be great - plenty of friends to choose from without going anywhere?

Looking at the link above the shared house is on campus, as that's the case it'll be fine! I lived in a shared house on campus at a different uni, most of my friends I made on my course and through sports anyway so wasn't reliant on housemates for everything, but it was brilliant- just like halls (and super close to everyone else) just less people. It would be different if it was a private property off campus because zero was available, but this is just a different type of property within the uni estate. I'm sure they'd be happy to answer any questions or concerns if there's anything specific.

Dc2 is at leeds uni too.
If the photos are how those rooms are, they are bigger and nicer than the halls he was in!!

After that, dc2 had hardly any contact with anyone in his flat. In part because their hours were very different. But also because they simply lived different lives with different interests.

Thank you for replies thus far. It is a house (they seem to be for between 7-16ish) shared showers and loos and a basement kitchen. The houses do look great - but do not look like the necessarily offer "halls" experience she applied for/hoped for.

Facilities wise she had applied for one of the "halls" falts with a jack/jill bathroom. So a slight "downgrade" from that (but better price wise for us!).

For various reasons schools wise (house move/both primary/secondary schools out of area until Sixth Form) she has always been on the outside location-wise for her education since Y2...so I am kind of a bit gutted for her that she didn't get her first choice (iyswim) and could throw herself fully into the student experience.

Location wise it looks awesome (noodle bar and gym on the doorstep and her faculty just round the corner).

Not worried about security, just want to know she is not going to "miss out" on anything not being in one of the halls. Whether all the Uni owned "shared houses" gel together as a community - or not.

Can I ask what she (or you) expect that ‘halls experience’s to be?

What is a "halls experience" exactly? It's not like she's far away from campus living with 2 people. Maybe it doesn't have its own bar and as many social functions but it's not like there won't be an overwhelming plethora of bars and social functions. She can go hang out with people at a hall and go to their bar and functions if she wants anyway.

She will meet people in halls and can hang out there if she likes, I suspect people will be far more keen on hanging around in the house though! The halls experience is often fire alarms at 2am haha. If the house was off campus then I'd agree with you but she won't miss out given the location.

I understand her disappointment as she'd applied for and expected something else.

Don't worry though. I was in a shared house at a different uni, had an absolute ball and am now married 15 years to one of my housemates with 3 kids.

Tell her it'll be different but quite possibly better. She and her housemates can still hang out at the hall bars if they want to, and go to their events.

What 'halls experience' was she wanting? They are very similar to Henry Price imo.

People from halls will come hang out in the house as well.

I had friends there and it's just like being in a flat in say, Henry price. People in HP tend to just socialise with their floor, which is the same. Also people go to the other houses nearby to party etc. it's right by the union which is great and straight down the road into town .

If the house is for between 7 and 16 I don’t think it’ll be any different to halls? Most halls are made up of independent units within the halls, so each unit will have a number of bedrooms and a kitchen and socialising place. But other units within the halls are separate and they have a locked front door. So people from one unit can’t get in another unit.

the majority of halls I have seen don’t have a communal space for all the different units to hang out in. Apart from possibly a laundry room!

there is a smaller halls I know of which I guess does have a games room shared between all the units but I think that’s unusual.

I lived on Springfield Mount! Massive houses, we had 2 kitchens and multiple bathrooms. So handy too. Like others have said, it's just like a flat in social terms.

Most halls are in fact blocks of flats these days, communal spaces have been reduced from what i remember from my days too. I've been back to my old halls and gone are the long corridors and communal dining, instead 8 person flats (mixed, I was in single sex halls) and the downstairs communal areas are now a convenience store, a cash cafeteria, a gym (was junior common room aka tv room) and an accessible flat for 4 people, not knocking that but it was a bar and another common room in my day

Students can also request transfers in campus accommodation if they're not happy. People aren't all doing cartwheels just because they're living in a hall, it's mostly dependent on who's living in your section as to what your experience will be.

I was in halls - a flat of 8, in a building of 6 flats. We only socialised with our own flat anyway, so I don't think you necessarily get a different experience in a halls-style house share! And friends who lived in halls had similar experiences, so I wouldn't worry - living with a load of people close to campus will be precisely the same :)

My dd was in Leeds and was in White Rose view flats. Very swish and nice, but TINY rooms. The rooms in that pic are much bigger.

She was in a flat of 7 and made 2 friends there, but not really with the rest of them. Same happened with my DD1 in the 3 years she was in uni, and she stayed in halls every year.

My friend lived in one of the ones with Jack and Jill type bathroom and she hated it, it was like a tiny wet room cupboard. The shared houses look much nicer! And looks like there's a washer/dryer in shared houses which is much better that sharing a tiny launderette with hundreds of others. As others have said most halls are set out in flats anyway - I don't know anyone who lived in any with communal spaces beyond each flat's kitchen - so it's not much different to neighbouring houses really

I lived on Clarendon Road in a shared house and my best friend lived on Springfield Mount. That was in 1989 and we're still friends. I much preferred it to the halls some of my other friends lived in. The houses were single sex in those days. So there were 12 girls in my friend's house and 12 boys next door. Lots of parties were had! Brilliant location as right on campus and close to everything. Plus loads cheaper than halls and much bigger rooms.

Thank you - you are making me feel much more comfortable - and since starting this thread DD and DH have been chatting about it all and remember the roads/location so she is now very excited about it all. (I didn't go on the open day as had a broken leg).

I think my uni/halls experience was such long time ago and everything has changed. I was at Birmingham - and all the halls (apart from the vvvv£££ "University House" were quite a distance from the uni itself - so 90% of our socialising was "hall" based - at the bar, in the dining hall. We didn't tend to mix a great deal with students from the other halls and certainly not High Hall and even when we moved out in the second year, our house shares were with people who had been in our halls.

It is beginning to sound like she has come up better than her opted accommodation!

Thank you!

I was at Leeds years ago, but those houses were the envy of everyone because they were so close to everything!

Leeds only has a handful of halls like that now, if any. They closed down Bod that was miles away but party central. Most congregate in flats for flat parties/pre drinks then wander to Old Bar or Terrace at the union for drinks, or go to fruity in the clubs in the union. Ahhh I’m so jealous she’s getting to experience it for the first time! She’ll honestly have a ball!

I lived in halls at Uni and a shared house. I much preferred the shared house to the halls. As part of a shared house, you get to know everyone and usually become friends or at least friendly. Halls can be so large, that it can be hard to even get to know anyone and become lonely.

Also shared house where I was, once you were in, you could stay for rest of degree!