Preparing to make your Postgraduate UCL Accommodation Application

Applications for postgraduate students have now closed. With the exception of applicants who meet the following criteria, it will not be possible for postgraduates who have missed the deadline to submit their application for accommodation until the waiting list opens at 10am on Tuesday 6 September 2022.

Exceptions for applicants include under 18s (as of 17 September 2022), students with disabilities or those with a health condition, injury or illness (supporting evidence required), care experienced or estranged students. 

Hello prospective residents and congratulations on your offer to study at UCL!

Before you start applying to UCL Accommodation via our online portal, we’ve got some reminders and advice to share with you.

The application process for undergrads and postgrads is slightly different, so make sure you’re reading the right article. Here we’ll be talking about the postgraduate application process.

Eligibility Criteria

Step one is to check you’re going to be eligible for guaranteed accommodation at UCL as a postgrad:

• You must be an international, first-year postgraduate student studying for one of the following qualifications: a full-time Master's programme, Postgraduate Diploma, or a MPhil/PhD.
• You must have firmly accepted an offer to study at UCL, conditional or unconditional, by 30 June in the year of study.
• You must have not previously lived in Greater London whilst studying at a Higher Education Institution (University).
• You must not hold UK fee status.
• You must submit your application the deadline – that’s 30 June for postgraduates applying for 2022/23.

Please note that we cannot guarantee accommodation for students applying for couples and family accommodation due to limited spaces. We would advise considering alternative options if this applies to you.

If you don’t meet another part of the guarantee, we’d advise that you consider alternative accommodation options.

What’s your budget?

If you meet the guarantee, step two is to think about your maximum weekly budget. Think about what will be affordable for you, and if someone will be helping you pay your rent, remember to discuss your budget with them.

Your contract will be for 50.57 weeks, including the Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays and your rent includes all your utilities (wifi, electricity, water, etc). 

UCAS has a budget calculator which you may find useful.

Preferences

Once you know your budget, you can think about your preferences.

• Standard, en-suite or studio? In standard rooms, you share the bathroom with your flatmates whereas en-suite rooms have their own bathroom. Both of these room types share a kitchen with flatmates, whereas studios have both their own kitchen and bathroom. En-suite rooms and studios are more expensive to a standard room.

We don’t offer catered accommodation for post-graduates, so if you’re keen to have meals cooked for you, we’d advise looking at alternative options.

Take a look at the different price points of rooms in our halls and think about which options work for you. When you’re letting us know your preferences during your application, make sure your choices align with your budget. For example, if you’d prefer to be in an en-suite room, keep in mind that while room prices differ based on location, the average weekly price of an en-suite room is approximately £245.

Apply via the portal

So you’ve worked out your budget, decided your preferences, and you’ve checked out some of our halls. You’re now ready to apply via the portal! 

You’ll need to register an email address with UCL before you can log in to the portal, and we’ve got some helpful instructions on the login page.

Once you’ve logged in, select the 50.57 week postgraduate option for the year of entry you are applying for and fill in all the relevant details. As a postgraduate, you can let us know your preferred hall locations and room type, although we cannot guarantee these will be met. 

In the portal, there’s a section where you must let us know if you have any additional requirements, for example if you have a disability or health condition, or if you are care-experienced or an estranged student. It’s important you tell us this information and upload supporting documents - even if you’ve already told UCL - to ensure that the room type and hall location allocated meets your requirements. We can check whether you’re eligible for rent adjustment and provide ongoing support to you during you stay in halls.

Allocation & accepting your offer

We allocate rooms randomly based on everyone’s preferences after the deadline, not on a first-come-first-served basis. Take your time to think carefully about your budget and research the different options. Don’t rush your application – you can always save your steps and come back to it if there’s a detail you want to check. Just make sure you’ve completed it by the deadline!

Once you’ve submitted your application, all you need to do is wait to receive your accommodation offer, which is usually July onwards.

Please note that while we do our best to match students up to their preferences, we cannot guarantee that you’ll be allocated your preferences.

Offers are sent out over the summer to the email address you registered with UCL, so make sure you keep an eye on your inbox as you have 4 business days to accept the offer when it arrives. Be sure to check your spam folder just in case!

You’re ready!

Remember:

• Make sure your budget is in line with your preferences
• Make sure you tell us if you have any additional requirements
• Make sure you firmly accept your offer to study and complete your accommodation application by the deadline – that’s 30 June for postgraduates applying for 2022/23

We hope this helps you prepare to apply and look forward to seeing you in September!

For more information, check out our FAQs and our information before you apply page.