Leaving accommodation 'til August

whynothey

DCU is my first choice but I'm not 100% that I'll get the points and could end up getting my 2nd or 3rd choice, both of which are different colleges. As a result I plan on leaving accommodation until August because I don't want to pay circa €250 deposits for 3 diff. colleges! (and yes I know you get most back if you don't go)

Aaaanyway, my real question, do many people leave accommodation that late? Will there be decent/reasonably priced accommodation left?

Also, I obviously wont be applying to campus as a result, do many 1st years live off campus/would my initial social life suffer a bit as a result?

I apologise for the length of this post but thanks in advance!

ustari

You will be fine if you get cracking right away following the results/offers imo.

There will be competition and some absolute chancers of landlords though.

sarahguitar92

Your social life won't suffer at all, I'd say there are just as many first years living off campus as on. I lived on campus in first year, but I think there were only about two or three others on my course who did as well, the others all lived off campus.

iiHyPeRize

Living on campus sucks from what I've heard, plus it's very expensive - not to mention the amount of restrictions you have. If you want to let a friend stay, you have to register them the day before.. etc.. you can't just return from a night out with a random person to let them stay as security won't let them in.

Very few actually know they're going to DCU and therefore the majority wait until August to look for accommodation, so you'll be fine if you get looking as soon as you get your results, or offers.

There are a number of specifically student accommodations around the DCU area, which are similar to campus (you have a room, and share a kitchen with 3 others) They tend to be more laid back than campus as rules aren't enforced as much as they are on campus. Problem with these types of accommodations is that they can be far enough away from DCU - 'Gateway' and 'Hazelwood' are the two you'd be looking at. Gateway is in the town of Ballymun, about 5-10 minutes from DCU. Hazelwood is quite a bit away, about 35 minute walk to DCU.

Of course there are other options such as house sharing. Probably the cheapest option in terms of rent, but you have to sort out bills and stuff yourself. Check back here around July-August, there'll be tons of people making threads looking for people to house share with, and with a house, you have 100% more independence that you do with the student accommodations such as HAzelwood, Gateway and Campus.

I think if you're staying up near DCU, your social life will be fine, it's not as if social life is better on campus. There might be more things to do because there's a lot of students having parties all the time, but security will break anything up anyway. Social life only suffers if you're commuting.

miss no stars

Hi,

Have a question about postgrad accommodation on campus. I'll be doing a taught course (PDA) there next year. It's not a 12 month course. Would I be accommodated with other postgrads or with undergrads? Also, does the rubbish about signing people in in advance go on with postgrads as well?

iiHyPeRize

miss no stars wrote: »

Hi,

Have a question about postgrad accommodation on campus. I'll be doing a taught course (PDA) there next year. It's not a 12 month course. Would I be accommodated with other postgrads or with undergrads? Also, does the rubbish about signing people in in advance go on with postgrads as well?

Well there is actually a Postgrad residence accommodation on the campus, I'd imagine you'd be with them.

whynothey

Mr.S wrote: »

If your not going down the student accommodation route, I would start looking in July, August is when EVERY college student returns to Dublin and starts to look for rentals. Factor in that the Dublin rental market is crazy at the moment, you might find it hard to find a place in a month!

(assuming your not just looking for a bedroom in a house etc, which is fairly easy etc)

I would do that but the whole point in leaving it until August is cos I'm not sure what college I'll be going to

Noodleworm

iiHyPeRize wrote: »

Living on campus sucks from what I've heard, plus it's very expensive - not to mention the amount of restrictions you have. If you want to let a friend stay, you have to register them the day before.. etc.. you can't just return from a night out with a random person to let them stay as security won't let them in.

Id probably add there are good reasons for that, the whole point of first year accommodation is not to provide you with a party atmosphere. Its to keep students safe close to college as it saves a lot of hassle with travel and landlords.
They don't want you having parties cos the sound proofing is almost non existent and it really bothers people just trying to sleep.
The whole register thing is because of 1. Fire hazards, they place would be shut down if it were crowded beyond legal capacity, so they got to know how many are staying. and 2. To protect you from having your stuff stolen. Its kind of nice to know random local scumbags can't get grab laptops, or that some randomer who followed your housemate brought home isn't going to take your wallet.

People complain so often about on campus but most the restrictions are there for good reason. When your absolutely knackered you're glad to know the party next door will be shut down by 12.