shared accommodation

[Laura]

Hi, I've just received an offer from St A's, and have only today found out about the high proportion of shared rooms, and the fact that they all go to 1st years. I can find no information on the website, nor the prospectus, as to how these rooms are allocated. Due to the obvious problems of this I was looking for and insight from any students there as to chances of getting a shared room, and if it is as bad as I imagine. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as this could well play a key part in which Uni I decide on! Also, if anyone has any comments on whether they're enjoying there time at St Andrews would also be very helpful.

Thanks a lot!!!

[Thalia]

I think i remember reading that in most of the catered halls, if you're first year, you can assume that you're gonna end up sharing...

I dunno how true that is though cos i wanted self-catering and the self-catering places are all single rooms so i didn't pay much attention to the shared room thing... ^^;;

Sorry if that doesn't help much...but since there weren't any replies i figured i'd say something ^_-

[hr][s]A Question
A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.
---Robert Frost[/s]

[Precious]

Whether sharing a room is bad really depends on how well you get along with your roommate. Sure there are horror stories but a lot of roommates do get along really well. from what i remember of accommodation forms when I applied you state your waking hours so they should avoid putting you with someone whose hours are wildly different to yours, also smokers and non smokers don't generally share. You can refuse to share a room by putting a reason on your form but this means you are likely to get Melville, a hall with no shared rooms and not a great reputation! I shared a room in first year and my biggest complaint was the size of the room - it was really too small to be a shared room. That's quite unusual though from what I remember of other shared rooms I've seen.

[hr]Teeth! Teeth, my preciousss, but we has only six!

[Laura]

" You can refuse to share a room by putting a reason on your form but this means you are likely to get Melville, a hall with no shared rooms and not a great reputation! "

thanks for the reply - I fear I'm sounding like an unsocial cow - but it's really not that!! Simply the practicalities of wanting to do different things. I just received the accomodation brochure and it says reasons not to share, like you say - but what reason do they mean. And what is wrong with Melville.

[Peaches]

[/i] from what i remember of accommodation forms when I applied you state your waking hours so they should avoid putting you with someone whose hours are wildly different to yours, also smokers and non smokers don't generally share. [/i]

Just a warning... I'm quite a nocturnal person, which I stated on my accomodation form for hall. The girl who ended up sharing a room with me had put on her form details of the way she imagined her life would be when she was at university rather than anything that remotely resembled the way she'd lived up until that point. She was studying all day whilst I was socialising and trying to sleep at night whilst I was... well, socialising. And yes, that was sometimes in our shared bedroom (which I concede, years later, was possibly more than a little selfish). Needless to say, living together ended up so stressful that, by Christmas, she'd asked me to move out, and I found another room in the same hall. We both ended up much happier and are friends now, but the point I wanted to make is that, since you're probably going to end up sharing a room, and this teeny form is really your only way of being matched up with a compatible room-mate, be realistic about the details you write down, or you could end up with someone as horrid as me. Good luck!

[Peaches]

And not to impugn Peaches's good reputation... this isn't her, I'm just using her computer.

[android]

Hi, Laura. I was in melville in 1st year and found it perfectly good. It's friendly and the rooms are a good size (plus everyone has a single room, so there are no gooseberry situations), also friendly. I was given a single room because I snore sometimes but often sleepwalk, so there's one reason right there.

[hr]Isn't it weird when the signature is longer than the message? This won't be one o' those.

[alexander]

I'm hopefully coming to St. Andrews this year (gotta get AAB though) and put that I have some kind of snoring problem - which is perfectly true, or so I've been told. Even if you put a reason on your form like I did, I presume there's a chance that you might end up sharing anyway? There must be some people who have to. Does anyone know how likely this is? Thanks.

[Guest]

Sharing really isnt that bad. My main worry was what if you wanted someone to, ahem, stay the night and you had a room mate - well you really do get round it somehow! People work out solutions.
If you get on, having a room mate gives you a friend for life. And if you dont, you learn a lot of patience

[Midget]

Threesome?

[Tweedle-Dum]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 22:33, 7th Jul 2004:
Sharing really isnt that bad. My main worry was what if you wanted someone to, ahem, stay the night and you had a room mate - well you really do get round it somehow! People work out solutions.
If you get on, having a room mate gives you a friend for life. And if you dont, you learn a lot of patience




I noticed that the only times I ever wanted to bring someone back to my room, my roommate was there. Every other night he was out getting stoned. I think he planned it.

[lol!]

lol! u must have been there before right Midget!?!?!?!

[Midget]

I wish! The closest I got was letting two girls stay in my room mates bed when he was away.

[Simon Atkins]

Just reeading from the Accomdation website: In catered accomodation there are 1003 single room bed spaces and 522 double room spaces. All returing students will be in single rooms which reduces the number available for first years but you can get an idea of how things are.

[Midget]

But in addition a lot of returning students who go into Uni Accommodation are in self-catering, particularly so this year with most catered halls taking fewer returning students, and quite a large number of retuning students going to DRA.

[MikeyS]

I lived with roomates for 3 years in the states, and it was fine for the most part. The girl thing was the biggest problem really, cause even if you have an agreement, your buddy can't always just stay outside for hours on end...

I'd personally say, try to find someone for roomate that you party with. That way the sleeping times aren't a problem.

[Tom]

Its weird this year cos I asked for a shared room, as a 1st year I was expecting one but I've been given a single in St Salvators which I gather didnt happen before this year so I guess i was pretty lucky