When did you/do you apply for accommodation? Not necessarily halls

Hey guys, this is going to be a long post - apologies. However, I do hope that writing a long post might cover a lot of questions that others have in their heads, so hopefully this can be a resource for others too.
I'm 25 and a mature student applying to various foundation years that can lead to computer science. As of the UCAS deadline, I have received two offers from Nottingham and Birmingham. Out of those two, I'd choose Nottingham personally. I applied to Loughborough, Bristol, Durham and UCL otherwise. I have 6 choices because Bristol's foundation applications are separate to UCAS.
Because I work in finance & hope to continue that, I have made my choices based on the investment banking 'targets'. I don't want to work in IB (as it's sales), but I thought it was a good rough guide for what a 'good' university is. (Personally, I don't care where I study. I find 'rankings' very snobbish. It's employers who care - just wanted to state that here).
So, if I was making a decision purely on ranking, then obviously UCL would be the 'best' one. However, Durham, Bristol and Nottingham are roughly equal semi-targets, with Durham having the slight edge. Then Loughborough and Bham are weaker semi-targets.
However, from a cost perspective, Nottingham & Loughborough are probably the best and UCL & Bristol are the worst. I especially like that, with Nottingham and Loughborough, there are private halls for very decent prices for the full year. I've rented from a private landlord before in a HMO and I had a terrible experience with bullying from other housemates and the landlord.
So, personally I found that Nottingham was the perfect balance between cost/hassle and 'ranking'. Plus, they were very warm to me when I reached out to them and UCL is pretty standoffish.
For me, the choice is between Nottingham and UCL, maybe Durham. The difference between attending Nottingham versus Durham doesn't seem worth the hassle of a private landlord, cost of private halls or travel time from more affordable halls in the next city. The difference between attending Nottingham and UCL is worth considering though. There are significant downsides to going to UCL however:
- I'd have to live in a dorm of 6 to afford it. I've lived at this place before and it was pleasant, but not ideal ofc.
- Then there's the chance that all these spaces could be filled up, but it's unlikely as there are many locations that are huge.
- The most significant issue for me with UCL is that it'll be much harder to get a first than at Nottingham. I'm applying to a foundation having never coded before. I took Bio, Chem and Psychology in 2018 and achieved AAA. People applying to UCL by the regular route have A*A*A or even A*A*A* in Maths, Computer Science, etc. I'm not sure I can compete with them, especially if I planned to have a part-time job.
- And then not getting a first would impact where you can study at PG (I pretty much have to do a masters at some point for the field I want to go into). I'm sure Oxbridge would be out of the question even if they 'only' ask for a strong 2.1, because of competition.
- So I probably would forgo having a part-time job, especially in year 3 and 4, which sucks.
Now these are the pros of going to Nottingham:
- I can have a room to myself, potentially even a studio to myself.
- Personally, I HATED living in London. Nottingham is a much more appealing location to me. I'm from the countryside in Devon.
- I could potentially get everything sorted out now and have peace of mind.
- Getting a first is much more feasible, since you need AAA-AAA* to get into Computer Science at Nottingham by the regular route.
- Therefore, I think I could comfortable have a 10-16 hour part time job.
- The field I want to go into values technical abilities far more than alma mater, especially mid-career. It's overkill to compare myself to investment banking rankings.
- I've worked at the Bank of England as a trainee economist. I probably have the work experience to bridge the gap between being a target graduate and a semi-target graduate.
- I have to do a masters at some point anyway, so I could 'override' going to Nottingham at UG by going to a target uni at PG.
- You have to do an interview for UCL, whereas I'm ready to go for Nottingham. I've done two assessment centres before and the second one got me the job at the BoE. Having to brush up on GCSE maths will suck though, but very doable. However, going to London for the interview will be a hassle.
Considerations:
- I don't care for having a 'social life', partying, s*x. I don't have the time or inclination for it. Only grades matter to me.
- I don't mind sharing a dorm, because I have issues where I find it hard to sleep alone, even with the light on, after stupidly watching horror movies. There are pros and cons to having one room versus a dorm for me personally therefore.
- I worked at the BoE as a trainee economist on their degree apprenticeship. I had to take long-term sickness after the first year due to PTSD. I've phoned student finance and they said I would be absolutely fine because you get the length of the course + a gift year, and all of the foundations are integrated into these courses.
- Ideally, I'd like to be able to rent for 48+ weeks, because I've heard it can be difficult to get a job at university only during term times. It's apparently rare to find a campus job or a job that lets you transfer between home and university. I'll try to find a job with the transfer option of course, but I'm not holding out for it.
- I will get the full maintenance loan.
- My parents can't contribute much. They certainly won't be able to help with accommodation. They might be able to pay for food and travel.
I've asked this before on Reddit and all I got back was "why are you doing a degree when you had an apprenticeship." I tried to explain to them that I am autistic and I got treated extremely badly so I don't want to return. I don't like telling people that I was SA'd by an older man there and I'm on long-term sickness leave for PTSD, but I'll put that here now. Please don't try to convince me to continue on with it. I have Asperger's; I've learned that it's impossible to have a career surrounded by neurotypical people. I want to work in tech because it seems like the only place I'm allowed to be me. I'm also glad that I'm dropping out of economics to do tech for career reasons. Paying for it is not an issue for me. Having your education tied to working with neurotypicals as an autistic person is a living nightmare.
So yes, going back to the overarching questions:
- When did you look into accommodation? Not necessarily halls
- Do you think it's better to go to Nottingham with a better chance of a First or UCL where I'll most likely get a 2.1?
- How did you handle waiting out for a long time for some universities while having offers early from others?

Hey guys, this is going to be a long post - apologies. However, I do hope that writing a long post might cover a lot of questions that others have in their heads, so hopefully this can be a resource for others too.
I'm 25 and a mature student applying to various foundation years that can lead to computer science. As of the UCAS deadline, I have received two offers from Nottingham and Birmingham. Out of those two, I'd choose Nottingham personally. I applied to Loughborough, Bristol, Durham and UCL otherwise. I have 6 choices because Bristol's foundation applications are separate to UCAS.
Because I work in finance & hope to continue that, I have made my choices based on the investment banking 'targets'. I don't want to work in IB (as it's sales), but I thought it was a good rough guide for what a 'good' university is. (Personally, I don't care where I study. I find 'rankings' very snobbish. It's employers who care - just wanted to state that here).
So, if I was making a decision purely on ranking, then obviously UCL would be the 'best' one. However, Durham, Bristol and Nottingham are roughly equal semi-targets, with Durham having the slight edge. Then Loughborough and Bham are weaker semi-targets.
However, from a cost perspective, Nottingham & Loughborough are probably the best and UCL & Bristol are the worst. I especially like that, with Nottingham and Loughborough, there are private halls for very decent prices for the full year. I've rented from a private landlord before in a HMO and I had a terrible experience with bullying from other housemates and the landlord.
So, personally I found that Nottingham was the perfect balance between cost/hassle and 'ranking'. Plus, they were very warm to me when I reached out to them and UCL is pretty standoffish.
For me, the choice is between Nottingham and UCL, maybe Durham. The difference between attending Nottingham versus Durham doesn't seem worth the hassle of a private landlord, cost of private halls or travel time from more affordable halls in the next city. The difference between attending Nottingham and UCL is worth considering though. There are significant downsides to going to UCL however:
- I'd have to live in a dorm of 6 to afford it. I've lived at this place before and it was pleasant, but not ideal ofc.
- Then there's the chance that all these spaces could be filled up, but it's unlikely as there are many locations that are huge.
- The most significant issue for me with UCL is that it'll be much harder to get a first than at Nottingham. I'm applying to a foundation having never coded before. I took Bio, Chem and Psychology in 2018 and achieved AAA. People applying to UCL by the regular route have A*A*A or even A*A*A* in Maths, Computer Science, etc. I'm not sure I can compete with them, especially if I planned to have a part-time job.
- And then not getting a first would impact where you can study at PG (I pretty much have to do a masters at some point for the field I want to go into). I'm sure Oxbridge would be out of the question even if they 'only' ask for a strong 2.1, because of competition.
- So I probably would forgo having a part-time job, especially in year 3 and 4, which sucks.
Now these are the pros of going to Nottingham:
- I can have a room to myself, potentially even a studio to myself.
- Personally, I HATED living in London. Nottingham is a much more appealing location to me. I'm from the countryside in Devon.
- I could potentially get everything sorted out now and have peace of mind.
- Getting a first is much more feasible, since you need AAA-AAA* to get into Computer Science at Nottingham by the regular route.
- Therefore, I think I could comfortable have a 10-16 hour part time job.
- The field I want to go into values technical abilities far more than alma mater, especially mid-career. It's overkill to compare myself to investment banking rankings.
- I've worked at the Bank of England as a trainee economist. I probably have the work experience to bridge the gap between being a target graduate and a semi-target graduate.
- I have to do a masters at some point anyway, so I could 'override' going to Nottingham at UG by going to a target uni at PG.
- You have to do an interview for UCL, whereas I'm ready to go for Nottingham. I've done two assessment centres before and the second one got me the job at the BoE. Having to brush up on GCSE maths will suck though, but very doable. However, going to London for the interview will be a hassle.
Considerations:
- I don't care for having a 'social life', partying, s*x. I don't have the time or inclination for it. Only grades matter to me.
- I don't mind sharing a dorm, because I have issues where I find it hard to sleep alone, even with the light on, after stupidly watching horror movies. There are pros and cons to having one room versus a dorm for me personally therefore.
- I worked at the BoE as a trainee economist on their degree apprenticeship. I had to take long-term sickness after the first year due to PTSD. I've phoned student finance and they said I would be absolutely fine because you get the length of the course + a gift year, and all of the foundations are integrated into these courses.
- Ideally, I'd like to be able to rent for 48+ weeks, because I've heard it can be difficult to get a job at university only during term times. It's apparently rare to find a campus job or a job that lets you transfer between home and university. I'll try to find a job with the transfer option of course, but I'm not holding out for it.
- I will get the full maintenance loan.
- My parents can't contribute much. They certainly won't be able to help with accommodation. They might be able to pay for food and travel.
I've asked this before on Reddit and all I got back was "why are you doing a degree when you had an apprenticeship." I tried to explain to them that I am autistic and I got treated extremely badly so I don't want to return. I don't like telling people that I was SA'd by an older man there and I'm on long-term sickness leave for PTSD, but I'll put that here now. Please don't try to convince me to continue on with it. I have Asperger's; I've learned that it's impossible to have a career surrounded by neurotypical people. I want to work in tech because it seems like the only place I'm allowed to be me. I'm also glad that I'm dropping out of economics to do tech for career reasons. Paying for it is not an issue for me. Having your education tied to working with neurotypicals as an autistic person is a living nightmare.
So yes, going back to the overarching questions:
- When did you look into accommodation? Not necessarily halls
- Do you think it's better to go to Nottingham with a better chance of a First or UCL where I'll most likely get a 2.1?
- How did you handle waiting out for a long time for some universities while having offers early from others?