If you are a student in and renting in a typical student property you are probably accustomed to securing your rental property several weeks if not months ahead of your move in date.
We don't specialise in student lettings but we do have tenants who are students. Our referencing protocol will be similar to your previous experiences, however, we can rarely let a property more than a month ahead of the move in date. Where we haev any exceptions to this rule we will advertise this on the property advert.
Oh, and if you are looking for a city centre property this summer - don't assume this will be easy. Stock levels will be low this year. They already are low and we have not hit the high season yet.