Live alone in 3rd year?

This year I'm in 2nd year and I live with my four best friends (we're all girls). Our landlord came around last week and said we had to decide whether we were continuing our tenancy next year but one of my flat mates is doing a year abroad so we have to move. I'm almost 90% certain that one of the other girls is going to say that she's moving in with her boyfriend so that leaves me with the other two. My issue is that the other two want to move in with either three or five other girls that they're very close to (they assumed that I want to move in with them too). Although I do like the girls they want to move in with (although to be I don't know three out of the five possibles very well at all) I'm unsure of whether I want to be in a house of 6/8 people in my third year. I'm wondering instead whether to move into unite accommodation on my own. I have pros and cons for both options.
The Shared House

Con: I like my own space and I'm not sure whether being around so many people, some of whom I'm not completely comfortable around, might make me stressed or down.
Con: I work night shifts three/four nights a week and there's probably going to be quite a lot of noise in a house with so many people in during the day when I need to sleep.
Con: I'm in a LDR and he typically comes up to visit me for 5 days/7 days once every term. I know my best friends that I live with now are fine with this but I'm unsure of whether the other girls who I don't live with now would be.
Con: My uni workload is going to be even bigger next year. My 2 best friends who I could move into the 6/8 house with are resitting first year this year so they'll be second year when I'm third year. I'm the type of person who works at home, rather than in the library, so again I'm worried about the noise level/distraction of living with so many people.
Con: The house will probably be located near where the other girls live this year, which will be much further away from my workplace. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, but I often finish at 4am in the morning and I don't really want to be walking too far on my own at this time. A taxi would eat up an entire hour of my small wages.
Pro: I'll still get to have a good social life and be with my two best friends.

Unite Accommodation

Con: I feel like other people will think I'm living there because I had no friends to move in with.
Con: I don't know if I'll get lonely or not.
Con: My social life will definitely suffer.
Con: The cheapest option is one that has the layout of halls: with a corridor of rooms and a shared kitchen and bathroom. I got lucky with my flat mates in first year, but I heard some horror stories, and I'm scared that I could end up with nightmare corridor mates.
Pro: Cheaper. It's £20 per week cheaper than where I'm living this year and the contract is only 43 weeks so I won't be paying for the part of the summer holidays when I'm not there anyway.
Pro: I'll get my own space.

It's not like I can just move in with another group of people either: I don't know anyone on my course well enough and they're all staying with the people they live with this year anyway. I only really like two other people well enough to move in with them and one of them is 3rd year now so won't be here next year and one lives with loads of boys that I don't know very well.

If you were in my situation what would you do? Has any got any experience of Unite accommodation that they can fill me in on?

Reply 1

biffyclyro27

I would have said living on your own, as I did this in 3rd year after doing a placement year and most of my friends had already graduated. However, I had a studio flat with a kitchen, bathroom and main living/sleeping room which was great. What you are proposing doesn't really sound like living on your own, it just sounds like halls?

I may be wrong, but having your own room in a corridor with 8 other people who share a bathroom and kitchen does not sound like living on your own. You will also inevitably end up with first years who will probably be loader, messier and less considerate than 3rd year students in a house.

My advise would be, if you can find a block of student flats with it's own bathroom and kitchen that isn't too expensive, live on your own. Otherwise go for the shared house, or see if you can find any 2 bed flats nearby and share with one other person?

Reply 2

SlowlorisIncognito

I agree with the poster above. Living in unite accomadation is likely to lead to you mostly living with first years, who will be loud and inconsiderate of the level of work you'll have to do. It'll also be a similar size to the house you don't want to move into. In the house, I'm guessing everyone will be a 2nd/3rd year, and they will all have their own work to get on with and be a bit more considerate.

If you could afford a studio flat with its own kitchen/living area, I would say get one of those. However, these tend to be around £100 more expensive a month than rooms in shared houses, and you often have to pay all your own bills on top, whereas in a shared house some bills may be included in the rent.

I think the best thing to do would be to discuss it with your current housemates. There are a lot of maybes in your post- Maybe one girl will want to live with her boyfriend, maybe the other girls will want to move in with some other people. I would try and get a clearer picture of what they actually want to do. At this stage, you could also raise some of your concerns about living in a big shared house, and say you are going to look at alternatives too.

If they do want to move in with the other girls, you could also organise a meeting with them, to ask about things like having your boyfriend over. I'm sure they will have issues they want to raise too.