University of Worcester Halls of Residence – How to choose what’s right for you!

Living away from home is part of the university experience, but how do you know which accommodation is going to suit you?

Before I actually accepted and put down my firm choice for the Drama & Performance course at Worcester, I’d visited the campus on an Open Day and had seen the accommodation for myself. This was really important to me as I wanted to ensure that I could actively see myself being a student at Worcester and all that that entailed.

At the University of Worcester, there’s a range of living accommodation available. With over 1,000 single-occupancy rooms across campuses, there’s contemporary accommodation to suit a variety of budgets and needs.

From post-graduate houses to university managed first-year houses to really super fancy halls of residence with beds as big as the moon (slight exaggeration) and flat screen TV’s in communal areas; there really is something for everyone.

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to visit the University yet, but are still looking to apply for accommodation, my advice would be to do your research.

There are accommodation guides on the website and some really in depth blog posts by Graduate student Becki and ex-student Dina about their experiences for you to take a look at. Also, apply early!

The sooner you get your application in, the more likely you are to get your first-choice accommodation preference.

A huge factor for me when looking at accommodation was money; what could I afford?

Overall, I genuinely found the cost of University halls to be reasonable given the facilities and extra benefits.

Things like cheap on-site launderettes, possessions insurance and free gym membership at both the University gyms (newly fitted equipment with TV screens and everything!) were real added extras and made a huge difference to my stay.

I quickly found myself weighing up my options as to whether my student finance would stretch to cover the cost of en-suite accommodation or not.

Though I loved the thought of having my own bathroom, I decided that the extra money would come in handy elsewhere so opted to stay in ‘standard-plus’ accommodation.

Growing up, I was an active member of both Girl-Guiding and Scouting UK and so I’m used to mucking in and going camping etc. so I wasn’t particularly worried about having to share a bathroom with five soon-to-be flatmates (not that I imagined it to be anything like camping!)

I really liked the fact that my bedroom had a washbasin in; it came in handy for things like brushing my teeth and doing my make-up. The fact that halls of residence were all within a very short walking distance of the university itself also made a huge difference.

I loved the fact that if I wanted to get up at 8:30 am for my 9:15 am lecture I could and still grab breakfast on the way (Not that I’d recommend doing that regularly, of course!)

The key is to figure out what you can afford and what’s best for your individual needs. I spent a lot of time with friends who lived in various halls and its 100% about what you make it!

I have many fond memories of my first year and I’d recommend it to any prospective student.