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Arriving at uni accom

sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Reply 1

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Your uni will usually schedule arrival days as part of freshers week.

Reply 2

Chronoscope

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

if you're going to be in university halls then the start date will probably have the move-in date written in the contract.
at my uni they have 'friday intake', 'saturday intake', or 'sunday intake' depending on which type of halls your moving into

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 3

martin7

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

If your accomodation is purpose-built student accommodation, it's likely you'll be allocated (or possibly be able to choose) an arrival slot. This is done to spread out arrivals so that they don't get swamped by everyone arriving at once.

If you're a new students, typically you'd arrive on the Saturday or Sunday before "Fresher's Week" (the term used varies between universities).

If you're moving into a shared house, then when you arrive would be determined by when your contract starts.

Reply 4

YSJstudents

Official Rep

Hey

I lived in student halls in my first year and moved in on the Friday before freshers' week. This gave me time to sort my room out and meet my housemates before freshers' week began

Rebecca YSJ Student Ambassador :smile:

Reply 5

jonathanemptage

At my uni you could move in from Wednesday before freshers week but most people do it on Saturday or Sunday unless your coming from far away where I can see moving in early might be easier.

Reply 6

StudentRoost Rep

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hi there,
In most cases, accommodation check in dates are usually the weekend before freshers. However, for private accommodations it can be sooner which is great if you'd like more time to settle in. It may also not necessarily be a fixed date, if you'd like to check in before your tenancy start date then I'd recommend contacting your accommodation provider and ask if this is possible. Plus, some students choose not to check in until after their tenancy start date.

It may be that your accommodation provider asks you to fill in a form to say what time you'll be arriving. This is usually just to stagger/manage the amount of students moving in at once. It depends on personal preference but I always liked to check in early in the day - just to give myself time to adjust and get all my belongings unpacked. This may not be possible if you're travelling from far away so check in whenever suits you.

Hope this helps!

- Sophie

Reply 7

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hey there @sh_1205 !
It depends on when your tenancy starts. If you apply privately then you can usually move in the week before freshers week. If you apply through the uni then you usually move in the day that freshers week starts. Even if you apply privately you can move in whenever you want. I would personally recommend arriving as early in the morning as you can just purely because everyone will start to park later in the day and you'll struggle to find a car parking spot closest to the accommodation. Your accommodation will usually contact you closer to the time to book a move-in slot. I moved in at 9AM the week before freshers week which was more quiet because not everyone had moved in but it helped because I had the week to myself to look around the city and get to know where everything is.

Hope this helped!
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU

Reply 8

University of Kent Reps

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hi there

This really depends on how long you want to give yourself to settle in before freshers week. Your uni will likely let you know term dates soon and this will give you the start date for term and for freshers week (usually the week before term). I would say that most people tend to move in the weekend before freshers week. This gives you enough time to have a couple of days to unpack and meet people before any of the main freshers events. You can obviously move in earlier if you wish but for the most part unis tend to be pretty empty anytime before this and a lot of campus facilities are usually closed. Check moving in dates with your uni before as a lot of unis will give you a moving in slot or ask you to book one. Hope this helps

Best wishes

Joanna
-Uni of Kent Rep

Reply 9

UCLan Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hi there @sh_1205, :smile:

Your uni will contact you with all the detail for freshers week. Once you know when freshers is you can decide how much time you want to give yourself to settle in, most people move in the week before freshers but moving in earlier can give you more time settle in and get to know the area you will be living in. You will also need to check with your accommodation from when you can move in.

Hope this helps :smile:

Sarah

Reply 10

CardiffUni Rep

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hi there

Current Cardiff Uni student here!

I moved into my first-year accommodation 5 days before freshers' week. We received an email that we had to book our key collection time within a certain time frame. The process is usually quite easy and straightforward. I would suggest trying to arrive towards the beginning of the time frame to give you more time to settle in, and, if you can, arrive in the late morning/ early afternoon so you have plenty of time to actually move your things in, go shopping etc

Hope this helps

Jaz - Cardiff Uni Rep

Reply 11

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by sh_1205

How many days early before the start of term do people usually arrive for uni?

What time do you recommend to arrive?

Hello,
It depends on yourself but I recommend you arrive a few days before probably a week or anytime you accommodation contract starts, you can take become familiar with buildings and bus stops and other things plus you won't miss the freshers week. It's also not bad to come after school resumes if you weren't able to sort out all documents on time. Personally, I arrived almost a month after Uni had resumed but it wasn't so bad mostly because it was not my first time going to uni and I had a sibling to help me.

Benedicta
Digital Student Ambassador UoS.

Reply 12

backstreetboyz

should i apply for accomodation with my insurance choice?

Reply 13

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by backstreetboyz

should i apply for accomodation with my insurance choice?

Hey there @backstreetboyz !
As a rule of thumb, I would suggest not applying for accommodation at your insurance choice and only applying for it at your firm as of right now. After results day, you can then think about applying for your insurance if you don't end up going for your firm. I don't think many universities will let you apply for their accommodation if you don't yet have them as your firm choice. That was definitely true of my experience when applying. Once you confirm with UCAS on results day where you'll be going, they usually process your accommodation application a couple of days after that. In some instances you find out straight away whether you've got your first accommodation choice.

Hope this helped!
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU