Lancaster as insurance

[Star21]

Has anyone had experience or heard of accommodation issues for students accepting insurance offers from Lancaster? DS wants to put Nottingham as firm and Lancaster as insurance but is worried that there are issues with gaining campus accommodation at Lancaster if you don't choose it as firm.
The offer from Notingham for maths degree is AAB with min Ain maths and A in further maths, his predicted grades were AAB with the B in further Maths so based on predicted grades would miss the further maths requirement despite grades overall exceeding requirement.
He is considering putting Lancaster (AAB) first instead of his preferred Nottingham just because he is worried about the accommodation, seems wrong to me that he is basing his choices on accommodation.

Well surely there will be some who have it as their first choice who dont get the grades?

The chances are Nottingham will accept him with a dropped grade. My friend's DS is doing maths there and he didn't do further maths at A level.

He is considering putting Lancaster (AAB) first instead of his preferred Nottingham just because he is worried about the accommodation

Read that back to yourself and see how daft it sounds.
If the worst comes to the worst, there must be some accommodation in Lancaster-town (not that far away) if not on campus.

I'd give the students union at Lancaster a call. They'll know. Or student accommodation.
There is lots of accommodation on campus and TBH I think it would be a bit rubbish to be in town in the first year, because of the way Lancaster Uni is, but I can't see it being a massive problem as they seem to just keep building up there.

Yes, when I was last there (it's near my home town), Lancaster was still building! And it's really close to town & student social life happens a lot in town.

But he should Firm where he actually wants to go, and sort out accommodation later. He should go for Notts.

And if he needs to take up his Ins. offer, then it's far easier to sort accommodation in a small town like Lancaster ...

Yes Senus, it is ridiculous to make a decision like this based on accommodation! I went to Lancaster Uni myself albeit many years ago and I would not have wanted to live off campus in my first year either, more difficult to make friends, potentially feeling more isolated and less supported as the town is a good bus journey away from the campus.
Hellsbells, I wonder if your friend's DS did the STEP exam instead of further Maths but yes I do wonder if there would be room to drop a grade at Notts if overall he still exceeds requirements.
I hadn't thought of ringing the accommodation office or student union so I think I will try that next week after the bank holiday.

Star21 - no, Nottingham don't ask for STEP. His A levels were maths, physics and chemistry.

I would be astonished if Nottingham can afford to enforce those grade requirements. Maths departments higher in league tables than them take AAA/AAB in August, provided that the student has an A in Maths.

Following the comments about FM, outside the top six or so Maths departments, at least a third of students will come in without FM at all. I'm not sure of the detailed statistics at Nottingham but for sure a significant fraction of their Maths students don't have FM at A2. (BTW I'm an academic in the subject.)

My niece dropped 3 grades last year, from predicted AAA to BBB and was accepted immediately on results day at Nottingham.

There seems to be a problem with accommodation at lots of universities when it is an insurance offer. The removal of the cap on numbers has meant universities are taking ever higher numbers of students so many just don't have enough accommodation for all first years. Having to sort out somewhere to live is a horrible way to start the first year.

Lettuce what subject was that?

Recent Lancaster Maths grad here. The same thing happened to me regarding accommodation, I didn't get into my firm but got into Lancaster as my insurance choice.

I ended up at a halls type place called CityBlock in the middle of town. A word of warning - I would NOT recommend it, particularly if your DS is not a partying type. The flats of 8/9 are usually groups of 2nd-year friends or international postgraduate students, with the first years only filling in the empty gaps. The management are located off-site and they do not have a strict noise policy, which of course led to regular loud partying at 3am in the morning with nothing being done about it. The other two off-campus halls type alternatives are Cable Street, which has been having management issues, and Damside, which is new and very expensive.

The maths course at Lancaster was generally good - lecturers were a bit hit and miss but I guess it's like that anywhere. One thing to keep in mind is that Lancaster's main research area is statistics, and hence a large proportion of the third and fourth-year optional modules are statistics based. If your DS does not enjoy statistics then I'd say avoid, as this would severely limit his choice of optional modules. If not then I'd definitely recommend it. I can message you more details if you wish.

Thanks Caretaker, he has made his choice now and put Nottingham as his firm and Lancaster as insurance but your post confirms exactly what I am worried about. Too late now, fingers crossed he will get his first choice and if not we will cross that bridge. He has studied the options for modules and seems happy, glad to hear you recommend it.