Does anyone have a good idea of what kinds of housing options are likely available to my daughter if she applied August 9? She feels like it’s early enough she should have plenty but it seems so many people apply super early. I am suggesting she focus first on roommate and then on housing because I worry if she focuses on finding someone who also wants to live in high rises for example… she might miss out on connecting to someone who right now thinks they want to live in DH or Core for example. Whereas who knows if those are even options? I guess if you have a first, second and third choice going in you should be okay? She plans to rush and therefore was thinking Manning and high rises but I assume even McCabe or Shoeboxes are options and then what do people think of Gressette for community… I think she likes to have quiet sometimes but doesn’t want to live in a dorm where theres a lack of community or too many closed doors.
My D is searching for a roommate. If that does not workout, she will go “random” and let the school find her one so she can live where she wants. We are OOS so meeting someone is not easy
@katcap Housing is a tricky situation because you may think you found the perfect roommate, but they would rather live in a different area than you or in a hall that isn’t a good fit for you financially. I would recommend, if your daughter is set on the high rises, to articulate that to any potential roommates she is chatting with, to ensure that their plan matches hers; if she (and you!) are okay with her living in any of the aforementioned halls, then I think it shouldn’t be too hard to find a great roommate!
Manning and shoeboxes should not be a problem with an August 9th application date. My daughter loved living there! She did join a sorority, but she also met so many neat girls just in the dorm that she is great friends with.
Also, please take a look at the costs for housing. They fees differ very dramatically (as in thousands of dollars difference) for the different dorms.
In order to request a roommate for housing, do they have to apply for housing and pay the fee?
@jellyobrien Yes. They can go in an explore other potential roommates profiles, message them etc and once they know who they want their roommate to be, they create “roommate group.” They must be matched up with their potential roommate by the May deadline, usually around the 15th.
@katcap - Wow, your daughter applied August 9?! Thats super early, no? My D applied in December and I thought that would be early enough for her to get a first choice dorm but now I’m worried we applied late and will get last choice of dorm…what do people think? Is an apply date of December considered early, mid, late?
@rghaze I can’t speak except as to anecdotal evidence. My son applied August 1. The other families that we know all applied by mid September at the latest but most applied in August. But we are in state and only a short distance from Clemson. Everyone knows to apply early for housing. Not sure it is as common to do so outside the area.
@rghaze…At the risk of adding stress to what’s likely already a stressful situation, I have to say that a December application will probably rule you out of especially the most popular dorms (i.e., Douthit and Core-Gressette/Cribb/Deschamps.) Having said that, if your DD finds a roommate with an early application date, that date becomes the determining factor. (The two of them will indicate their connection in the housing application online, and when the roommate makes her selection it will automatically allocate that room to your daughter. The details beyond that escape me but they’re on the housing site somewhere.)
My DD applied on August 8 last year, and I recall her opportunity to select a room was at 5:00 on the second day of general selections. Her roommate applied on August 1 and had a slot around noon of the first day. They wanted to be in Core A (Gressette) and even with the roommate’s early slot got the last of their 3 choices.
While it’s easy for me to say…just like everything else, try to be Zen about this. It’s not as though missing out on your preferred location means you’ll be consigned to a dungeon in some far away location. My DD spends about as much time hanging out with friends in other dorms as she does in her own.
Anyone have experience or comment on Gressette? My D coming from OOS will not know anyone. I am concerned about the comments on closed doors in core but not sure if this applies to Gressette too or just the honors dorms. Any help would be appreciated. She is a great kid and takes her school seriously - not the most social but wants to make friends.
I am interested in feedback on Gressette as well. My daughter also OOS from CA and didn’t get into Honors but has started the appeal process. I share your concern dadfromca as well about the closed doors not being conducive to socializing.
Gressette is the same as Honors. Closed doors.
As I noted above, my DD is in Gressette. We are OOS, and she knew all of two other people on campus prior to arriving. She found her roommate, an SC resident, via Facebook.
Yes, the doors all close automatically, but most of the kids don’t lock them (actually tape over the lock…despite parental admonitions to the contrary!) and even occasionally prop them open with doorstops, although housing discourages that also. There are study lounges/TV areas at both ends of the hallway, and the kids tend to congregate there quite a bit. She generally knows most of the kids on her floor, and they seem to all get along well and spend time together socially (obviously some more than others.) As an engineering student, she debated the whole RISE question quite a bit. For her the decision to be on a floor with non-engineering students has enabled her to find an escape from the intensity of her classes, and when she needs to study with like-minded students she typically joins a group of friends from her classes at the library (or just studies in her room.) She’s never complained about noise or distractions from not being surrounded by other engineering students (and in fact commented recently that she never even hears the kids next door when they run the vacuum.)
Are their any roommate search groups for the guys? The Facebook group we found looks like mostly girls.
I think most guys go random. One less thing to deal with…
And random isn’t a bad thing. My oldest(at a different school) thought she found the perfect roommate going into her Freshman year(same sport, same background, same major, even liked the same colors) and it turned out to be a nightmare. My D ended up switching dorms just before Spring semester. Never spoke to the roommate again. But she’s still friends with the girl from the next dorm(2 years later) and her other friends who went random are still rooming with their Freshman year roommate but most who researched and chose their roommate are no longer friends. Just too similar and get on each other’s nerves.
So I’m ok with my younger D going random.
Does anybody’s roommate searches not work? Mine doesn’t work.
My son just got back from Tiger Days. He got somewhat excited (as excited as my laid-back son gets, anyway) about RISE. His application date was 8/24. Does anybody know whether that will be near the top of the pecking order for rooms? It feels like it was pretty early, but also realize that it was 3 weeks into applications being available…on an application that was pretty easy to fill out. Thoughts?
@HokieCrazy, my D was equally excited about CUBS, after our visit on Friday. Admissions said that kids who have indicated a LLC on their housing app would have an earlier selection time/day. Can’t remember the exact dates, but I think it was at least few days earlier.
@HokieCrazy and @happylakeside the appoint dates for LLCs are May 20th and 21st; the rest of first year housing is May 26th-29th.