Choosing your Accommodation at Warwick

With the choice to stay on main campus or in the Lakeside Village or Westwood, deciding where you want to live in first year is a tough decision especially when you have yet to know your flatmates. At Warwick there are 14 different accommodations to choose from, each varying tremendously.

Price- One important thing to consider is how much you would like to spend on your accommodation. With prices varying from £77 to £198, it is important to choose somewhere where you are comfortable paying for rent. This means taking into consideration the cost of food per week and any additional costs you make.

Ensuite?- There are seven ensuites, and seven shared bathrooms so there are so many choices to choose from if you prefer one or the other. However, you can only pick three ensuite accommodations on the form so its a good idea to choose the ones you really like and be sure about those choices. For me, who lives in Rootes, I share a bathroom with around 3 other people and I haven’t minded the experience at all. However, if you would prefer your own bathroom keep in mind that that these tend to be the more expensive accommodations.

Central campus or in a village?- Eight of the accommodations are in central campus. This means they are in close range of pretty much all you need, including the library, the learning grid, Rootes grocery etc. On the other hand, Cryfield village isn’t too far from central campus and is just across the round about near the piazza. The Lakeside Village is quite a quiet part of campus, close to the sports centre and around a 10 minute walk to central campus. However, this time adds on when it is a 15 minute walk from central campus to Tesco. Westwood is located super closely to Tesco and is quite isolated so determining what your priorities and where you would like to be is key.

How many people?- Determining how many people you want to share with will also determine which accommodation will suit you. For example, Rootes has the biggest amount of people per kitchen whilst Bluebell, and a few other accommodations only have 8. If you are more of a social person and want to live with more people, living with more people means you can make friends more easily. However, if you would like a quieter environment a smaller kitchen is probably best. Also, if you have a larger flat it’s likely that it will be a lot louder and there will probably be quite a few parties in the block. If you like to party and don’t mind being in a buzzing environment most of the time, going for an accommodation with more people might be for you.

How many weeks of rent?- Most of the contracts for Warwick accommodation is 40 weeks however some of them are only 35 weeks. That means during Easter those with a 35 week let will have to go home. Though it does mean that the rent for the whole year is slightly reduced because of this. Make sure to double check how many weeks of rent you will be paying for because that was something I wasn’t aware of completely before applying for Warwick’s halls.

Whatever halls you do end up in, it will still be amazing. With friends from all differed accommodations, they have all ended up loving where they are and have made amazing friends with their flatmates.