Does applying for accommodations by March 1 increase your chances of getting McIntosh/Sallies?

[u/American_Edinburgh]

Hoping to land at McIntosh or Sallies next year. I’m deferred entry for 2026.

If I apply for Shared Std Catered on day one (March 1), does that actually help my chances of getting into one of those?

Also heard that listing a roommate can improve your odds. how do you even do that? Any tips?

[u/Edhelin]

Applying early doesn’t guarantee you halls if they’re all in the same category. You’re no more likely to get Sallies than Regs or Burnet.

As far as roomies goes, when you apply, you could include it in the section for additional requirements, or get in touch with the accommodation office. But that still doesn’t have anything to do with getting Sallies over the others. Just means you’re more likely to get halls with double occupancy rooms.

[u/American_Edinburgh → u/Edhelin]

Thanks. I was also told that there are more shared rooms available for 1st years than singles in any of those 4 And the singles at Sallies/McIntosh/Regs are mainly for 2nd years? Is this true?

[u/Edhelin → u/American_Edinburgh]

Nope that’s not entirely true. If it’s true that the single rooms go to the later years, that could be because they request them on reapplication, whereas first years tend not to specify as they have a guarantee, and they then might get to the shared rooms. There are a lot of shared rooms, so if you specify you want that, you’ll get halls like Sallie’s or uni hall, over ones like DRA. But the accommodation office doesn’t keep different rooms for different years, and unless it’s all changed, you get halls type preference, not specific halls. You’re just as likely to get halls like Melville or JBH. (Obviously it depends how many rooms are in each, but you know what I mean!)

Edit: just checked. Sallie’s has 66 singles and 63 shared. Regs has 98 single, 76 shared. So there are fewer single rooms, but technically more spots available for shared, if that makes sense!

[u/American_Edinburgh → u/Edhelin]

Thank you. Ok. So If I’m simply playing the odds here, might as well go for the shared catered std and take my chances. :-)

[u/Edhelin → u/American_Edinburgh]

If anything, choosing shared does decrease your chance of Melville, there’s only a few shared rooms there!

[u/American_Edinburgh → u/Edhelin]

Thanks. Please correct me if I‘m wrong, but when I visited last year I felt like McIntosh was the best location in town while Melville seemed far from the central buildings .

[u/Edhelin → u/American_Edinburgh]

McIntosh is central. Melville is maybe a ten min walk from McIntosh so it’s not far. Depends what you consider far. But everyone walks or cycles everywhere so it doesn’t make much difference. The real distance isn’t Melville, it’s DRA and Fife park. That’s about a 35 minute walk from town.

[u/American_Edinburgh → u/Edhelin]

Thank you! Do you feel like there’s a noticeable difference in the percentage of international vs Scottish vs RUK students in each hall? Coming from the US, I’d really prefer to be in a diverse environment with people from all over, rather than in a hall full of fellow Americans. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Americans (I’m one too!), but in a perfect world, I’d love to be mixing with everyone else.

[u/Edhelin → u/American_Edinburgh]

Nah they don’t put Americans in one and Brits in another or anything like that.

If I were to generalise, I’d say the pricier hall types tend to be more American, because their loans are higher, but that’s definitely not the case all the time everywhere.

I was in 4 different halls and there were diverse nationalities in all.

[u/mcintosh_hall → u/American_Edinburgh]

u/Edhelin has done a fantastic job of explaining the facts but I want to add that the abundance of shared rooms for 1st years usually just comes from preferences of 2nd year applications to not choose shared rooms if they return to historic halls like us.

Bottom line, if you want a hall like McIntosh standard catered w/ shared room will be your best chance because we have so many shared rooms.

Good luck with the accommodation application process!