I'm definitely going! Now.. housing?

I'm going to England!!! I'm in unconditionally at Newcastle and Nottingham Trent, but I'm waiting desperately to hear back from my top choices, Manchester and Leicester.. and I have a phone interview with Leeds on Wednesday morning (12:30 am. yay!).

The big question on me right now is housing - I'd love to hear from anyone with experience going over. Did you stay in university housing or did you let out a place on your own?

What I'm looking for is a mix between social and quiet - I want to be somewhere where there are people, but also have my own space. I need to have a kitchen, and I'd honestly prefer to have my own bath, but I could be okay with sharing with a few (three?) people. I also really would rather not be around other Americans or be in an international student type house. I don't know if that's asking too much, but I really want to bury myself in the UK for as long as possible.

My timeline is get everything done as soon as possible - esp. with the visa (I've seen things saying it could take three months? yikes!), I want my passport back so I can visit family in India over the summer, since I don't know the next time I'll go back 

I stayed in university housing, and it was fine.  I was in a place that sounds like what you describe- it was a 4 bedroom flat, and everyone had their own en suite bathroom.  We shared a kitchen and a living space.  We were all postgrads as well- I was worried they were going to put me with the 18 year old undergrads but the uni tried to group postgraduates together as much as possible and it worked out great...our flat was pretty quiet but we'd get together and watch some tv and talk in our lounge around dinnertime.

The only bad part was that it was more expensive than renting privately would have been, but having uni housing lined up saved me quite a bit of hassle when I was trying to get everything sorted from overseas.  No regrets, really- I'd probably do the same again.

edited to add: unless you live in university housing or in a flat by yourself, it's very unlikely you will have your own bathroom.  Most privately rented student houses only have 1 bathroom if it's a 3 or 4 bedroom house.

Like springhaze, I lived in University housing my 1st year here. I had to specially request that I have an ensuite room because only 1 student building out of 8 had that and they were really really on demand. Luckily, they put aside a few slots for international students.  All my friends in different buildings had their own room but shared their bathrooms with complete strangers and I would find that a bit hard especially everyone trying to get a shower in the morning. 

I was 21 and was put in a flat with all 18 year olds but it wasnt that bad because everyone I lived with had their own friends and we were friendly towards eachother and got on just didnt go out on the town together.  Overall I would say my living in the halls experience was pretty great... but that may be partially because I had an ensuite or partcially because i met DH after being here 3 weeks and was always around at his house watching the tele! haha

I live with my boyfriend in Derby and I go to the University of Nottingham.  I basically chose it on a whim (ridiculous, I know) out of the other places I applied (Bristol, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Durham, Queen's Belfast) and it's been working out really well.

Are you going to visit the unis before you make your pick?  Uni housing is quite pricey from what I've seen!  Websites like www.thestudentroom.co.uk have good info on stuff like that.

My year abroad in Leeds I lived at Boddington Hall up Cumberland Road. Really liked it there. It's off-campus but still provides food and everything. It is a trek to and from the school and downtown as well. I lived in "R" block which was much better because it's was a newer add on. The halls are mixed (m/f) with shared bathrooms. But my really good friends from there all lived around me and we became really good clubbing buddies!