Hi!
I havent chosen yet!
Here's a msg I posted on another thread, I hope it helps!
"By the way, for all those who will eventually be applying for accommodation and stuff like that at Plymouth, I had the Residence Life Team on the phone the other day, and here's a summary of what they said:
- they're still renegotiating contracts with the halls providers, so the ones you see on the website are only the ones for this current year, and they might change by the time it's time for us to apply for them. (they do this every year to ensure that they get the best deals for their students, so the final list will be up when the application portal opens, which should be end of Feb / beginning of March)
- you need a 41 week contract, rather than a 40 week one. Also, there is a possibility to extend and stay over the summer holidays.
- move-in date for medics (and internationals) is 09/09/2017 (our induction week is earlier than everybody else's (who arrive on 16/09/2017), they have it the same week as freshers' (which is the same week for everyone)).
- they have a deal with the bus company whereby if you show your student card you get a discount (so you don't have to pay a fortune to get to and from the hospital / medical campus!). I think it applies to both a bus ticket and a bus pass (or whatever you call a bus "membership" card)
- I asked if they recommended some halls for medical students, but they said it doesn't really matter
- as for allocation, from what I understand you have to choose 5 rooms over 3 halls. But they can't guarantee that you will get your choice, as they consider it more important to try to match you up with similar profiles (they ask you for personality info on the profile to help them with that). Which isn't to say that they don't take any account of your choices, but if they have to choose between a good match for a flatmate and one of your choices, they'll go for the flatmate.
- on a similar note, I also asked if some halls are quieter than others (eg: from what I understand the student village is known to be the party place), but they said it really depends on the year. Also it's perfectly possible to have a quiet flat in overall loud halls, and a loud flat in overall quiet halls! (Although I read somewhere that they're thinking of in the future having one place only for quieter / mature students.)
- and finally, it's not first come first served. They really try to match you up with people with whom you are likely to get on well. So it doesn't matter if you apply on the first or the last day the portal is open, your chances are the same. That also means that if you apply on the first day that the portal is open, you won't hear back from them before the summer (July if you've got a place because you deferred last year, or August if you're taking A Levels this year)...
(speaking of which, how come it takes so long to get results for the A Levels? In France we get the results at the beginning of July!)
So I hope this helps you when the time comes for you to chose where you'll be living!"
Posted from TSR Mobile