I’m guessing he’s in Deming? S19 lived there as a freshman. He only lived there 2 quarters due to the Covid shutdown. One of his roommates is a lifelong friend along with many other guys from the dorm. As a bonus it is closest to the dining hall!!
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Yes! He’s in Deming. Thanks for sharing your son’s experience. Makes me feel a lot better!
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Judging by first and last name, S25’s roommate is from the same ethnic background as us, so I am DYING to connect with his mom! But very much like @OctoberKate 's S25, my son would kill me. So now I sit here and just quietly buy stuff…
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S25 got his second choice for his dorm, but MIT has a process for changing dorms in the first week, if he doesn’t feel it’s a good fit. He wants to live in a “sociable but studious” dorm. Overall, he is very nonchalant about the whole going-to-college process, and my stress level is rising given that it’s just three weeks away. On the positive front, I’m taking him to my place in NYC on Wednesday for a short vacation. He hasn’t been to New York since he was six, so I’m going to show him how to navigate the subways, etc. On a related note, I’m missing S23, as he is doing the required sophomore summer at Dartmouth and so is not home for the summer. Parenting blues! Maybe time for a margarita. . .
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I woukd imagine the “studious” part is a given for any MIT dorm, surely?!
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Wish me luck. I’ve been non weight bearing for the past 3 months due to a badly broken leg. I’ve been ordering things for school/dorm and having my guys take them downstairs to the guest room as they arrive. Finally feeling well enough to tackle the stairs. I have a list but don’t really remember what I’ve bought, so I need to go through everything and start organizing. What are the odds that my kids/DH put things in any sort of order? Im guessing it’s just going to be random piles of stuff. Sigh.
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Forgot to include that probably the prime factor for our closeness was that we all kept our doors open while we were in our rooms to help circulate air, and our lounge had a room air conditioner so we tended to gather there in the warmer months. Both encouraged interactions that helped build and strengthen friendships.
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Delete.
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What dorm did he get, and what dorm did he want?
Also, how do you have a place in NYC but he never got to go before? MY DS is also going to NY for a couple of days, but we don’t have a place there 
There’s a required sophomore summer at Dartmouth?
He wanted Simmons–I can’t recall the dorm to which he was assigned. Hopefully, he’ll find the place that’s best for him. As for NY, I teach there but live in the West half of the year–my son has been super busy over high school and never had a chance to visit me in Brooklyn during the school year. (Yes, all sophomores at Dartmouth have to live on campus in the summer before junior year. . . S23 is using the opportunity to take some courses outside of his major.)
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted in here. Summer is flying by, but it will be a few days at least until D25 gets her dorm/roommate assignment, they were told it will be early August. She is “low-key stressing” that she’ll get something less than desirable since she was late filling out her housing form.
She is in a middle ground, maybe, with choosing supplies/decor-- it’s not that she doesn’t care, but doesn’t want to spend time on her own researching matching decor. Which meant she was happy having me pick out comforter/towels/sheets that went with her favorite cozy throw blanket. But, she wanted to research/review/fulfill her list of necessary dorm supplies on her own. Which meant this weekend, we started from a list downloaded from the interwebs (I think maybe here? or another college advice website) and went over in detail (sometimes painstaking!) of what to keep/drop from that list. Then spent all yesterday at Kohls, Target, and Staples trying to fulfill it. (Not sure if anyone here follows TheHoldernessFamily on your platform of choice but today during a quick FB break I saw they had a video titled “My Wife Dorm Shopping” and it’s pretty much live footage of me from yesterday. Hilarious and worth a peek- pretty sure you can find it on insta/tiktok too).
Mr. Jthree thought we were overdoing the whole thing but I of course I loved every second of this mom-daughter time! She was so busy all throughout senior year that I’m soaking up the extra time with her before the semester starts.
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Worried for nothing. He’s on the 3rd floor in D’Attic, which has A/C. He just connected with one of his roommates through Instagram and is very excited!
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I’m at Clemson with S25 for a day and a half orientation. Positives: he still loves the place. Negatives: it’s freaking hotter than hell and I’ve walked 16000 steps today. Also, the stuff that’s they had booked from basically 2:00 until dinner (starts at 5:15) is either stuff we’ve done before or sessions that aren’t relevant (ROTC, travel abroad) so we’ve been killing time for three hours. Hence the steps. We’ve been walking. So much walking. And friends, I am too old and overweight and out of shape for this much walking when it’s nearly 100 out (before the humidity). I think the likelihood of me having any energy left for the parent social tonight is pretty much negligible. If it weren’t in the stadium, which sounds really cool, I’d just skip it. Also, sorry people near me, I’m pretty sure I smell like sweat. Great!!!
But back the the positives - he’s met some people in his (very small capped) major, they seem nice and he really does still feel like this is the place to be. He seems happy, and that makes me happy. Also, the drive only took us 8.5 hours, not the 9.5 I was expecting (I didn’t speed that much!)
And last positive - we just had some killer homemade on campus ice cream. Did I need ice cream less than an hour before dinner? On a day like today, yes. Yes I did.
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The BEST ice cream!!!
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We had 8a-5p orientation with s25 last week. It was very long, but had some good outcomes that showed my son is ready and taking things more seriously than I thought.
Noteworthy items:
- on the short tour at 815 am we were told it was the ‘campus of stairs’. It was already 85° and humid. We had only been there once before and had not realized but after a day of walking from bldg to bldg for presentation to presentation, they are right. It was death by stairs. My univ 2 hours away was on a HILL and there were no stairs - how are there so many steps at UNC Charlotte?
- My son said he met some pretty cool people (this is a breakthrough after a whole thing about only knowing ‘weird’ people that went there and not wanting to consider it earlier in the year. )
- He signed up for an upper class mentor! He told us a couple days later so we had nothing to do with that!
- He’s going to apply for the Emerging Leader Program where they learn networking, LinkedIn, facilitation, conflict resolution, have socials, and other programming and only take 60 freshman (out of class of 5000). He met the staff leader and made sure they knew his name. (We also found out about this the next day. We didn’t even know it was a thing!)
- My husband and I toured our son’s dorm and realized just how catered these kids are these days lol - ac AND laundry included WITH an app?!? What?!?
- We dropped off our son’s Medical POA to health center.
Went shopping for all the things with s25 yesterday. Perked him up a little to see all the new stuff we wanted to buy. He got into it at the end and decided he needed a new North Face bookbag and all new pillows after telling me he didn’t need anything all summer - lol
We’re 2.5 weeks til move in and my husband is finding every little thing to fix in our house while I am listing, packing, shopping online and eating my way through my emotions. But everything is fine. Totally fine 
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I love Penn and Kim so much! (Said as if I know them, lol – but I’ve followed them for a LONG time – I think their woke version of Baby It’s Cold Outside is still my favorite thing ever.)
Her giggling while he makes fun of her is just hilarious. But oh yes, the dorm shopping video was so so funny!
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Lucky!! My S19 was on the 2nd floor. No AC there!
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Yes! Thank you for the headsup. I forwarded it to tons of people already.
S25 received his dorm assignment, and he’s pretty happy. It’s a split room double (he has a medical accommodation) with another kid he met through the Conn 2029 Instagram page, who has a similar accommodation. They got the dorm they want and it’s on the fourth floor, near the elevator, but not TOO close to the elevator. He is obsessed with having a window seat.
Conn assigns multiple student mentors and a few have reached out already. We are mostly done with shopping. We did a TON in Japan, so much so that I had to buy two extra suitcases for the trip home! Everything was so reasonable (and lovely) there, from school supplies to clothes, so we went a bit bonkers. He is also bringing a gigantic bag of Japanese snacks.
We rented a mini van for move-in, but I am low-key worried about fitting it all in. S25 was gifted a mini fridge (!), and we had already pre-assembled a nightstand and a utility cart, which complicates things. I may have to ship a bunch of things ahead of move-in. Can anyone else share their plans for shipping items ahead (carrier, packing it up, etc.)?
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We did some shopping on Amazon Prime Days, and I have family in the same town where my kid is going to college, so we shipped there, and it will be in the garage to be put into the rental car once Dad & C25 fly in to move-in. Also, we’re allowed to ship direct to college after Aug 1, so the “heavy blanket” will get shipped there, and it’s ok if it takes a few days for the mailroom to sort themselves out from under all the other things getting shipped there, since the blanket will likely be tossed off the bed each night until the weather cools off.
We’re only shipping to the school if it isn’t really needed right away, but stuff we want to have on move-in day, that goes to Aunt Beth’s house for last minute car pickup. It is possible that there will be a “grand unboxing” at Aunt Beth’s house to get everything to fit into the rental car (or perhaps a last minute loan of a mini-van, but we’re hoping not, since dorm rooms are small and pre-furnished…).
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