Sharing student accommodation with older people?

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

Perfectly normal. You aren't at school any more, 1 or 2 years age difference is irrelevant.

Reply 2

ageshallnot

Original post by Anonymous

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

You might need to help them if their Zimmer frames get stuck in the doors... 😆

Reply 3

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

Hi,

while it may be a bit of a surprise, sharing a flat with students of different ages is very common. The assignment of people to flats can be based on factors which exclude age and not everyone goes from sixth form/collage into uni so there are quite a few freashers who aren't 18. You'll likely find that there is not that many differences between you all. often people end up forgeting about the age difference once they get to know each other.

I hope this comes as a reassurance to you
Matthew
Student Ambassador

Reply 4

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

Hi there,

Yes, as others have said this is very common. Lots of people have gap years so lots of people do tend to start uni when they are 19/20 and go into halls! When you are at uni, 2 years doesn't feel like an age gap and you won't notice it at all so don't worry about this.

I was in the opposite situation to you- I started uni after 2 gap years so I was 20 and I was a bit worried abut living with all 18 year olds but I didn't need to worry at all as there was no difference between me and others and there was a mixture of ages in the end which was nice! You will probably find that lots of people on your course are 18,19,20,21 so you will end up making friends with a people who are a range of ages.

I hope this helps :smile:

Lucy -SHU student ambassador.

Reply 5

Kingston Reps

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

My flat consists of an 18 (me), 19 and 20 year old students. Is this normal? It makes me worried that I wouldn’t be able to socialise as easy with them. Anybody else have or been in this situation?

Hi!

This situation is perfectly normal - and although it can seem a bit intimidating at first, you'll be surprised how little it comes up once you get to know each other a bit! Living in a first year flat with a 1-2 year age gap between flatmates is fairly standard at university, whether that's through some students taking gap years, resitting their A-Levels or being able to attend university at a younger age than others in the UK (primarily Scottish students). Regardless of age, most people just want to settle in to their new environment and get along with their flatmates - and a 1-2 year age difference certainly won't stop this. 🙂

Best of luck with university!
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 6

University of Bath

Official Rep

Hi anon,

Echoing the above - perfectly normal. My best friends at uni when I started when I was 18 were 21, 22 and 25, all having started later than aged 18, and it didn't feel strange at all. In fact their experiences of gap years, work and having studied before actually taught me a lot. You have way more in common than you do differences. At the end of the day you're all just new students, in the same boat navigating a brand new place and here to experience university and take on the next steps towards your futures. A few years between you I'm sure you will find will make little to no difference to your experience.

Best of luck :smile:

Holly
University of Bath