Once you’ve decided which uni you want to go to, you need to decide where you actually want to live. MMU has a huge range of accommodation, some on the campus itself, and some a little further out.

I chose to live in Liberty Central, which are halls just across the road from the Students’ Union. I shared my flat with 3 other girls, and there were 4 floors in my building, meaning 16 people lived in our block. This worked really well for me because someone was always doing something, so you could hang out with them, but at the same time I wasn’t sharing a kitchen with too many people, so I had my own space when I needed it. This is a photo of the front of Liberty Central

Living here was ideal for first year, as it consisted of loads of nights out and the location was so convenient for getting into town. However, I knew that I didn’t want to be in Halls for second year. This is because I’d found 4 friends to live with (all of whom lived in Liberty Central with me) and we wanted our own little house together. We looked in the Fallowfield/Levenshulme area, because that’s where most students live in second year. We decided on a house in Levenshulme, because it felt safer being in a more residential area than in the centre of Fallowfield.

This year, I’m going to live with my close friend Jenny, but we’re still looking for houses or flats. It can be difficult to tell whether somewhere is a good place to live when you’re transitioning from first year to second year – mostly because you haven’t fully got to know Manchester yet – however, after second year when you’re looking for third year accommodation, I’ve felt that it’s easier, because I know Manchester (especially south Manchester) better than I did last year, so hopefully I’ll know where to live more easily.

One piece of advice I would give you guys, is that when you’re visiting potential houses at viewings, don’t judge it by the current mess it’s in, because that’s obviously not going to be there when you move in. Do look out for damp or mould, or other damage that would stay there when the current residents move out – that’s stuff you can’t change, and that will really annoy you in the future.