hi aska
i missed the deadline to accept my first year residence guarantee offer by three hours because i’m a dumbass.
im on the waitlist for university, vic and new college now. is there any hope of me getting an offer? or should i give up and look for off campus housing?
heyyo,
oooouch i’m sure that was painful. but remember, you can make dumb mistakes and still not be a dumbass. we all make stupid mistakes, even (or maybe especially) aska.
(i think we can all relate to homer sometimes…)
i couldn’t find any official information about how the waitlist would work for you, since most of it was for upper-year returning students. however, there were a few ancient reddit/facebook threads that said it was first-come, first-serve for first years. i can’t say for sure if they’re right, but it’s possible. in that case you’d have to be near the very front of the line, since i’m assuming you got on the list 3 hours after the guarantee window closed
the fact that you’re on three different waitlists gives me hope too, especially if one of them is for the college you belong to, since you’d probably get priority there.
i also found an old aska post from 2016 which says that waitlist offers start going out in late june/early july. not sure if that’s still the case, but if it is, you might be getting one soon!
now while i do think that there is a very good chance that you get off the waitlist, you should still have a backup plan. the first place i’d start with is uoft’s off-campus housing site. they have a bunch of resources and programs, as well as a handy-dandy housing finder that lists places for rent by trusted owners. if you have a friend who’s also coming to uoft, you might want to consider being roommates with them, since it’s usually cheaper to split a 2 bedroom than rent a 1 bedroom/studio on your own.
you can also check out the standard rental sites. realtor, zillow, and rentals.ca always have a ton of listings, many more than the uoft housing finder. the downside is that you have to be a lot more careful when considering renting a place listed on one of those sites, since they aren’t vetted nearly as much as the those on the housing finder. if you ever find yourself questioning the validity of a listing or just need some help, uoft does provide support!
in the end i think it’s likely that you’ll get off of the residence waitlist, but i can’t make any promises, so i think it’s worth it to start searching for somewhere off-campus just in case. if it ever comes down to it, uoft also has an emergency housing support program that can help you find somewhere to stay.
i wish you the best of luck in getting off of the waitlist and/or in your housing search!!
cheers,
aska