Dorm assignments

celloguy · 07-05-2006, 12:06 PM

It's the 5th of July, housing contracts were signed at least a month ago, so college resi life people probably have some idea of dorm assignments. D's college has posted this info internally (with access to registered upperclasspeople), but hasn't released it to the incoming class. D is excited to learn where she'll live and with whom (and how many). How are other colleges handling this?

northeastmom · 07-05-2006, 12:21 PM

I know that my S will find out his dorm assignment and name of assigned roommate on 8/1.

emeraldkity4 · 07-05-2006, 12:34 PM

I think schools usually allow at least a month for students to contact their roommates and get together to see who is going to bring what..
What kind of dorm did your daughter request celloguy? Is she going to Reed?

amdgmom · 07-05-2006, 12:40 PM

S2 will be looking for dorm and roommate assignments 8/1. In the meantime, he has received a collection of pamphlets from residential life re: general policies, what to (and what not to) bring to school, meal plans, etc.

He starts school after Labor Day, so that does allow about a month to contact roommate, plan decor (oh, yeah, that's gonna happen) and coordinate move-in.

Susantm · 07-05-2006, 01:07 PM

I think my son received his housing assignment about a month before school started, and his roommate's name about two weeks before. When my older son went to Stanford, however, he did not find out the identity of his roommate until he got to school. For some reason, they did not believe in giving out that information ahead of time.

wisteria · 07-05-2006, 01:37 PM

Quote:

When my older son went to Stanford, however, he did not find out the identity of his roommate until he got to school. For some reason, they did not believe in giving out that information ahead of time.

Interesting...I can somewhat understand why colleges might not want to give out this information too much in advance.

After all, there is "summer melt" as some admitted students get accepted off the waiting list and go elsewhere, or get exciting gap year opportunities, or develop medical problems which preclude enrolling. And when the summer melt happens, officials then need to rethink roommate assignments--and some places try to balance suite assignments for diversity and compatibility in ways that can take some reshuffling.

Also, there are disability issues that need to be taken into account in housing assignments, and sometimes it takes a while before the college gets all the documentation it needs to figure out which incoming students need what kinds of housing accommodations.

cnp55 · 07-05-2006, 01:55 PM

The Cornell information has been up for several weeks. He'll be living in one of the townhouses on North Campus -- with kitchen -- but the guys have not discussed *at all* who is bringing what. The kitchen has a stove, oven, and fridge -- but no dishwish or microwave. I'm suggesting the 'red kitchen accessories' from Target!

Red ... as in GO BIG RED!

celloguy · 07-05-2006, 01:57 PM

Perhaps it would be reasonable to allow incoming students (who already have passwords from the admissions process) access to the online housing assignment database, with the stated proviso that assignments are tentative and can change. This database exists online, so it's just access permission I'm wondering about. The analogy, I suppose, would be online course registration, which is usually publicly available: I can log onto the local community college course schedule and see what courses are available and how many seats are still available; this is a dynamic display that is constantly updated as registrations come in, and allows me to plan ahead a bit.

Does Stanford offer any justification for keeping dorm assignments secret?

atomom · 07-05-2006, 02:06 PM

My kid will find out when he gets there in Aug. Hoping the other guy brings all the stuff S doesn't have. He's not into coordinating bedspreads or anything. . . I imagine this "not knowing" is harder on the girls.

alwaysamom · 07-05-2006, 02:22 PM

Our experience with three Ds entering as freshmen over the years is that it varies from school to school. Usually, incoming frosh will hear sometime in August what the assignment is and the name and phone number of the roommate. The exception to this is our D who is at the Univ. of Toronto. They do not release roommate info because of privacy laws. You find out your roomie on the day you move in and meet her in the room! The others, though, had about a month which is more than enough time to arrange who is bringing what and to chat a bit.

roshke · 07-05-2006, 02:45 PM

S got rooming catalogs and had to rank choices by May. The kids found out the results online in early June, including the name and contact info for their roommates. You can choose to room with someone ahead of time and throw both of your names into the housing lottery together, but no guarantees that you'll get the roommate or housing of your choice.

The school also runs a site where you can register, find the names of dorm and hallmates and chat with them ahead of time. S made use of this feature to Facebook-friend many of his future hallmates. He even met his future next door neighbor locally as she lives not far from here! It's really a way of connecting to people before ever stepping foot on campus and a whole different world as compared to when I went to college!

kathiep · 07-05-2006, 03:12 PM

Son has not heard a thing about which dorm he will get or a roommate name. He has gotten info about microwaves, refrigerators and linens. Seems like it would make sense to know about a roommate before you go out and get all that stuff, although I also have zero thoughts of coordinating colors of bedspreads.

My husband and I had a wonderful time while on vacation last week telling son that we were going to decorate his dorm in a Sea Captain theme complete with anchors and lighthouses on the bedspread. We told him we heard there was a contest for the best themed freshman dorm and we wanted to win it for him. It was pretty funny even though he never believed it.

northeastmom · 07-05-2006, 03:17 PM

Hi Kathie! LOL, now I found that funny! Oh, and I cannot imagine my S using any kind of bedspread!

superwizard · 07-05-2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celloguy

Does Stanford offer any justification for keeping dorm assignments secret?

I'm going to Stanford next year and actually they do. They say that they don't want the future roomates to communicate or know who they're partnered with before they arrive to stanford because they don't want misconcieved conceptions about the other person before you meet them in person. Thy also strongly believe that a real life first impression is much better than an electronic one (internet, phones...). I have to admit they do have a strong reason and even though its a bit frustrating at times I'm sure it'll be for the best.

celloguy · 07-05-2006, 05:13 PM

superwizard, I love your attitude -- chances are it IS for the best, because you'll make it so. Chances are Stanford isn't enrolling a lot of really shy, anxious introverts. For them, a little emotional preparation is key to survival.