HELP!! How to change housing assignment?

daffinito · 07-02-2009, 05:55 PM

Please help any upperclassmen, adminstration, Dean J.....
My D has been assigned a single in Hereford. We are from out of state and she doesn't know one person on campus. She absolutely wants a roommate. She only selected a double as a first choice and no second choice.
What is the process to get this changed?

Also, any idea why this would have happened? I thought singles were in demand?

hazelorb · 07-02-2009, 06:04 PM

there are always more singles available than requested. she'll make friends on her hall, don't worry.

daffinito · 07-02-2009, 06:07 PM

Dear Hazelorb, is there a process to request a change in housing assignment? This is not the first year experience she wanted.

shoebox10 · 07-02-2009, 06:14 PM

Look on the housing website, there's a form to request changes. The likelihood of being moved is slim though...

hazelorb · 07-02-2009, 08:34 PM

Yes, I was trying to avoid saying anything about switching since they don't move people out of Hereford very often, and it's better just to come to terms with it. It's not a death sentence, the halls are pretty social, since many first years are feeling exactly what you're feeling about being put in a single unrequested.

ThaRussian · 07-02-2009, 09:09 PM

If you have your receipt from your housing application, and it says that she only requested a double room, I'm sure they can help you out, I mean, it just doesn't seem fair if you only requested a double room, my first choice was a double, second choice single, and I got a double in McCormick, so I'm sure there wasn't a lack of demand (first or second choice) for single rooms, hopefully everything works out for your daughter

Majolica · 07-02-2009, 10:08 PM

I am an international and I just got assigned into hereford complex (single). I feel absolutely miserable right now...

hazelorb · 07-02-2009, 10:28 PM

There are not enough double rooms for everyone who requests one to have one.
Assignment is based on lottery, so your name probably just came up first ThaRussian.

Stop being upset over Hereford. People are social there, since they all resent being put there. You'll have a great time your first year, and can live where you choose (maybe) 2nd year (there are similarly not enough Lambeth rooms for everyone who wants one for upperclassmen). If you're involved in a lot of things (clubs, etc) then you won't even be at your room that much!!! You'll have more in common and make closer friends with people from clubs than random hall mates anyways.

edit: My brother goes to UMich, and he similarly was put on "North Campus" in a half-sophomore dorm last year, and now is in a fraternity and has made great friends. He said he did not spend a lot of time in his room because it was a 15 minute BUS RIDE from classes (hereford is a 15 minute WALK). It is not the end of the world, think positive and have a great first year.

parent2009 · 07-03-2009, 12:04 AM

The assignment process was random, and your daughter unfortunately drew the short straw -- or at least the straw she didn't want. I can't imagine they'll change her room assignment without a better reason than she doesn't know anyone. That would open a real pandora's box. But remember that eighty percent of the rooms at Hereford are singles. The vast majority of the students there will be in the same boat as your daughter. She'll do just fine.

Kamaro1 · 07-03-2009, 05:18 AM

My D found out tonight she got into Hurtford after specifically requesting a double. She spent one night there during orientation and hated it-its a jail cell pure and simple. The dorms themselves look like a reform school stuck out in the middle of nowhere. She's been yanked around a few times by UVA and this was just the last straw. She's regretting her decision to attend and thinking she should have chosen GA tech or VA Tech. All my D wanted was a roommate and UVA pulls this crap.

meredesfilles · 07-03-2009, 09:27 AM

It is hard to change rooms.

My daughter was accepted ED (a few years ago).
Requested dorm (back when you could).
Was put in a far away location....when we pulled up to the dorm, there were letters missing on the on the sign on the dorm. We laughed about that.

She had a roomate who brought a hookah and smoked it in front of the dorm and may or may not have smoked it in the room, but she left it next to my daughter's bed and it smelled.

Tried numerous times to get a move. It did not happen. Even tried to get a single.

Long story short--she made friends, had fun...just didn't spend much time in her dorm room. The stories that she has about her roomate we now laugh about.

wahoogrl08 · 07-03-2009, 09:34 AM

Honestly, I see a lot of advantages to not having a roommate/being in a single. You don't have to worry about a roommate who snores all night, one that does things with his/her significant other while you are in the room, someone who opens the window in the dead of winter, and your son/daughter will certainly have more privacy, especially when it's late and he/she doesn't want to walk all the way to one of the libraries.

If you look at Hereford's website, demand for Hereford has increased this year so you have to understand that it may be difficult to accommodate everyone's first choice. It's a trade off of applying for a residential college with primarily (75%) singles.

But it is a social place...your son/daughter is not going to lose out just because they did not get a roommate assigned for first year. Have an open mind and give it a chance before you condemn it.

Wahoo2012 · 07-03-2009, 10:23 AM

Honestly, if you go into a single with the idea that it's awful and you'll never make any friends and you'll have a miserable first year experience, it'll happen that way. If you go in with an open mind and say, well awesome I don't have to worry about having an obnoxious roommate, I can decorate it the way I want to make it cozy and homey, and I am forced to get out and join clubs and hang out with a variety of people on my hall to make friends, then odds are you'll love it. Just take it as being given an opportunity rather than a jail sentence. Trust someone who had a future alcoholic for a roomie (who did open the windows in the dead of winter when I was the one sleeping by the window and who was a slob) that having a first year roommate isn't all it's cracked up to be. There's just way too much to do and to get involved in around grounds to worry about who you'll be sleeping with. And remember, your child won't be the only one in a single. All the other first years in singles will want to make friends and have fun just as much as yours

Kamaro1 · 07-03-2009, 10:39 AM

Appreciate everyone trying to make the best of a bad situation, but my D already had her Hereford experience at orientation. Seems ridiculous that she had to fill out forms as to "do you like to sleep late", hobbies, etc. for her housing form, specified ONLY double, and then once again she gets the UVA screw when they just say "nevermind" (just like they did with her school application--oops, an accident they say). Forgot that UVA--despite is reputation--is still a state school with ALL the problems attached to such. Future applicants should take note of this.

powderpuff · 07-03-2009, 10:40 AM

Is there anyway that switching with people on hoos-has-it can help?
I didn't live in Hereford, but I never really stayed in my dorm room except to sleep. I studied in the library all the time (still do).
People at Hereford seem to be happy though and good friends. I think they bond because of their situation.
Many kids move off-Grounds their 2nd year and will start to look at apartments in late fall. So keep that in mind. By then kids are figuring out who they might want to room with on or off-Grounds.
Wahoo2012 speaks with a lot of wisdom though, yes, Hereford will be just fine, don't despair, try to think positively.