Do any universities allow you to pick accommodation by the kind of flatmates you want?

[Copper]

My ds1 has had a bad experience living with a set of flatmates who sincerely believe that university is for getting drunk every night, and that if you don't want to do this you shouldn't be there.

DS2 does not fancy this at all, and I wondered if anyone knows if any universities have a system for you to say what kind of flatmates you would like.

If not, I think someone should invent one - I'm sure it would reduce dropout rates considerably!

Can DS2 not apply for a single room in halls instead? That way he can keep his own space, make friends and be more likely to find flatmates on his wavelength once he is ready to move out.

I can't see any Uni accommodation service running a Match.com -type service, I'm afraid!

Yes,, I'd recommend it but not all unis have halls, just flats with no real communal space.

I think I heard that Durham does (not applying to Durham) - a friend said her ds was asked to say were they a party type or quiet.

I think uni can be a bit hard on the quiet types.

I'm at Warwick (not living on campus) and some halls are known as more "party halls" (mainly the ones closer to the campus bars etc) whereas others tend to be quieter.

I've also heard stories of people swapping flats a few weeks in via facebook etc. Or the getting a space in a larger hall is possibly a good idea as he's more likely to find a group he'll gel with - but then sharing a kitchen/bathroom with more people is less appealing!

Nottingham and Hull definitely asked questions about how sociable/noisy you are in their halls applications. However, any distribution of students can only take those factors into account up to a point.

Thanks - that's worth knowing. I still think someone could create a nice automated system ...

Bristol also ask questions like
"Do you like going to nightclubs?" to try to match occupants. it has worked very well for a friend of ours.

My DS had a questionaire asking questions like 'do you need quiet to work', 'are you an owl or a lark' etc. It seemed to work well.

St Andrews, Scotland do ask about your interests, if you like going out a lot, staying up, going to bed early and so on. So I presume they are trying to match people the best they can.

You can also request to change if you feel it isn't working out with your flatmates, although there's no guarantee, but I think they do try to help.

I remember Leeds asked if you liked going out a lot, or if you would prefer a quiet flat.