The Student Room Group
Students on campus at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
Coventry

Temporary accomodation (in Westwood)?

I'll keep it short and simple, because I know no one likes to read more than a few sentences at a time on here :p:

I'm about to start uni in Warwick. I applied to live in one of the central, busy areas (e.g. rootes).
Today, I got an email from them saying "Due to overcrowded accommodation, you will temporarily live in Westwood for the first few weeks until we can sort you out with somewhere permanent."

Obviously I don't particularly like the sound of living a mile away from everything, but would this actually be a big problem? Is it worth complaining about to the uni - i.e. is there a decent chance I could still be given proper accommodation now? Has anyone else experienced this themselves when they first started Warwick? Etc.

Any advice/suggestions/"cool story bro" comments are appreciated.
Even if you live a mile away from everything it won't take you that long to walk. 20 mins depending how fast you walk...
Students on campus at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
Coventry
Westwood isn't a mile away really. It's the other side of University house. It's not too far to the academic buildings, but could be a good 20 minutes to the main union building, depending on how slow or fast you walk. Personally, my ex was in Westwood and I disliked it- though the bedrooms are huge.

You could try contacting them, but it's likely they will have to wait until a few weeks into the first term when they can see what rooms are available (people didn't turn up/dropped out/changed their mind about living on campus).
Reply 3
tomthecool


Obviously I don't particularly like the sound of living a mile away from everything, but would this actually be a big problem? Is it worth complaining about to the uni - i.e. is there a decent chance I could still be given proper accommodation now? Has anyone else experienced this themselves when they first started Warwick? Etc.



I don't know how many people actually do this, but I declined my offer the next day after getting it. I was offered Lakeside and I could't be bothered with transfers etc. So there may be more vacant rooms popping up every day, giving you a chance to be put in permanent accommodation before term starts.
tomthecool
Obviously I don't particularly like the sound of living a mile away from everything, but would this actually be a big problem? Is it worth complaining about to the uni - i.e. is there a decent chance I could still be given proper accommodation now? Has anyone else experienced this themselves when they first started Warwick? Etc.


If they had "proper" accommodation available they would have offered you it straight away. They aren't handing out temporary accommodation for fun you know. :p:
TMDaines
If they had "proper" accommodation available they would have offered you it straight away. They aren't handing out temporary accommodation for fun you know. :p:

Well yes, I know they're obviously not going to hand out temporary accommodation unless they have no choice lol. But the email sounded a bit like they're looking for volunteers before they force people into it - so I was thinking they might have allocated more temporary accommodation than they needed to so that people who complained too much would be sorted out before the start of term :p:

Anyway, I've emailed them back to basically just check there are no better options - but at the end of the day, I'm sure I'll be fine whatever ends up happening.
tomthecool
Well yes, I know they're obviously not going to hand out temporary accommodation unless they have no choice lol. But the email sounded a bit like they're looking for volunteers before they force people into it - so I was thinking they might have allocated more temporary accommodation than they needed to so that people who complained too much would be sorted out before the start of term :p:

Anyway, I've emailed them back to basically just check there are no better options - but at the end of the day, I'm sure I'll be fine whatever ends up happening.

That's a good attitude to have! University doesn't come down to where you live but how you spend your time. Also, at the end of the day, you're not going to know any different so enjoy it for what it is!

Sharing with someone also might be a fantastic way to make a really good friend - you never know who you'll end up with. I hope it all goes well for you! But like you said - I'm sure you'll be fine whatever happens!
Reply 7
tomthecool
I'll keep it short and simple, because I know no one likes to read more than a few sentences at a time on here :p:

I'm about to start uni in Warwick. I applied to live in one of the central, busy areas (e.g. rootes).
Today, I got an email from them saying "Due to overcrowded accommodation, you will temporarily live in Westwood for the first few weeks until we can sort you out with somewhere permanent."

Obviously I don't particularly like the sound of living a mile away from everything, but would this actually be a big problem? Is it worth complaining about to the uni - i.e. is there a decent chance I could still be given proper accommodation now? Has anyone else experienced this themselves when they first started Warwick? Etc.

Any advice/suggestions/"cool story bro" comments are appreciated.


Hi,

The exact same thing happened to me! I applied for Rootes because it looked really busy and fun nd instead I got that email about temporary accomodation! I was really bothered, not so much because I had to share a room but more so because westwood seems so far away from everything and it has a reputation for being a bit dead :s-smilie:

I emailed the accommodation office to try and change and they weren't having it!

But it's good to know that there are people in the same boat as me who aren't at westwood out of choice and who (no offence to anybody at westwood) who were looking for somewhere more busy!
Reply 8
Wow, lots of overreactions here. The walk from Westwood to main campus is absolutely nothing. It's probably about 15-20 mins to the end of campus where the union building is, but it's really not a problem. Also, you'll have a much shorter walk to Tesco than everyone else.

Furthermore, Westwood is not 'dead'. It's certainly a lot more lively than some of the other halls, e.g. Lakeside, Heronbank et. al. Besides, 'how busy/interesting' your halls are is much more to do with which block you happen to be in. Some just happen to be more, um, raucous than others.

I was allocated temporary shared accomodation last year and it was fine. In the end my roommate never turned up anyway and I stayed in Westwood. Looking back, I wouldn't have swapped it for another hall.
What a total overreaction! I timed the walk from campus to Westwood and it was 8 bloody minutes! This silly idea that Rootes is the party block is utter arse pie. The block I stayed in was bloody dead. It depends on the people you're with. You can't garentee a lively bunch of people!

"proper accommodation" is a bit harsh! I'm in Westwood this year, is it not "proper"? Just pretend accommodation or something? Chill.
Reply 10
Fair dos. I'm only going on what I've heard, which is now apparently ******** lol. I never understood the thing about blocks before, but it does make sense it does jiust depend on the block your in and the people in it. So I definately shouldn't worry about it then?
Reply 11
Westwood is brilliant, I didn't even live there but I still say that!
Reply 12
I'm staying in temporary, from what I've seen on Facebook there's gonna be loads of people in exactly the same position as us! I think we're all have a great time though - get to know the person we share with really well, and then get to go to new accommodation afterwards too.

I was just wondering though (this question is for someone whose been in this situation), do we have to share a bed, or is it sleeping on the floor or in bunk beds or what?!
ollienewth
I was just wondering though (this question is for someone whose been in this situation), do we have to share a bed, or is it sleeping on the floor or in bunk beds or what?!

Hahahah stupid question! :rolleyes:

It's obviously going to be 2 beds tbh, but I don't know about bunk beds/whatever.
Reply 14
ollienewth
...
I was just wondering though (this question is for someone whose been in this situation), do we have to share a bed, or is it sleeping on the floor or in bunk beds or what?!


You get two beds. The rooms are massive and are fairly spacious with the extra one anyway.
Reply 15
Haha ok thanks for that, also I was a bit worried that when I get there, I might be good friends with the people I share with and everything, but when I get to the permanent accommodation, won't their groups and stuff all be fixed by that point? Like if you go to a school a few weeks into term, you find it a hell of a lot harder?
Hi im starting at Warwick as a first year undergraduate and i havn't even been offered westwood!! i've been basically left to it by warwick to find my own accommodation but after ringing them, they said they can offer me a temporary room for £122 if i don't manage to find anywhere before i get there.

Are there other freshers who havn't been given anywhere and if so, what do you suggest we do because the accommodation people are no help!!

Mel