AIBU re Uni accomodation

[mumofflautist]

Dd (not 18 until December) over 30 miles away from chosen Uni, unconditional offer, applied on the first date you were allowed to apply and has been disappointed to find out today she's been offered her third choice. Still ensuite, but kitchen and bathroom much more tired than the lovely brand new accomodation she'd set her heart on (even though she'd told us at the open day she was prepared to rough it in the worst ones!) I know you can't expect all your home comforts and have to rough it a bit, I'm interested as to how they allocate because the vibes we got from folk we talked to at the applicants' day (this was for people who had firmly accepted unconditionals) were that they definitely were not up for paying top whack for the "poshest" halls. I wonder if there's some sort of ballot (in which case she is beyond lucky to not have been given choice 4, 5 or 6!) or if any matching goes on. AIBU as it sounds like stamping your feet and saying why haven't we been given the nicest choice (choice 1)

sashh That's true I suppose although we decided to accept what was offered. I forgot those with conditionals will still have to apply by 30th June, accept what they are offered, and then if they don't get in I suppose that accomodation becomes available. I've re read the priorities. It very much reads you get one offer and you have to accept within 7 days. I guess emailing and asking if choice 1 becomes available might be a thing. Dd does not seem bothered now although I guess it might be worth emailing and saying I've accepted but I really wanted to be considered for "the one I really wanted" if it becomes available . I'm a bit gutted because cooking will be a bit more difficult rather than in the lovely modern kitchens.

When I was at uni you accepted what you were offered or rented privately. Appealing because you want a new kitchen would be totally inappropriate surely - would the expectation be that someone who'd been allocated the slightly newer accommodation give it up because someone else's mum thought her daughter's standards were higher?

We heard rumours of ensuite rooms international students with unlimited money had somewhere, but everyone I knew shared 6 or 12 to a communal bathroom with 2 or 4 shower rooms, separate sinks and separate toilets.

Surely most teenagers don't have ensuite shower at home nowadays? I'd just come from a crummy 3rd rate boarding school with 3 baths and shower attachments between 12 of us followed by working in India sharing a dorm room and without running Waterford 6 months, then very low budget backpacking round SE Asia sleeping in dorms with usually one shared cold water bathroom between lots of people, so it didn't occur to me to expect an ensuite!

I've never had an ensuite and neither have my kids, I thought students these days were poorer? Ensuite accommodation is a luxury, are they all pissing their loans away because the notion of ever paying them back is so desperately laughable and hopeless they may as well laugh while Rome burns?

*water for not Waterford

blueskiesandblackforests I don't disagree with your points, however, I am curious as to where the other rooms in our choice 1 and 2 went - yes, maybe to people who live further away. As I said earlier, when I went to Uni in Glasgow 30 years ago, my halls had 3 WC and sinks and 3 showers/1 bath and you were only sharing in a small half corridor of 6 people so your wash basin and WC was only between yourself and one other - so that must have been luxurious 30 years ago although they've been knocked down now! When I looked at current Uni halls (Stirling btw) I was surprised that they actually have not changed, or were not as "nice" as the ones I was in 30 years ago. We are spoilt because we are in a new build so dd does in fact have her own bathroom because we have an ensuite and she is an only child with the family bathroom so yes is spoiled. We have however secured an ensuite room at Uni and I am not really complaining as such just puzzled when you believe you meet all the deadlines and criteria. We live in quite a rubbish area of Glasgow (so not East Ren or anything) but not deprived enough it would seem when I look at the decile map! I may be being unreasonable to expect a modern cooker to be easier than an old electric cooker with rings - I didn't have to cook in my first year at Uni so...

Stirling has all new halls - I thought they were all ensuite? Not sure what the cooking facilities are though. They should all be new though as they knocked all the old ones down

blueskiesandblackforests and believe me if I come across as a total snob I can assure you some of dd's friends (who are not leaving home) are much more precious. I was proud of her when she went on a music trip to Germany and the hotel was not exactly "nice" and loads of her friends and parents moaned (I was like what do you expect for the money paid) The house I grew up in was very old fashioned and not exactly luxurious (big old fashioned cast iron bath and no shower and it's still the same today). I don't want to start an argument but I've nowhere implied I would want anyone to give up better accomodation, just stated that if her choice 1 or 2 does become available (if for instance anyone with a conditional does not get their place) then I may enquire as to whether there's ever a chance of upgrading if choice 1 or 2 becomes available in the meantime.

passmethecrips No they have 2 new halls for undergrads with 120 and 243 beds avialable respectively and 240 or something beds in her choice 3 which is ensuite but much older. Not all the halls are ensuite.

dS2 has got the type of accomodation he wanted but we still had a scare: DS2 was happily waiting for his accommodation notification to come through his normal email account but hadn't realised that he needed to go to his new uni email account, for which he seemed to have forgotten the password. I had been snooping on the Freshers Facebook page and noticed that other students were discussing accommodation offers and made him email the accommodation office, to be told he had an offer that had expired the day before, luckily they were nice and extended it for 48 hours and he accepted it but my heart rate when I read that email!
I no longer feel guilty about being pushy mother!

Ah! I hadn’t realised that. Is that to create different levels of affordability?

I am on campus regularly and hadn’t realised they still had any of the old buildings at all. Shows how much I pay attention.

If that is the uni you are referring to they have been really troubled by struggling to accommodate first years.

People won’t turn up at freshers week. People will turn down offers. People will change their minds about accommodation.

It’s not wrong to say “if something else in option 1 or 2 comes up then please could a swap be considered”.

It sounds like your dd is happy enough now though.

I know when I was at uni many moons ago the foreign students got the fancy new en suite accommodation, second years got rooms in the main building of our hall and first years all got lumped together in the sort of middle range accommodation.

Tbh I would rather my dc didn't have an en suite and had older accommodation. That's all part of the rite of passage of uni to me. Where will they get their funny stories from if everything is always bland and perfect.

I would worry that if she asks to swap and gets moved to the newer accommodation she might be in with second years or foreign students instead of first years.

Sorry my post ^ wasn't strictly relevant but I did glean from my Facebook research that accomodation offices do tend to be both unmovable and opaque when it comes to revealing their methods, it also seems to be fairly common to not get first choice but usually people complain about being given more expensive rooms than they wanted, I suppose this depends on what the uni has been building recently...

mumof we should have done a child swap

WaxOnFeckOff indeed although she got an offer for Strathclyde too but where we live, South East Glasgow, a 20 min down the hill to nearest train station then into town to Central and along a bit then hike up the huge hill to Strathy. She was thinking of the winter and what if she has any 9ams! When she chose Stirling, she was all for wanting the independence of away from home because I think I would still end up dropping her en route to station in the morning etc so she thought she would prefer to "roll out of bed" and into the lecture theatre...

DS is very very quite, either being away would be the making of him or we'd be paying a lot of money for him to sit in a different room...

He didn't want to apply to anywhere he couldn't get home from at the weekend as a minimum but after unconditionals from Dundee, HW, Glasgow and Strathclyde he decided he wanted to live at home. That narrowed it down to Glasgow and Strathclyde really and in the end not having to get the train AND the underground the course swung it for Strathclyde.

quiet, not quite!

Wax sort of similar issue re transport although dd a lot more gregarious, especially more so than I was at 18 and a half (I am a Feb birthday so back in the day was OLD for my school year ) - she's not 18 until December - I had quite a sheltered upbringing so unfortunately I did spend some of Fresher's week sitting in my room
If she had have got an offer from Glasgow it would have been a bit easier as could have got one train from where we live, to Partick and walked up!

I've been in Glasgow 30 years but am originally from a small place lots further north...I would have been sad if Dd had chosen Aberdeen, takes so LOONG to get there especially since I don't like driving so get public transport. So she didn't apply there. Could have lived with Dundee, have family close. Am happy that Stirling is just up the road.

My DD didn’t get any of her choices at Edinburgh last year, but her halls were actually really good in terms of location and facilities. It’s not always grim.

My DS wouldn't even go to the Aberdeen open day due to not getting home for weekends,. He's not 18 til December either.

A student swap agency is actually not a bad idea,. Unless you want a break from teenagers....

I have two, one just turned 18 and the other about to turn 17. Mine are really quiet and give me no problems whatsoever, they aren't particularly house trained but I'm thinking a 2 for 1 deal could be on the cards? One can drive and is great with spiders the other one isn't quite funny.

DS applied and was accepted at Dundee and has only ever been to Dundee to the swimming pool as a child!

I quite like teenagers, I think pre teens are worse to deal with.

The buses are rubbish where I live so not very attractive to students. I quite like teenagers too, other people's teens tend to be chattier and find me less embarrassing than my own do.

Ds only went to the Aberdeen Open Day under duress, after already having rejected St Andrews as too isolated and like a giant Hogwarts (couldn't disagree with him I'd loved my time there-- ) and loved it!

He described it as a "hidden gem"

He's a city boy at heart, so it's probably a good combination of a campus/traditional Uni in a city.

He also had an unconditional from Strathclyde - but didn't want to go to his "home" uni my brainwashing had worked

It is a long way away though - but at least it's direct on the train/bus. And the new bypass will make driving quicker too.