Accommodation allocation

Original post by pricey26

Hi,
I have an offer from Leeds at the moment, which I am considering. I was just wondering how often people get their 1st choice accommodation? And how exactly do you allocate the rooms, if you've got too many people applying for that specific place?
Thanks.

Thanks for your question. Overall, around 75% of those applying for accommodation by the deadline (1st July) get their first choice of accommodation. However, this isn't an even spread - someone who puts on of the lower demand residences is almost definitely going to get a place there; someone who puts one of the highest demand residences may have as little as a 25% chance, depending on the numbers of people who've applied for it in a particular year.

In terms of how the rooms are allocated (you're going to be sorry you've asked this!) - I've spoken to the Accommodation Office and here's the long reply!

So, to make sure that we have the right mixture of students in each Hall of Residence, every room that we have is assigned a certain number of characteristics - things such as whether it's male, female or can be either, whether it's in a mixed sex or single sex flat, quiet or not quiet, contact time for the course, international students, UK students or a mix, age of student etc etc. This means that the students living there are likely to get on well (e.g. we don't end up with one hall that's 90% female and 10% male, there's a flat where 7 people have said they're noisy and stay up really later, and 1 person is quieter and prefers an early night, and so that we can accommodate for things like single sex flats for those that need/prefer it). Some of these characteristics are mandatory, the rest are discretionary.

All this is input into our computer programme, along with the details of everyone who has applied for accommodation. With an oversubscribed hall, the computer will try and find people who picked that hall who match the characteristics for a particular room exactly. Then if there's nobody who does, it will look for the best fit (match all mandatory and as many discretionary as possible). And it will do that for every room until all available rooms are filled or until there's nobody who even remotely matches the characteristics.

Together with the Warden for the hall, we will then fine tune it, moving people about as appropriate and filling the gaps if we can see that someone could fit somewhere (so if a flat is meant to be 3/3 male/female but there were no boys left we might make it 4 female/2 male). So that's basically it - we will also have reserved some rooms e.g. for people with medical conditions and will slot those in manually.

We do our best to give people what they've put as their preference but if more people pick it than there are places available, clearly some are going to be disappointed.

So once an oversubscribed hall has been filled, the computer looks at the people who haven't got a place there and tries to match them with rooms in other halls, looking at the type of accommodation (catered/self-catered/studio) and what they have put as their important features. But, for example, if everyone has put "close to campus" as very important, but we only have rooms left in the not so close halls, then we can't take account of that.

I would say, though, that almost everyone really likes their hall once they've moved in - no, it might not be what you put as your preference but you'll make lots of friends and have a good time. And at the end of the day, it's who you live with that's most important anyway.

Congratulations if you've read through to the end of this!

Amanda

University of Leeds

Leeds

Reply 2

pricey26

Wow, thanks very much. That's a great help!

Reply 3

Plus, if you don't really like your halls/flat, you can put a swaps notice on the board in the student services centre, and then go on the room transfer list. If any vacancies become available, you may be contacted. That's what I did, now I'm in the best halls :wink:

Reply 4

Crumpet1

I think it's really comforting that so much thought goes into allocating rooms in a way that should result in people finding friends. Does every university do this?

Reply 5

Many will have a similar system, but Leeds way is pretty good. However, it didn't initially work out for me :wink:

Reply 6

Original post by Crumpet1

I think it's really comforting that so much thought goes into allocating rooms in a way that should result in people finding friends. Does every university do this?

I can't speak for other universities, but we do try our hardest to match students to the right halls and the right flatmates :smile:

Obviously we can't get it 100% right all the time, but like others have said, if after a few weeks you're really not happy with your room, we will try our best to help you swap to somewhere better.

I'd recommend that you come along to our Accommodation Viewing Day on Saturday 27th April. If you've visited on an Open Day, you'll only have seen a very small selection of our halls. On Viewing Day, all our halls are open and we run free shuttle buses between them and the campus. You'll also be able to talk to the students living in them this year, to find out what they like about the halls :smile:

Reply 7

Original post by University of Leeds

You'll also be able to talk to the students living in them this year, to find out what they like about the halls :smile:

How can students get involved with this? I'd love to talk about mine...

Reply 8

Original post by dominicjohnson

How can students get involved with this? I'd love to talk about mine...

Speak to the staff at your Halls in the new year - they'll be able to give you information :smile:

Reply 9

Original post by University of Leeds

Speak to the staff at your Halls in the new year - they'll be able to give you information :smile:

Cool, thanks :smile:

Reply 10

pricey26

Original post by University of Leeds

Speak to the staff at your Halls in the new year - they'll be able to give you information :smile:

Hi, me again! I was just wondering if you'd be able to tell me which residences are usually quite popular? For example, I like the look of Lupton. Is this a popular choice/how likely is it i would get it?
Thanks

Reply 11

Original post by pricey26

Lupton is quite far out, and if you apply to it, you'll almost be guaranteed to get it (Official Leeds poster should confirm this)

The most popular ones are Charles Morris (where i am :wink:

), Henry Price, Central Village, and other on-campus ones like Lyddon.

Reply 12

pricey26

Original post by dominicjohnson

Lupton is quite far out, and if you apply to it, you'll almost be guaranteed to get it (Official Leeds poster should confirm this)

The most popular ones are Charles Morris (where i am :wink:

), Henry Price, Central Village, and other on-campus ones like Lyddon.

Ah brilliant! It's mainly the price which is appealing :rolleyes:

Do you know anything about Lupton or know if it's good?

Reply 13

Original post by pricey26

Ah brilliant! It's mainly the price which is appealing :rolleyes:

Do you know anything about Lupton or know if it's good?

My brother was at Lupton. He said the rooms are a decent size and the atmosphere is good. However, the massive downside is it's really far away (30 minutes walk?). I love living on campus but it's personal taste really.

Reply 14

Hi - there's no straight answer on whether you're likely to get into a certain hall (as above) - but Lupton isn't as popular as some of the other self-catered halls like Henry Price and Central Village.

Lupton is about 30minutes walk from the campus - that might sound far, but on the way you go past other halls (Devonshire, James Baillie) and areas where students not in uni accommodation live (Headingley and Hyde Park), there are always people walking back and forth. If walking really isn't your thing, there are regular buses along the main road between Lupton and campus, lots of students buy a week or term rider which gives you unlimited travel. Like dominicjohnson says - it's a personal taste as to whether you want to be on campus or not. I lived at Oxley which is about 3-4miles from campus, but I liked having that seperation - being on campus 24/7 would have been too much for me, but friends did it and loved it!

Lupton is in Headingley, if you're into Cricket - it's where Yorkshire CCC is, or for Rugby Fans, both Leeds Rhinos (League) and Leeds Carnegie (Union) play there too. There are lots of shops, bars and cafe's in Headingley, it's a really buzzing place. After first year, lots of students move into private rented accommodation in Headingley.

Take a look on the accommodation website where you can see photos, maps and more information about Lupton: http://accommodation.leeds.ac.uk/info/200180/lupton_residences/63/about_lupton

Again - I'd really recommend that you visit on the Accommodation Viewing Day on the 27th April 2013. You'll be able to see all the residences and chat to the students, it's the best way to find out which hall is right for you :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

chocolateorange111

I've applied to Liberty Dock and have an unconditional offer (if that makes a difference). How likely am I to get in? :smile:

Reply 16