I'm in my first year at UC and love it! A lot of people I speak to at uni are doing sports science.
I got in with early entry and deferred. It's known as the Principal's Recommendation Scheme. All that is required is that you fill out a super simple form (pretty much just name, school, and course), get your principal to sign it, send it off, and have your preferred UC course as your first UAC preference. The form is easily found UC's website under the future students tab.
I live on res too. I'm in Old Res, so I'm a bit bias
Old Res is really recommended for freshers. There's always lots of social activities, and if you do end up going to UC, definitely go to Fresher's Week, it's how I made most of my friends. The buildings of Old Res are kinda dated, and the rooms
are small, but I've found that they do the job just fine. Benefit of Old Res is you get your own mirror and hand basin in your room so you don't have to share that with the rest of your floor, which is 12 - 13 people. Old Res is also the most value for money, in my opinion.
Globo is nice and flashy and newish, also recommened for freshers, you only share with 5 people in those apartments, but from what I can tell no way near as 'close - knit' as Old Res. They also don't have ovens. I think the rooms are bigger, but quite pricey.
UV is also good for freshers, most affordable, sharing with 12 people, but they're demountables. So yeah.
The new accommodation they are building at the moment will probably be finished by next year, so that's another option, but the only thing I can tell you about that is that they will be $$$$$$$!
There's also International House, which could be interesting, but also difficult because most people there are exchange students.
There's also Arscott House, which is run by the student union. They have cleaners, and get meals, but once again expensive.
No need to look at the other options, they're better suited to returners.
But overall, no matter which accommodation you chose, you are always going to feel a bit ripped off because maintenance is a bit slack. And the parties and sharing means that common areas can get quite filthy. It's something you quickly get used to though!
So yeah, hope that helps a bit
