Finding your own accommodation
You may decide that living in a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) is not suitable for you and you may wish to find your own accommodation. Glasgow is a city with a large student population and most students find it quite straightforward to find a room to suit their budget. It is always advisable to see a property before handing over any deposit or payment of rent. Many letting agencies will not rent a property to a tenant until the property has been viewed in person. International students looking for private rented accommodation should arrive early (provided the visa start date allows this) in order to view properties.
Despite the abundance of properties suitable for students in the city, it is important to stress that many students start looking for an accommodation contract to commence at the start of the academic year in the Spring, so if you do arrive in Glasgow just before the start of your course, there may be fewer flats available. Wherever possible, please don’t leave looking for accommodation until after your programme of study commences as you may not have time to view properties at all. You may also find that many properties have been rented out by the beginning of October.
There are a number of websites which advertise accommodation in Glasgow and these are listed in our Accommodation in Glasgow Guide. It’s good to make use of the Conservatoire’s Facebook page for successful applicants as this will give you an opportunity to find other students to live with if you are keen to flat-share.
Temporary and short-term accommodation
Although it is ideal to have long-term accommodation arranged before arriving in Glasgow, we appreciate that this is not always possible, particularly for those students coming to Glasgow from outside the UK. There are a number of youth hostels, guest houses and Airbnbs in Glasgow which offer reasonably priced overnight accommodation along with a number of bed and breakfasts and hotels in the vicinity of the Conservatoire. You can find them via sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com.
If you are coming on an Exchange programme, it is important that you get your plans (dates of arrival/departure) set as soon as you can. The earlier you know exactly when you will need accommodation, the more choices will be available to you. Short-term accommodation is more difficult to find but it is available, even if it means renting a room from one of the other higher education institutions in the city, such as the University of Strathclyde or the University of Glasgow.
Please see our Accommodation in Glasgow 2021 for more information on other accommodation options available in Glasgow.
If you need assistance with finding accommodation please email: welfare@rcs.ac.uk