2 February 2018 | Category: Tips and advice for studying in Wageningen

Tips for Securing a Room with Idealis while Studying in Wageningen

By Õnne Kask

I'm a Master student in Landscape Architecture & Planning, specialising in Land-Use Planning. I come from Estonia, but have lived in the Netherlands for more than five years as I also did my Bachelor in the south of the country. Since I've been an international student on the Dutch grounds for a while, I hope to give you good insights on what it's like to study at the WUR and in the Netherlands in general.

How do I find a place to live? I bet that’s a question on your mind if you’re considering studying in Wageningen. I’m here to help you figure it all out. Scroll down to find out more!

Coming from abroad, the easiest way to find a room is with Idealis. They are the main housing provider for students in Wageningen and Ede, and are renting out more than 5,600 rooms, studios and apartments. So there’s surely something you’ll like as well. But before you jump on their website to figure it all out yourself, let me give you some pointers for securing a room with Idealis with ease.

Bornsesteeg Idealis student housing

How to get started?

First of all, if you’re quite sure that you’ll be studying in Wageningen, subscribe to ROOM.nl as soon as possible. That’s because the earlier you register, the more chances you have to find a desired room before arrival. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

Once you’ve signed up, you can view the various offers Idealis has for that particular day. Depending on when you take a look at the offers, the number of offers can vary from anywhere between 2 to 40 or more. Just to try out the system, you can respond to one of the offers. What you’ll then see, is your ranking in the list of all responders. It might easily be 45th or even 327th, but there’s no reason to freak out. Your ranking in that list is dependent on a couple of factors, and here’s all you need to know.

What contributes to your ranking?

  1. Registration date

As I mentioned, sign up with ROOM.nl as soon as you’re quite sure about coming to study in Wageningen. The longer you’ve been in the system, the more likely it is for you to find a room when the time is right. Once you’ve signed up, there’s not much more you can do at that moment and the best is simply to wait until about a month or two before you actually want to move to Wageningen.

  1. Distance priority

If you live more than 130km away from Wageningen, it’s highly likely that you’ll receive distance priority. If that applies to you, you’ll receive an email with such indication. The priority is valid from June 15 – July 15. For students who have received a message about housing via WUR, there are slight differences.

  1. Idealis will send you an email two or three months before you start your studies, explaining how you can find a room.
  2. If you have not yet registered at ROOM.nl, you can still do so at that time.
  3. You will receive an e-mail from Idealis in which they indicate the period in which you can respond to the rooms on offer with priority.

You can email the admissions office if you haven’t heard anything before June 15. PS! Distance priority is only valid for students who start in September.

In practice, the two factors work out like this: From all the people with distance priority who have applied for a specific room, the one who has been in the system the longest, will receive an offer to rent the room.

Student housing Wagenigen

So, considering these two factors, I advise you to register right away, but then wait with actually applying until June or July (or January if you start in February). Just because the process will go much smoother then and you’ll save yourself some stress. There’s really no point in only seeing a couple available rooms and then, when responding, seeing yourself end of the list anyways.

And, there’s more..

Idealis will have many more rooms on offer in July and August, and in January. When I was looking for a room, I witnessed the number of offers literally increasing from 3 to more than 50 a day. Besides, the rental period also starts within a month after you’ve responded to a room. That would mean that if you find a room in April, you will have to start paying rent in May. And that’s something you definitely don’t want if you only move in August.

Now that I’ve covered what contributes to your ranking, let’s also save you some time and stress by telling you what absolutely does not matter for your ranking.

Haarweg Wageningen Student Accommodation

What does absolutely not matter for your ranking?

  1. The time of the day you respond

On ROOM.nl you can look for new offers every day at 12.00. You have several days to respond to these offers without worrying about your ranking. In the online advertisement you can see the date by which you must respond, it doesn’t matter who was first or last.

The final ranking for each room is composed when the response time closes.

  1. The number of times you respond to rooms

When I was looking for a room, I did my best to apply for two rooms every single day. Turns out that this makes no difference at all. Of course, it’s more important to do it when you’re close to moving to Wageningen, but otherwise, just apply when you really want to and your ranking seems reasonable.

  1. The number of times you refuse an offer

When you finally are number 1 and receive an offer to rent a room, you can, of course, still refuse. For example, you might find out that the room is actually too expensive of not really what you want. So, feel free to say no, because that again has no influence on your ranking. At the same time though, you shouldn’t be too picky with the rooms, because there’s no guarantee in the end that you’ll find one if you keep refusing every single room. Personally,  I did it twice, and then took the 3rd offer.

Student life Wageningen Accommodation University

I’ve now covered all the essentials now and hope you can get started with finding a room you’ll like. If you have any questions about what I’ve written, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Also, this is only the very first blogpost in the upcoming collaboration with Idealis. From now on, you can read more about the different housing possibilities with Idealis every month. Let me know if you have any particular topics you’d like me to cover, and, make sure to subscribe so you won’t miss any of the upcoming posts.

 

Last updated March 2019

By Õnne Kask

I'm a Master student in Landscape Architecture & Planning, specialising in Land-Use Planning. I come from Estonia, but have lived in the Netherlands for more than five years as I also did my Bachelor in the south of the country. Since I've been an international student on the Dutch grounds for a while, I hope to give you good insights on what it's like to study at the WUR and in the Netherlands in general.

There are 23 comments.

  1. By: Fentaw Berihun Masrie · 06-03-2018 at 14:31

    I seek being a master degree follower in your host university, if given a chance for me.

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 06-03-2018 at 19:25

      Hi! Make an account with Idealis now, and start applying for rooms in June-July. You have to prove your admission within a month after you’ve moved in to your room.

  2. By: Lakshmipathi · 06-03-2018 at 14:49

    hi there, I’m coming to wageningen in august as my admission has confirmed for September 2018 intake in plant sciences department. my question is “can I able to secure a room with idealis now”? still I haven’t paid any fees to the university.

  3. By: jean-philippe G. · 06-03-2018 at 14:50

    hi, the english version does not work what should I do?

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 06-03-2018 at 19:26

      Hi! Do you mean the English version of the Idealis website doesn’t work? Try again, and let me know.

  4. By: george musoko · 06-03-2018 at 18:44

    kindly need to get in touch with you..find me on whatsap +254701618728 we chat at length please.

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 06-03-2018 at 19:27

      Please email us at students@wur.nl

  5. By: Gopika · 07-03-2018 at 05:19

    Hi, my admission is confirmed for September 2018 intake and I tried to register in idealis. But I am unable to as the page is not responding. Please help me forward.

  6. By: RUGEMA Vladimir · 10-03-2018 at 16:15

    Surely, i am happyful to hear you through this connection. When i will get chance to be one member of wageningen university, i shall inform you.Thanks!!!!!!!!!

  7. By: Edward · 13-03-2018 at 16:32

    Hi Õnne,
    I have listened to your advice and am trying to apply on Idealis but am unable to submit it.
    The subscribe link on the idealis page doesn’t seem to work

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 13-03-2018 at 19:05

      Hi Edward,
      I’ll inform Idealis about the problem! Sorry for the inconvenience and try again in a few days.

  8. By: Abdoul Khalighi Diallo · 10-04-2018 at 12:05

    Thank you so much for sharing these tips and experiences! I am an invitee for September and will definitely deal with this soon using your guidance.
    Really appreciate!
    Best

  9. By: Constance · 29-04-2018 at 17:26

    I’ve been trying to register but it is not working

  10. By: Shou Zhang · 16-05-2018 at 11:33

    Very helpful post Õnne!
    I will be starting this September and I was wondering if you would be kind enough to explain what Rent Subsidy is.

    Is it for instances where we work part-time, we would receive tax reduction?

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 16-05-2018 at 13:22

      Hi Shou! Thanks for your great question!
      Rent subsidy is a benefit the Dutch government pays for certain types of housing. You will not have to work to be eligible for this.
      If you can get the subsidy for your room is indicated for all rooms on Idealis, but also depends on your annual income and other factors. Check this website to find out more: https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/allowances-benefits-netherlands/rent-allowance-huurtoeslag

  11. By: Lutte Thys · 22-05-2018 at 06:30

    Hi I`ve asked to join facebook pages such as student plaza but it has been pending for a long time is there something I can do so that I am able to join ?

    1. By: Õnne Kask · 24-05-2018 at 13:12

      Hi Lutte! Delete your request and try again 😉

  12. By: Lutte Thys · 22-07-2018 at 08:08

    Hi i’ve tried this a few times but still hasn’t worked =(

  13. By: Jonas F. Nyandwi · 03-04-2019 at 14:15

    Thanks a lot

  14. By: Davide · 26-05-2019 at 08:43

    Dear Õnne,

    I’ve recently registered to ROOM.nl and I would have some questions about what to do next (I am Italian so I think I will be given a distance priority):

    1) Should I just wait for the priority to be sent to me by Idealis automatically or should I send some other application to get it?

    2) When should I expect them to send it to me? Are there any precise timings?

    3) Is there anything else I should or could do while waiting for it?

    I know it sounds like many questions but I just want to make sure I am not losing precious time.

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    Kind regards.

    DB

    1. By: Ester · 06-06-2019 at 08:43

      Dear Davide,
      here you can find some information about how does ROOM.nl works, and some questions & answers https://www.room.nl/en/information-contact/question-and-answer/#/overview

      If you still have some questions about it, do not hesitate to email them, I am sure they will answer within 1 working day https://www.room.nl/en/contact/contact-form/

      Kind regards,

      Ester

  15. By: Jack Kitulu · 04-06-2019 at 12:14

    Hi Onne. I’ve just registered at ROOM.nl and I start in September but will be arriving in August. Is it necessary for me to pay the euro 35 fee? Also, how does someone get registered with Idealis?

    1. By: Ester · 06-06-2019 at 09:20

      Hey Jack,

      I advice you to email them, because I am not sure about the fees. But I am totally sure they will be willing to answer your question. https://www.room.nl/en/contact/contact-form/

      Kind regards,

      Ester

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