It doesn’t feel right to be giving tips for the second year of uni seeing as this blog began before I even started first year, but here we are! It’s been a really busy year, I’ve had so many new experiences, and it was more academically successful (I just got my overall year grade and it’s a 1st, so I’m feeling very pleased with myself)! For many people, second year is when the university experience truly has an upgrade. You typically move out of halls, which is a big and important change. Here’s your guide to sorting out your 2nd year house!
Top priority: work out who you want to live with. Be critical about your choices and think about their lifestyle. Whilst you might want to live with your close friends, they also may be extremely messy and go out every night until 4am – you might not work together. Not only is it a place to live and have fun, it’s also a place of work. Take all this into consideration when you pick who you’d want to be down the corridor from for seven months.
The next thing you need to think about is the house itself. You’ll probably move from halls to a house in the city or neighbouring town from your university. For Warwick, some students live in Coventry, but the majority are in the town of Leamington Spa. There are lots and lots of things to think about when you look for a house: price, location, size, and communal space just to name a few. You might be an organised person, but I can confirm that finding a house is a whole new ballgame. It’s vital that everyone talks to each other and puts in the work throughout the entire process. Some things you might want to think about are:
You might like to use a spreadsheet to make sections of ‘link’ with the number and street name, ‘notes’, ‘opinions’ and ‘price pp pw’. This helps to set out clearly what houses you’re interested in and what everyone else thinks of them. Remember, it can be extremely competitive, and you’ll want to start this process in December time to get ahead. Give the ones you’re interested in a call and visit as many in person as you can.
Once you have rung to confirm the house and signed the documents, you need to finally sort out bills. Some places officer packages, sometimes you have to sort out everything by yourself. Either way, split the responsibility and perhaps each pick a utility to take care of.
The moral of the story is, if you work together you’ll be fine. Make sure everyone is always in the loop and being responsive to updates. There might be moments of pressure: like on a Monday morning when you’re racing to secure the house as the estate agents open. It’s the first proper challenge you have to get through together so I hope this will help you!
