Waitlists

At UC, it is up to each Hall of Residence to decide whether to offer you a place on their waitlist or depending on the numbers of applications received each year, there may be an ‘open waitlist' which is held by the central Accommodation Office.

If a hall chooses to offer you a place on their waitlist, you need to decide if you want to accept this position or if you would prefer for your application be sent through to your next preference hall for consideration instead. You cannot be waitlisted at one hall and be considered by another Hall at the same time.

You should try to decide as quickly as possible but once you decide, you need to contact the Hall to inform them of your choice.

If you choose to accept the waitlist offer your application remains with that Hall and offers can be made any time between October and February as students withdraw and places become available.

While there is no guarantee that a place may become available to students on the waitlist at a hall of residence, past experience shows that some places do become available over the summer break for a variety of reasons. Students who have accepted places at a University of Canterbury Hall may withdraw at any time even right up to the start of lectures, but there are certain periods where there is typically more movement. For example:

• Two weeks after first offers are sent out, the halls should know if any of the first round of offers made are not accepted.
• When acceptances into limited entry courses are released (various dates throughout the country).
• When University exam results are released in December
• Scholarship offers from other universities can attract students and therefore there may be some student withdrawals from the halls. Scholarships can be confirmed at various times from November to January.
• When NCEA results are released in late January.

If you have been offered a waitlist position and have any queries, please contact the Hall directly. We understand students' anxiety and we encourage waitlisted students to remain in contact with the halls and the UC Accommodation Office. Movement does occur and we will do what we can to keep you informed and updated about placement opportunities.