<p>Congrats to those NMF and good luck to those competing for scholarships. As I read about the weather issues in the future city of my DD I wanted to let you all know of something you might add to your child’s dorm list. A combination flashlight phone charger. I got ours at Costco last year and my DS at college says it has come in handy. You attach your phone to it and crank the handle which produces energy to light the flashlight and charge the phone. A lot of campuses may be without power in the next few days with the storm approaching the south and east coast. You can get some peace of mind that you can keep in touch with your child during a power failure. Another useful thing to add to the dorm list is one of those headlamps. Again I got a package of 3 from Costco for around $17. My DS said he used it when his dorm lost power. He could still read his text books and it helped when they had to walk down stairs. They do not use a lot of power. He could still use it in his hand as a flashlight when he didn’t want to wear it and it took a lot less space in his dorm room than a regular flashlight. </p>
<p>For those in the storm areas stay safe and warm. The news reports sound just awful. </p>
<p>@eyemamom – I read about your D’s Auburn decision; Congratulations! That is really great! Unfortunately, I cannot root for her team – we roll tide around here. </p>
<p>@1dilecon – We have been twice to CNU (once for open house and again a couple of weeks ago for Honors day visit) and will be visiting JMU’s accepted students day next week. JMU has a lot of spirit and the kids seem to be happy. And also there are great vegetarian options for son. CNU does seem like it will have a more personal feel; and being part of the leaders and honors programs will give him more opportunities I think. And the 60% reduction in core requirements is a big plus. </p>
<p>Should I be concerned that CNU doesn’t really have name recognition? We are not prestige seeking peeps, but I wonder if it does matter for an undergrad degree?</p>
<p>@scsiguru – I adored Roanoke but it is not one of son’s favorites anymore (even though he also received a hefty merit offer). The campus was very picturesque, the students seemed bright and had a community service focus, and I loved the way that they meshed up different disciplines for their core requirements. Brilliant! </p>
<p>Back in my day, roommates were assigned randomly - no one had a choice. And I HATED my roommate. HATED. She hated me right back. </p>
<p>So … I will always vote for the survey sites or matching through the college. If they had done very minimal matching back during my college experience, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to commit homicide during my first 24 hours on campus.</p>
<p>DD has “met” some accepted kids on tumblr … there’s a possibility of a room share there. And she’s home today from school w/ the flu (her sister made it through first hour and is on her way back home now … ugh) and will be signing up w/ the company who rhymes with BoomNerf today to see what happens with that. </p>
<p>In other news … I need to get on the ball with my DD15! Spring Break is next month and I have yet to plan the Collegepalloza '14 tour. I had DD14’s spring break 2013 mapped out in December of 2012! </p>
<p>It’s not all corn. She could very well be surrounded by soybeans. Or hogs. </p>
<p>My d is honestly looking forward to a random roommate. I suspect she may be the kid others don’t want to live with (we currently call her room “the landfill”). </p>
<p>@spritle I had similar concerns about CNU, but at least regionally it is known. </p>
<p>About the roommate surveys - I feel like there is so much they don’t tell you about a person that really you don’t know if you’ll get along until you live together. What if they chew really loudly, walk around the room naked, are sleazy with a different guy every night - that won’t show up on survey. So I was trying to discern what kind of people would do the survey, what kind would just go random. I’m almost thinking the more laid back folks will do random. I don’t know. I don’t want her giving up her top slot to go with someone she doesn’t really know anyway. My d has stars in her eyes that her and her roomie will be bff’s, though I’m trying to tell her that would be great, but it’s also fine to just coexist nicely. </p>
<p>@spritle It is true that CNU isn’t well known outside the south (I’d never heard of it, despite spending thirty years in higher ed), but so what? It is clearly very well regarded regionally, and since that is where most graduates are looking for a job, that is the reputation that matters. More important (in my opinion) is to look at the bottom line numbers of satisfaction and success, like what fraction of the first year class returns for sophomore year, and what fraction graduates in four years, and to try to judge that ineffable sense of personal fit.</p>
<p>Around here, we still are waiting on all decisions except a safety. Also no National Merit letter yet. Sigh.</p>
<p>Captain, D has been getting several emails (I think three in the last week alone) from the state school asking her to submit deposit and that it is a requirement for Admitted Students Preview day. I finally called them to find out the deposit isn’t required until May. </p>
<p>I feel like I am one of those violent volcanoes, do not show any signs of steam building up underneath and then one day finally erupt and confuse everyone around. I wish I was more like Hawaii Volcanoes that let the steam out continuously so everyone around is a bit cautious and are aware. I had one of those episodes yesterday with D. I mostly do not control D at all but at the same time I do not show that I am not too happy with grades and then finally explode one day. I don’t think that’s good parenting. Can’t help but worry when she is messing her chances of getting into a good school or getting scholarships. Hope these bright hardworking kids get their day finally and successful in real life.</p>
<p>In my senior year at college I hit the housing lottery for a triple overcrowd room. (Minimum of three students, maximum of 5 with its own bathroom and huge closets) Booked it with two friends, one of whom I knew was going to study abroad second semester. The intent was to have the HUGE room with one roommate the whole second semester. </p>
<p>We were assigned a transfer student as a roommate. My remaining friend and I called him “Sparky” for the same reason a tall person might get the nickname Shorty or a clumsy girl might be called Grace. We wanted him out. </p>
<p>We realized we couldn’t harass him into leaving without getting into trouble. My room mate and I decided we would stage violent (fake) arguments with each other practically every night, including breaking dishes. (We bought 10 cent factory seconds for this purpose) After about ten days he petitioned Res. Life to change roommates. My friend and I were referred to psych. services for mediation and anger management. We asked the counselor if, in fact, we had confidentiality. When he confirmed we did, we confessed. He kicked us out of his office and told us not to come back. Sweet Victory.</p>
<p>quagmiro - that’s too funny! I found a large flashlight for DS’11 this year at Home Depot that works on AA batteries rather than the large square one that’s expensive and hard to find. Assuming he hasn’t raided the flashlight batteries for xBox controllers, he should be all set. But they’re expecting snow and not ice in western Mass so he should be fine anyway. Big question here is school tomorrow or not!</p>
<p>Our DS-2011 used his school’s roommate matching service and it worked out fairly well. He and his roommate stayed as roommates for freshman and sophomore years with no problems. The key was their sleeping hours and ability to work in the room with earphones on. They are not best friends but do have a cup of coffee together once in a while. If your kids have the opportunity to use the roomie matching service at their school of choice, I say go for it.</p>
<p>For another datapoint, my DS’11 used the school’s roommate matching and it worked out fine. He was never friends with the roommate, but they were compatible/considerate enough to co-exist peacefully. They parted ways after freshman year. </p>
<p>@Quagmiro BEST STORY EVER! I wish I had been as creative and gotten rid of one of my 2 roommates (in a 12 x12 triple)!</p>
<p>@ordinarylives - sounds like our Ds should be roommates. We call it the “black hole” but I like your term better.</p>
<p>@eyemamom. I think the matching service sounds like a good idea. Clearly not foolproof but at least she could avoid some basic incompatabilites. So sorry about your cat:(.</p>
<p>My D is also hoping for a BFF roommate, but I think it’s actually better to just peacefully co-exist. </p>
<p>Congrats to the NMF finalists and those with new scholarship offers!</p>
<p>Just got the message that school has been cancelled tomorrow due to the weather. This is the 5th cancellation in 3 weeks! I am really tired of the cold.</p>
<p>Still laughing over your roommate solution, Quagmiro! Hopefully the roommate matching services and Facebook alleviate a lot of that need these days although I’ve read some horrifying stories here on CC. </p>
<p>Congrats to all of the NMF! </p>
<p>Hugs to you eyemamom. It’s never easy to make that decision.</p>
<p>Spygirl hasn’t talked about a potential roommate, decor or really anything college related. She seems to be in a holding pattern until all of the decisions come out in late March.</p>
<p>@Overtheedge – Not only the cold but the snow days would get to me eventually. I cleaned around here like a madwoman yesterday, so happy that everyone was at school and work :)</p>
<p>School has been cancelled here for tomorrow as well. We may as well just say we’re closed for the rest of the week. We’re north enough to actually get snow, but southern enough to panic and run around like henny penny when of all shocking things, it snows during the winter. </p>
<p>@Quagmiro What a great story! I read it out load to my husband and we both laughed!</p>
<p>Roommates are hard - DS’12 had total random freshman year and did not connect at all and sort of picked someone for sophomore year and has not really connected with them either.</p>
<p>As for DS’14, we are in a total senioritis zone after getting into his ED school. Missing classes (allowed at his school) and deciding what work he wants to do or not. So far he has managed to pull out grade that won’t put him in any danger zone but it is so calculated that it bugs me! He is going to Harvard Model Congress in about a week and I am hoping he is doing enough prep so that he will feel good about his participation! I feel I have to let go and let him do his thing but it is very hard! I know nagging him at this point will not help him at all but it is very hard to keep my mouth shout!</p>
<p>It is nice to hear about all the positive news and things to come for a whole lot of people on here! </p>
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