We are staying in the dorm. 
We have stayed at the A&M conference center hotel for previous visits. I recommend it if you want to stay in a hotel vs the dorm option. It is very nice and good location. Prices vary widely depending on room availability, peak days, etc. They do give discounts for Texas residents and military.
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Dorms are great! Iâve stayed there twice, for two different NSCs. Have fun renting those bikes are riding all over campus, which will be practically deserted. Check out the gardens in west campus
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For NSC, does anyone know the typical schedule? Itâs listed as 2 days, but do you typically arrive the day before and leave the day after? We would be coming from OOS, and Iâm trying to figure out which one actually fits into the schedule along with travel time so I can hold dates in my calendar. Thanks!
You arrive the day before because most NSC check-in is in early morning, you can leave at the end of second day.
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@hockeymom987 NSC is 2 days.
For example-if itâs M/T, you would want to arrive Sunday night, since youâre OOS.
Day 1 starts 8:30-9ish, lasts ALL day. Parents & students in large sessions, meals provided.
Day 2 is major specific, so students go directly to their major building. They meet with advisor in the morning, work on their schedules. Everyone breaks for about 1-1.5 hours for lunch (parents typically eat with their kids, go over the schedule), then every student at NSC registers at the same time, across campus, after lunch. Engineering registration always takes the longest, but day 2 is over anywhere from 2:30-4:00 p.m.
If youâre flying, you may want to schedule a return flight for the next morning, just so you arenât rushed getting to the airport (assuming youâre flying in/out of Houston or Austin).
Hope that helps.
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Completely unrelated question to the recent discussion but wondering if anyone knows how many freshmen classes are online only? My child is is looking at another large school and I was surprised to learn that several of the freshman core classes are taught only online. TIA
@LBML the 2 lower level Econ (Econ 2301, 2302) classes are always online. Most classes for minors are online, but a freshman wouldnât necessarily be in one of those.
Engineering ETAM year has no on line class.
Dorm question⊠My sonâs Phase 3 housing hasnât opened yet. He has only completed Phases 1 and 2. Should we be concerned? We paid the $75 on 2/1. Thanks!
@Lavalocks19 phase 3 is matching with a roommate, seeing potential roomie bios. Chatter on Parent pages is it hasnât opened up for anyone yet, or if it did, it was in the last day or so. Wouldnât be worried.
Paying 2/1 means heâll be pretty low in dorm selection, just being honest. If he can match with a roomie that has a much higher selection time, that would be great! Otherwise, just be prepared to have MANY dorm options. I highly suggest taking a dorm tour between now & April, literally ranking every single dorm.
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@Lavalocks19 , your student should get an email saying when his Phase 3 (Roommate Selection) will open up. Apparently, it varies by groups.
For instance, my daughter, in the Engineering Honors LLC, already had Phase 3 open up this past Monday. On Reddit, a poster stated that they read (on FB?) that someone elseâs will open up tomorrow (Friday 3/11).
Just be on the lookout for an email with your specific date.
EDIT: It was on the TexAgs forum that someone quoted the 3/11 date.
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What to do if the roommate goes with other student or even goes to other school? How soon should they complete this phase 3?
@ForU , yes, my daughter already finished her Phase 3 (searched database, found some good options, conversed via social media/email with various people to get to know them, committed to someone, and created a roommate âgroupâ to lock them both together). All done by the second day.
To be clear though, your experience will probably be a little different than ours. In my daughterâs case, since she had to pick from only Engineering Honors LLC girls, the pool was only about 50 people. So it was much easier to narrow down her list and come to a decision.
Iâm sure for the majority of folks, the roommate pool will be much bigger and have lots of good matches. So to answer your question of how soon you should have it done, well, it depends on how particular you are about who to live with and how anxious you are in finding the right person.
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Thanks for the replies! Iâm glad to know they are coming out in waves⊠seems to be a thing with A&M 
No stage 4 for LLC so good for her she is now done with housing. And thanks for sharing the detailed steps and insight, really helpful!
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My sonâs phase 3 opened earlier this week and I saw him log in and look at profiles of potential roommates. I think phase 3 opened for everyone who paid the housing deposit. Maybe make sure all of that is complete?
Phase 3 opened 3/7. My DD was able to get in on Monday, create a group and have her friend add herself to the group for roommate pairing. I think kids and parents got an email about it last week? We havenât heard anything about Phase 4 for actual dorm selection yet though.
@1stCollegeRodeo dorm selection dates will all come out at one time, usually April. Everyone will know a couple weeks ahead of time, when their time is. Ppl will post their times, so others can figure out which day is the first, to gauge what kind of realistic shot they have at getting the dorm they want.
It is quite common to get a slot during the school day-ours was during an AP exam-another friend had theirs in the middle of their grad ceremony. Not kidding. Dad had to sit in the car with his laptop. There is no switching time slots, but youâve got enough advance notice to make plans, if student will be busy (have parent or friend ready with log-in info).
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For us, the ResLife email (subject line: âPhase III Opening Soonâ) was sent to both my daughter and me (presumably because I co-signed) last Friday night, March 4, at 10:32 PM. Not an ideal time for email open rate, IMO.
In our email, it said: âPHASE III opens on March 7th at 9am and closes on May 3rd at 11:59pm!â
It makes sense for it to open for everyone at once. But since someone posted on another site that it was March 11 (couldâve been a misunderstanding) and Lavalocks19 saying theirs isnât open yet, I thought maybe LLCs might be different than the general population.
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I called and It turns out we didnât hit a button to âopt in to roommate selectionâ⊠Phew! Problem solved! Phase 3 is now open for us. So if anyone is in the same boat, that is how you fix it.
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