Sex
No, not sex in rooms. Sex in corridors. Well, the two sexes.
Some students — women particularly — would rather not live in mixed accommodation with farting, beery blokes who think washing up is something done by machines and mothers and that women should be made to leave toilet seats up.
There are men who prefer single sex housing too, but not so many.
Not every university will give you the option and the safety zone may only be a gesture and not enough to avoid the socky stench. It may be that all corridors are single sex, all floors, all flats or even that there are entire halls or colleges that are exclusively X (or Y) chromosomal.
Often you can express a preference for mixed or single sex housing, but don’t count on it and, if a university’s choice is limited, you may not get what you want. To improve your odds, choose a university where what you want is the norm or at least in plentiful supply.
You may, of course, have other objections to your neighbours — such as preferring no smoking halls or ones with lots of international students, lots of Welsh speakers or halls with good facilities for disabled students. You should be able to find all of the above and more — if you choose the right university for you.
Last updated on: 21 May 2008