<p>Much to my surprise my son has been assigned to a single room at his new college (Worcester Polytech). He’s in a building that is all freshmen, and the web site says it has doubles and singles, but it doesn’t say how many of each. Near as I can tell it will cost an extra $350/year.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know about this yet though, because he is in the Adirondacks and unless he calls home (which I hope he will soon) I can’t get in touch with him. I honestly have no idea how he’ll react to this news. When he left he was anxious to find out about his housing arrangements.</p>
<p>Anyway, I have mixed feelings about it. He’s a friendly kid, but will this be hard for him? It just wasn’t what I pictured! I suppose it is easier to move to a double if you hate a single, than the other way around. I don’t know!</p>
<p>Tell me some stories about your freshman in a single.</p>
<p>Doors on my older son’s hall were always open and there was a lounge on the floor, it was never a problem for him or anyone else who didn’t want privacy to find company. There was a complete feeling of togetherness on the hall, but the option for privacy existed if he wanted it. </p>
<p>Your S is a friendly kid, he’ll have no problems. And if he decides he wants to switch to a double, there is almost always a pent-up demand for singles so he shouldn’t have a problem.</p>
<p>Is he in a suite? My d and her nutjob roommate parted company at Christmas, so she was a single in a double room during the Spring semester and loved it. She was close with her two suitemates so it was a great arrangement where the three of them were able to basically ‘share’ the privacy/quiet on an as needed basis. </p>
<p>Even if there are no suitemates, freshmen are really encouraged by RAs to keep their doors open and mingle. My d’s whole floor were in and out of each other’s rooms constantly.</p>
<p>At most schools, singles are not available or rec’d for freshman. I think there is good reason for this and am surprised to hear that you S got a single without asking for one (or did he and you just don’t know…?). Anyway, my D’s floor was very quiet and no one kept his/her door open. It would not have been a good situation for her to be in a single. If your son is agreeable, he should consider a double.</p>
<p>My son was in a single on a floor with both doubles and singles. In the beginning of the year, everybody leaves their doors open and RA’s always have various little get-togethers for the floormates to meet and interact. Consider you son LUCKY. He’ll have no problem meeting people (even those with roommates are looking to meet other people, especially if they can tell right off the bat that they’re never gonna be BFF with the roomie). Later in the semester when those in doubles are having roommate troubles, your son will be the envy of everyone.</p>
<p>Stick with a single!!! You can always go outside the room for company, but there is no escaping a roommate inside your room. He’ll be fine, and other freshman will be in the same situation as he is in.</p>
<p>The way the Worcester dorms are set up (traditionally) I don’t think it will be much of a problem. I’d guess it would be like my freshman year, kids prop their doors open and go off and do things together as a floor. WPI is also so small it’s hard for me to imagine that you could possibly get lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody. You’re making me feel better.</p>
<p>When I called to find out how much extra it was going to cost she told me she had already received one call from a mom who wanted her kid taken out of a single and put in a double. (A shy kid.) So the randomness must be par for the course. </p>
<p>And, no, it is not a suite. I believe it’s just a hall.</p>
<p>Anyway, the idea is growing on me. I hope he calls tonight. Can you believe he is in a phone free zone?! There aren’t too many of them left in the world! (He doesn’t even have a land line - unless he walks a little ways to a public phone. I wish I was there!)</p>
<p>My S was in a single his freshman year. About half the frosh are at his school. He requested that dorm and we discussed the importance of keeping the door open and getting to know others. His dorm floor turned out to be very social–he had a great time but also enjoyed being able to get some quiet time when he needed it. It definitely was not a problem for him.</p>
<p>My D is also v. friendly:). She was very sad at first when assigned a single freshman year. Turned out to be fantastic. The next door girl, also a freshman, is her best friend still as they go into junior year. And for extroverts, having a place to get away turns out to be good.</p>
<p>My son was in a single all three years that he was in a dorm. He loved it. It certainly didn’t stop him from making friends. My D was in a double both years in the dorms, and her closest friends were her roommates–but she made other friends too. If your son is normally gregarious, a single may be to his advantage, by letting him retreat from the social scene when he needs it.</p>
<p>My daughter was in a dorm that was practically all singles, and about 2/3 freshmen. It was exactly as mootmom descibes her son’s situation. (I forget where her son goes – maybe it WAS her son’s situation.) The hall was a short pod with 6 or 7 rooms and a (men’s) bathroom, with another 6 or 7 rooms and (women’s) bathroom just across a central hall. The woman with the room across from hers left after a couple of weeks, and a woman she had befriended moved into that room. They were effectively roommates – if they left their doors open, they might as well have been in the same room, but each had the option for privacy. I wasn’t there that often, but whenever I was there were many people hanging out in the hallways and lounge areas. It was very social, just like college.</p>
<p>Her assignment wasn’t unexpected because her college puts about 15% of the freshmen in singles, and she had asked for one. That was her choice; I shared the OP’s concerns. But none of them were valid. She made tons of friends in her dorm, had a very close relationship with her sorta-roommate (including sleeping over on each other’s floor sometimes), and didn’t miss class because no one reminded her to get out of bed. (When she missed class, it was on purpose.) She got interrupted all the time, productively and not. She never ate alone unless she chose to. She got her fill of other people’s drama. And having some space that she alone could control was really a good thing. She would have done fine with any reasonably compatible roommate, but what she had was better.</p>
<p>If your son doesn’t want the single, and he is a financial aid recipient, it might be worth a call to the school to see whether they would adjust the financial aid package to compensate for the more expensive room.</p>
<p>This might motivate them to find a double for him somewhere.</p>
<p>But if he and your wallet don’t object, I don’t see a problem. The real losers, in my opinion, are kids who are assigned to small suites as freshmen because they only get to know the few kids in the suite. Kids in corridor dorms, regardless of whether they have roommates, have plenty of opportunity to meet other people.</p>
<p>My daughter will be starting this fall at a college that has quite a lot of singles in the dorm neighborhood assigned to freshmen. She requested one, got it, and is very pleased, even though she is paying the extra housing cost out of her own money.</p>
<p>It IS a blessing. Everyone above has pointed out some positives, but another one is that random roommate assignments can turn out great or not so great. Probably the great ones aren’t all that common and it’s more likely to get a situation that’s just ok or that could even be terrible. Both my kids had random roommates freshman year. D’s experience was awful, S’s was great. S’s sophomore experience was not great, but could have been worse.
They BOTH would have loved a single, particularly to be able to have some privacy occasionally. Both felt it would have made it easier to study. </p>
<p>weenie, here was my experience with the same worry and I think it might be quite parallel.</p>
<p>When my S was at Bates for his Katrina semester, he was assigned a single. On the one hand, we were thrilled they found housing for him at all. OTOH, I had your type of worries - (a) he was arriving about a week late, after the normal Freshman Orientation, and so the kids would have started bonding and socializing; (b) he’s a quiet kid; makes long-lasting friends, but makes them s-l-o-w-l-y; (c) he’s not a self-starter socially - has always relied on his friends to plan activities, corral him to go along etc.; and (d) he can be quite content to spend time by himself (a good thing in some ways, but feeding my worries about becoming isolated at school).</p>
<p>When he moved in, I pointed out to him (and he listened!? can you imagine?) that other kids (in singles/doubles/triples) propped their doors open with their large bottles of Tide detergent and that he should do the same. He also mentioned to me that he wanted to have a TV in his room and some of his good DVDs with him - so that he could invite kids in for those things. He may have taken his video game machine with him there too, I don’t remember. At the techie schools, this can be a key element of socializing.</p>
<p>Anyway, even with his personality type and being a latecomer to the school, he made a wide circle of friends quickly. He still stays in touch. It was a really friendly group, there were various floor meetings/hall meetings/dorm meetings. It worked out fine. And he loved, loved, loved the benefits of the single for privacy, sleeping and studying when he wanted etc.</p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>
<p>P.S. I remember carolyn posted last year that her D did something any kid could do: posted a sign on her door (they all tend to have those dry erase boards for messages etc) “I have candy. Come on in!” or something like that. So buy a ginormous bag of M&Ms for move in day and a big plastic bowl in the school colors or something :).</p>
<p>Jmmom: That is such a sweet story. Sometimes I forget about your son (and all the other kids) who dealt with Katrina. It is such a great story of resilience and courage! :)</p>
<p>Sounds like your son is outgoing enough that it should not be much of a problem. Own son had a roommate this past yr as a freshman and it was Ok. As it has turned out, he will be in a quad with this roommate and two other guys this year, we shall see how this works. I suspect, tho, that as a junior and most certainly as a senior, he will request a single. He has no plans to move off-campus and lottery system at his current dorm will probably not allow for him to be in a single until senior year. If he can get involved with some ECs he will be fine.</p>
<p>Your kid will be happy. Mine started in a quad (suite) with 3 sophomores.
After 1st semester they asked S to move out because another friend of theirs who’d dropped out came back to school. My S happily took the single the returning student was offered. Loved it. No more worries about sleep schedules or dealing with roomie’s mess.</p>
This was my experience, too – my next-door neighbor and I were roommates who happened to have separate rooms. In my dorm, people spent most of their time in the community lounge or just sitting in the hallways talking; bedrooms were mostly for studying and sleeping.</p>
<p>And weenie, my fiance’s younger cousin will be a freshman at WPI next year as well. We will have to see if they live in the same dorm!</p>
In my dorm, people spent most of their time in the community lounge or just sitting in the hallways talking; bedrooms were mostly for studying and sleeping.</p>