Class of 2020 Decisions

daapmom
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 13:46:42 +0000

my daughter was in Daniels Hall for her freshman year on a DAAP floor. she had 1 room mate that went with the flow and was very nice. One made her own rules for the room and if you didn’t follow HER rules she would run to the RA and complain. the other room mate followed the pushy one around and did everything she did. My daughter was miserable. Every time they would meet with the RA the RA would take the side of the 2 girls because it was 2 against 1. It took us to contact the director of housing to have her moved to a different room. She was placed on a quiet floor in a single and loved it and even met her boyfriend. We were lucky enough we had funds available to purchase a home off campus on the bus route and within walking distance to campus. Our daughter lives there and we rent all the other rooms only to students. I thought that Daniels would be great because she would live on a DAAP floor and meet people which she did make some great friends but her living condition in her room was horrible. We live out of town and getting the phone calls from her in the middle of the night crying i felt totally helpless because she was so miserable. But like Balthazar said it is probably not the norm. Your child is required to live on campus their freshman year…I would suggest a different dorm than Daniels…not because of my daughter’s situation but because it was a bit run down from other dorms. I would suggest a suite type dorm. And if she wants to live off campus after her freshman year we found that renting a room in an apartment near campus that has amenities was so expensive. There are tons of kids that rent rooms in houses and if you do look to rent a room in a house it is lots cheaper. we charge our kids in our house $360/month plus utilities with off street parking. The areas to rent that are full of students and deemed the safest are Ada Street, Flora Street area. It is a 10-15 minute walk to the DAAP building and very safe.

My daughter loves being an industrial design major. She said it is tons of hard work. Lots of kids in her studios would pull all nighters but my daughter said it is not necessary if you keep up with your work steadily and focus on studying and not partying. Right now she is on her first co-op semester. She is loving her job but is kind of lonely because she doesn’t know anyone in the immediate area (she is working in Yonkers, NY) Luckily a girl she met in the dorms is working in NY city, and they have gotten together a few times and seen some shows on broadway and explored the city. But, she was so used to being in class all day long and then working on projects the rest of her day and nights that she doesn’t know what to do with her time at night and thus she is a bit lonely.

the only problem i have found with the co-op part of the program is many of the employers do not supply housing and you have to find your own. we found a great website is airbnb.com. we didn’t know the area that well and when our daughter accepted the position, she asked what were good areas to live in and her employer sent her a map and told her what areas were safe. We found her a great deal on the website that i mentioned. she lives in a really nice house with a couple and their young daughter and dog. she has the whole lower level of the house to herself and full use of their kitchen and everything she was needed was supplied. all she needed to bring were her toiletries and clothing. they supplied linens, towels, toilet paper, everything you can think of is supplied. the family only rents on this website and only to college students that are doing internships. they have been wonderful. when she moved into the house they drove her around and showed her where everything was and even did a test drive with her to where she would be working so she was familiar with the area.

your child will love UC…congrats and good luck.