Congratulations on your offer! And I can understand why it might be daunting – moving out for those first 2 years was also my first time living away from home.
I initially had a look at the Manchester accommodation website which has a list of all the different halls you can apply for and allows you to filter it by features that you’d like. I didn’t want to live in catered accommodation, wanted to be as close as possible to the university etc. so I put all those filters in and had a look through what came up on the search results. I also had a look at the accommodation map and used Google maps to figure out how long it’d take me to walk to Stopford building (the medical school) from each hall. I eventually ended up applying for Denmark Road, Victoria Park and as hard as I think I just can’t remember the last one.
I also knew a few girls who were starting at Manchester the same year as me so naturally we wanted to live together. We emailed the accommodation office about potentially placing us in the same flat and we were told that in university accommodation they try to mix all the students up so we would definitely not be placed together seeing as we knew each other. So…that’s when we started looking at private accommodation nearby: the Grafton was one, Ropemaker Court was another. But what eventually ended up happening was our parents helped us out massively by finding out that one of their friends was luckily letting a flat near the university – so thats’s where I ended up. That’s why as many questions I get about living in halls and what uni accommodation is really like, I just can’t answer.
Despite looking at halls, exploring different types of accommodation I ended up renting a flat with 2 people I knew before. If you don’t like the uncertainty of not knowing which hall you’re going to be placed with or who you’re going to be placed with, private accommodation might be a good option. Often it’s cheaper as well, the rent for the flat I stayed in ended up being a lot cheaper than if I had stayed in university halls. Ropemaker court is a good option as it’s a close (10 min walk) and I know a good number of medics who decided to stay there. They also allow you to select single-sex flats if that’s important to you.
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Life of a Medic 