If you don’t find a roommate on your own by the 15th, then you get later housing selection. The roommate groups all go first, then individuals. As an individual you will then be able to either (a) take the first bed in a room, and hope that whomever comes later to take the second bed happens to be a good fit or (b) take the second bed in a room with one person already in it - at which point you can try to look up the “profile” of the person already in the room to see if they are a decent match (my kid really only cares about if people have similar sleep schedules, noise tolerances, and are “medium level” for neatness (e.g. the obvious super neat freaks are nixed, they would be too stressful for him)). Of course, in the time it takes you to look up the profile, someone else could’ve taken that room out from under you if it’s a good room.
It’s the most annoying thing, and I’m particularly frustrated that kids who haven’t managed to find someone on their own go to the back of the line. If I were queen for a day, I’d make it so that you have until May 15 to find your own roommate if you want. Then between then and the date that the housing picking time slots open, the school uses an algorithm to match everyone who is left. Then all roommate pairs - whether self-identified or matched - are able to follow the same priority schedule for picking rooms. But sadly, I am not queen for the day.
The willingness to have the old-school hall bathroom (not the new hall pod things that I’m still struggling to visualize) is what’s making this delay easiest for S25. We’re told that the suites all go first. Ok, he doesn’t want one. He’d like the pod bathroom, but he’s perfectly happy to have the hall style, and perfectly happy to have the oldest of the dorms because their location is best for him. So we’ll see how this goes and just hope he doesn’t get placed with someone TOO incompatible (and selfishly, I really don’t want him placed with a gamer, because it’s already too easy for him to be drawn into too much computer time, and in a perfect world, I’d like him placed with someone who lives within a few hours - we know we won’t be able to get him home for Thanksgiving, it would be nice if he hit it off with roommate and could join them.)
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Good luck! Hope he finds a great fit! (Or at least a tolerable one!)
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Well, as soon as my daughter started the placement test she hit some questions on topics her high school chem class had never covered. She got flustered and managed to miss the chem placement cutoff by one point. Poor kid, but maybe it’s better for her to fluster now than later. It looks like she can do online modules over the summer to place out of the course she just placed into.
I don’t know whether it’s worth it for her to try to retake the math placement exam. I’m thinking she should maybe wait for AP scores and deal with it then if there’s still a problem.
Good luck to your son on IB Analysis!
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D25 got off the waitlist for UCSB this afternoon. So, she ended going 3 for 4 in her applications. She didn’t get into Berkeley, which she was over the moon about. She’s not a fan for a variety of reasons. She’s sticking with UCLA (her dream school), but if you’ve ever get a chance to visit UCSB, please do. It literally sits right next to the Pacific; you can walk down to the beach and surf before or after class. Many dorm rooms have ocean views. Beautiful campus. D25 is the baby, so we are officially done with undergrad applications FOREVER.
She is sorting through roommates via Instagram (there is a page for them, apparently). She got her dorm, which luckily won’t be a bad walk to class. All the UCLA dorms are up on “the Hill.” It makes for great social atmosphere, but it can be a long haul if your dorm is higher up on the Hill.
I need to check when she has to sign up for class.
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Oh, how discouraging, especially for her to know she was so close. Ugh.
I do hope she’s able to put it in her rearview mirror, though, and focus on the last AP exam and the concert. Knowing how she felt good about the AP Calc exam, I would probably be hesitant to bother with another try at the math placement exam.
It is so helpful to know about the summer modules for the chem stuph, though, and it sounds like a really good option. I think S25 is planning to take the chem placement tonight, assuming his brain isn’t toast after the first part of the IB math exam 
. It wil be good to tell him about the module options if he needs to do that, too. Thank you for mentioning it!
Hoping everyone here has a good day with good news for kiddos, whether that’s feeling good coming out of exams, finding roomies, enjoying graduation, or just looking forward to a more chill weekend. Good luck! 
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Cap and gown is here. Stuff is getting real.
AP Stats teacher has as a final presentation for senior students to present on their intended major and minor in college and the courses they will have to take in order to obtain them. (Juniors have to present on two colleges they are considering, the average admission stats, what majors they are interested in at said college, and why the Juniors want to attend.) I’m like, awwww. That’s so relevant to tapped out seniors!
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@chicagoshannon - S25 does have a summer reading assignment, although, unsurprisingly, I don’t think he’s figured that out yet (Somewhere We Are Human, an anthology of essays, poetry, and art about immigration). It actually looks quite interesting and I may pick up a copy for myself.
@Kumihama-Cho - Congratulations! Sounds like it was a lovely day.
@OctoberKate - It is pretty common for people to co-host parties and/or to go from party to party. I like your idea of Chipotle GCs. I think that would be a hit with my kid and his friends for sure. I don’t know that people bring gifts to all the parties though unless they are super close to the family.
I’m also 100% with you on the advantage of a communal bathroom for boys. I think my kid was keen on the idea of a suite bathroom for a short time until he realized he’d have to clean it. Not his strong suit.
Cap and gown arrived this week for him as well! Hopefully he comes home with a yearbook sometime soon? He had senior night for track last night, which was fun. I embarrassed him with a few silly gifts (Fresca and gummy bears) and flowers, which he already said he is giving to his GF. Things are getting real. He’s scheduled his pre-registration advisor meeting and is going to spend some time checking out the available classes. My husband and I have had a blast looking at classes figuring out what we would take - but then reminding ourselves not to talk about that in front of him so that he forges his own path. He’s got to schedule some time to take his math placement exam, ideally next week before things get crazy with prom and graduation. We’ve started talking about the logistics of getting him to school. All I can say is thank goodness there is a Target in Northfield.
And I signed up for my 30th college reunion - yikes! We weren’t able to have the 25th because of covid, so turnout for this one is going to be high. Mixed feelings about returning to campus, since I have mixed feelings about my alma mater, but it will be good to see some of the people again for sure.
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Things feel like they are finally winding down with school here, even though there are still two weeks left for S25 to attend. He took AP Physics C - Mechanics exam and his college calc final yesterday.
Today was supposed to be Physics C - E&M AP exam, but he ended up deciding yesterday to not take it. He self-studied for both physics exams, and ultimately did not get as much studying in for E&M and he did for Mechanics, nor did he feel like he understood it very well. As much as it pains me to “waste” the money we spent on it, he felt like he had little chance of passing. And by not going, he can go to a special event his favorite computer science teacher was having for graduating seniors, which sounds much better to him than struggling through an exam. He has a presentation tomorrow for an independent study project he did in computer science with a community mentor, and then that’s it as a far as “big” things! He is feeling so ready to be done.
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Just curious, why did she apply to Berkeley if she was ‘over the moon’ about not getting in?
So she applied to only 4 schools (all UCs?) and really disliked one.
Those are all crap shoot schools so it’s great it worked out for her and she got into a school she liked. Hope she enjoys UCLA.
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And I’ve now found that the roommate selection had to be done by noon, and not midnight. Oops. Guess he’ll get what he gets.
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Yesterday was S25’s first day really “off” with no commitments. When I got home from work he was already complaining about how bored he was. Lord have mercy. It’s going to be a long summer. I want him to find a job, but I think I will likely have to manage the process. (And I really don’t have the time or energy to do that.) We leave a week from Saturday for two weeks in Japan, so at least he will have that to occupy him. And then he starts Calc II at a local college from July 7th to August 7th. The class is 5 days a week, so I think it will keep him busy. I told him to reach out to friends to see if anyone has any job leads and/or come up with a list of other things he wants to do this summer. I would like him to work, but I’m also fine if he wants to just enjoy this last bit of time off before college.
Can’t wait to hear about everyone’s graduation ceremonies! Congrats!
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I think my kid has a summer job, phew. It was a confusing process where we couldn’t quite tell if they were waiting for an assignment, or waiting for an offer but they were invited to training in a few weeks, and said they will be added to some scheduling platform this week.
I am still not sure how many weeks they will get (it is a camp, and recently expanding so may depend on sign-ups) but I am glad it looks like it will work out kid will get some spending money and another employment experience, if short.
Also, it would be GREAT for my younger kid too, so may be an “in” for them to apply in future.
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Graduation vent: S25 is missing a medal and honor cord that he earned. Apparently the school didn’t have enough. They thought it would be a good idea to pass them out to only some students. My student wasn’t one of the lucky ones, I guess. They have ordered more, and they “hope” that they come in this week. Graduation is Monday. Sigh.
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With travel and dealing with the tariff situation, I’ve been away from CC for a while and just catching up. Congrats to your son! So exciting.
The Director of Admissions for Conn College is frequently on YCBK podcast frequently and seems like he is genuinely interested in the kids that are accepted to CC and that the college goes out of its way to create a deep caring community feel. Good luck to your son on his next phase of life!
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Feels like the kids could work out some sort of “pass the cord/medal back” system from the front of the alphabet to the back of the alphabet, so they each have it on for the picture while getting their diploma. And then the school only needs to give the replacements to the folks at the beginning of the alphabet. 
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at min they should figure out a way to have cords for the “grabbing diploma” shot and for a few minutes for pictures at the end..
Our kids school doesn’t really have a big "cord’ tradition - not sure there are any? NHS get a special thing, but I think that is it. simpler IMO
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Gap and gown pick up was yesterday. They’ll get their cords and such at awards night I think.
Last AP test is tomorrow and next Friday is their last day. They have senior sunrise or something with a bbq and then leave around noon I think. Prom is the 30th and graduation the 5th. D25 has something going on every night until prom. It seems to be all fun things though so that’s nice for a change.
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My D got her first choice of dorm! Yay! Now hoping for ideal suite mates.
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We finally came to the end of our college application journey. S25 turned down a waitlist offer from Brandeis. Now he just has two proms (and two promposals are being planned), some school busy work, and lots and lots of parties to attend. I am happy he can truly relax now, and I also want it all to slow down.
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