Parents of the HS Class of 2025 (Part 2)

Random WWYD question. My S25 has completely abdicated room selection for his dorm. His time slot is this week, mid-day, and he can’t get off work and has no access to a computer while working, so I’m selecting for him. He’s indicated that he’s fine with any room at all, truly no preferences. He prefers a general area of campus, and there are five identical dorms there. These five dorms tend to be the least popular, because they are the oldest and not particularly updated. But he loves the location and doesn’t care. Great! So why am I overthinking just picking something for him? Because that’s what i do. I overthink. Everything.

So of the five dorms, one is all men. I’m ruling that one out as it’s probably louder, messier and I think he’d like to have an easier way to make female friends. Then of the remaining four, it’s basically two sets of two.

One group has more recently updated bathrooms (but still hall style, and it sounds like the updates are just meh). The other group has extra large windows in the rooms. Here’s photos from the school housing portal page: Large window: Young Hall | Clemson Home | Flickr v. small window: Geer Hall | Clemson Home | Flickr.

Then, next question, what floor do you choose? The dorms look to only be about four floors. I’ve heard that the higher floors are not as noisy. The first floor is a definite no go, as it’s got a lot of other stuff in addition to rooms, and it seems too busy to be very appealing. All the rooms are air conditioned, so heat rising isn’t an issue. Thoughts?

This is one of the silly items I just ordered for my D21’s first post-college apartment. :slight_smile: Because she is just like me!

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It looks like neither of those halls has an elevator. When doing floor selection, I’d consider the reality of four flights of stairs for move-in/move-out along with daily coming and going from the room.

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I’d go for the large windows, 2nd or 3rd floor…not near the bathrooms if possible.

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Snort. My S25 gave me a Tshirt for Christmas with that on it… everyone in the family knows this is one of my rabbit holes…

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@Myoo - Definitely no elevators. I mentioned the carrying of stuff when trying to discuss this with S25, and pretty much got an “eh” response. I’m thinking that for move in it shouldn’t be bad as I assume they’ll have people helping (that seems to be the norm at most other colleges, but come to think of it, I haven’t see it mentioned on the Clemson page). Like when my S22 moved in to his freshman dorm, I didn’t carry anything other than my purse and one small bag. They had a whole cadre of students who just grab your stuff and go. I feel like a lot of my friends with kids already in college had a similar experience, but maybe I’m assuming too much? In terms of daily stairs, he doesn’t really mind. He’s had to run a lot of stairs for practice. I know that * I * would hate it though.

@beebee3 - I’m also a large windows person. 100%. My husband though was the opposite, thinking that the windows would just let in too much light when you’re trying to sleep. To my mind, the kid needs to get up, he’s not going to be sleeping that late that often, plus they come with blinds. Might as well try to brighten up the fairly ugly cinderblock walls with some natural light. But husband was ADAMANT that smaller window was better.

In looking at the floor plans, it seems hard to avoid being near the bathrooms (they appear to be built in the middle of the building and to have multiple entrances on both sides of the hall. Like I think i can tell what’s not right in front of the doors, but to really avoid them, you’d need to be at the end of the hall. My S22 had a room at the end of the hall, and he really didn’t like it, he felt it was more isolated and people didn’t walk by to chat. That was also my experience freshman year of college with an end of the hall room, so I’m maybe overthinking the desire to avoid the end of the hall…

You guys, this is just like the I Bought Four Fans debacle for S22. I can’t control anything when S25 goes away, and I know that, and that’s right and normal and good. So instead I’m obsessing over stupid little things in an attempt to make it As Nice As Possible.

Also, I don’t want him blaming me if the room sucks. I’m going to do my best.

Ok, then last WWYD.

When it’s time to select a room - do you pick one that is a good enough room and already has a roommate listed, and you can see the person’s info and they seem like a reasonably good match? Or if there’s a really good room but no roommate listed do you take the first slot, and just gamble that whoever takes the second will be a good fit?

I also like the big window! I’m going to differ from the others and say top floor so there’s nobody walking around above them

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I would pick the north side of the building as a way around this (and even in an air-conditioned building it helps to keep the room cool - for non-AC dorms it’s essential).

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Another overthinker over here,
I would choose one that you can see roommate info. Will be hard to really know if they are a match, but at least you can see if definitely not a match. Potential roommate I think much more important than some minor room differences.
I hate this kind of pressure. Not totally the same, but I tend to be the planner in my house and among a group of families we travel with, so the research and decision tends to fall on me to a certain extent. On one hand, I like control. On the other, I get super stressed that people will be disappointed.
Good luck.

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YES. About so many things, this is me.

I’m also leaning towards selecting for a room that already has a roommate so that info is visible. Never mind the potential minefield of me choosing S25’s roommate, and what a disaster that could be and how annoyed he could be if i screw up and make a bad pick. Sigh. I hate this. Scratch that. I appreciate that my kid trusts me enough to let me do this for him, and I love that he values my thought process enough to trust me to do this for him. But I really really hate the pressure of trying to not screw up.

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I’d vote for the big windows for natural light and the views. It looks like the entrance is actually on the second floor, so there’s probably more traffic on that floor as kids go in and out. I’d probably choose the third or fourth floor. My S21 and his roommate purposely chose a room at the end of a hall because it would be quieter but their floor was really social and they made lots of friends.

As for selecting a room, have a list ready of rooms that he’d be happy with - like Young 302/303/316/317/402/402/416/417. Then when selecting, you can check any roommate profiles in those rooms to see if they’d match up. If not, just choose an empty room. You might have to just go with your gut, depending how fast the rooms tend to get picked. Both of my kids had roommates already chosen when room selection happened, but it still felt like the Hunger Games at their schools when their time slot opened up to pick their dorm/room!

One more thing and maybe you’ve already gone down this rabbit hole - but search on YouTube for “Clemson room tour (dorm name)”. You can often find room tours that give you an idea of closet/storage space, views, etc.

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If he wants to be social, then location closer to elevators and where people naturally linger are the most advantageous for spontaneous social interaction opportunities.

Yes, I still recall this from my college social psychology professor, Dr. Barry Schlenker!

So lower floors, not top floors are also more advantageous for social interactions, and yes, avoid end of halls.

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Maybe he doesn’t need to know you selected the roommate? :wink:

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I think that @Twoin18 raised an excellent point about which way the windows face. If it faces west, then the room is going to be warmer in the afternoon and might cause difficulties if wanting to have enough darkness to watch a movie or similar. If it faces east, then “rise and shine!” with the sun or they may end up getting some less than attractive blackout curtains to block the sun which may not get opened back up much, if they’re like some males I know. So my vote is south-facing or north-facing window.

In terms of the size of window, I would see if there are any complaints about the insulation of the windows…meaning both noise and temperature. If folks are being loud outside, is that noise coming through? Are the windows single-pane or double-pane, and are they well caulked? Depending on the answers, that would affect my opinion. Additionally, if one dorm has the windows facing east/west while the other dorm’s windows are facing north/south, I might go with the north/south ones regardless of the size of windows.

And in terms of these pillows and shirts y’all are talking about, I resemble those remarks!

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While I like the idea of reading roommate info, everything may be moving too fast for you to overthink that. I would just pick the best room you see and run with it! Also, I would pick 2nd or 3rd floor. But the rooms could be taken while you are looking at them so go in with a plan and just execute and not overthink it!

At least this is what I’m doing with room selection later this week. My D25 will be at commencement rehearsal so I get to also do this for her.

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D25 will continue to work at the pizza sub shop she has been working at 5 plus days a week for the last couple of years for the summer. She has chosen to try out for the college dance team so she had to change her mandatory in person college orientation date. Her dad will be heading up for the weekend so she can attend auditions Sat/Sun and I will drive up Sunday and staying with her through Tuesday so she can go to orientation Tues morning. Genuinely not sure how auditions will go so hoping she gets in a good headspace in case its a no. There is a couple dance clubs and a dance minor as alternative options.

She graduates Fathers Day with a party a couple weeks after that. Finally got the bulk of my invites in the mail this weekend. The party date was on hold until after they released dance team audition dates and thankfully it didn’t change anything we had penciled in.

ETA: She knows her dorm already and her roommate (they have never met and live in different states). She will be on either floor 3, 4, 5, or 6 of a 7 story dorm with an elevator.

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Sorry for late response. That is exactly what D25’s big sibs did (S17, D19, D21). S17 was Berkeley or Bust since elementary, and D21 was UCLA Do or Die. Each decided to go the CC Honors program route and take a long shot (less than a 25% chance) of transferring. Thankfully they were successful. D19 wanted UCLA, didn’t get in, did CC Honors but still didn’t get in snd reluctantly transferred to Berkeley. She ended up happy she did.

D25 said she would do CC Honors program if she didn’t get into UCLA or Berkeley.

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The photos looked on the same.

Wonder if this transfer option is practically feasible/available for CS, CSE/EECS majors given how competitive CS admission is at top UCs?

Also wonder how much the ‘rigor’ of foundational CS and Math courses differs between CCCs and UCB/UCLA/UCSD?

Anyone has looked into and have thoughts on this route to top UCs for CS or CS adjacent majors?

Any specific CCCs that above route could work for (with the CCC offering comparable rigor for CS/core required courses)? We are in Southern California.

I think this could be a good backup option for S26. He is thinking of CS as his primary major but is a bit unsure and wants to explore other stem areas as well.

Thanks!

For CC UC Transfers, this link lists GPA admit ranges and major admit rates by UC campus.

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