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Agree with the post from @TLD1267. My eldest is a senior at UConn. Freshmen who are not placed in Honors housing or in a Learning Community are placed in housing by the residential life office over the summer and have no say in where they live. Beginning the following spring, students wishing to continue to live on campus participate in the housing lottery which is based on the total number of credits you have as of the end of the just-completed fall semester.

Thanks for the details on housing.

@JerseyMom2022 …we are from Jersey too. My daughter has never received Merit $ or Financial Aid, but 2 of the 3 years she did receive Grant $. We found out in March both times, or later…maybe when they billed us. I cant remember cause we got ZERO this year. It was a nice surprise, It seems to still be based on Fafsa.

Ugh! We’re screwed! We don’t qualify for needs based at all. University of Delaware gave her $48,000 spread over four years. Temple gave her $36,000 spread over four years and she might also get the portfolio scholarship. Rutgers gave her nothing but they’re still the least pricey. I am hoping Syracuse offers something but they don’t even send decisions until the end of March. So more nail biting.

Your daughter has a high act score and GPA, you may still get good merit from UCONN. Hang in there, it is so hard to wait wondering if they will receive money. I am going through it again with my second son and I know the feeling!!

My son is currently a sophomore at Storrs and most of my family went there years ago, though we are now OOS (NJ). He started in engineering and moved to Econ. Rushed fraternities. We are out of state and he did get $15k merit with a 29 ACT. His HS friend is a freshman and also got merit.

Similar story to the OP - didn’t quite get enough elsewhere or didn’t get major but UCONN worked out of the gate.

1 recommendation. Get involved right out of the gate 1st semester freshman year. The campus is quite nice with acedemic core surrounded by dorms so it's dense and well planned. Doesn't sprawl like UMd, MSU, etc. and the small town area they added recently really helps. But it is isolated and out in the woods. So, you have to make it work 95% of the time with the people and places on campus. Imagine being on a LAC out in the woods - but with 20,000-ish people and big school resources/spirit. A club or two will make it work much better.

2 recommendation - be prepared. It's hard. Honors cutoff was 1400-ish recently. All smart kids now - not as much of a party school it was when my siblings went.

Let me know if I can help.

Agree also with @TLD1267 and @skimomof3 about housing.

A lot of freshman the last two years were Towers, North, NextGen and honors housing. Not sure about northwest. I know a lot of the sophomores tried to get into Northwest and Busby suites which are nearby.

Towers is more or less one corner of the campus with the Greek housing and so it is a longer walk to everything but they have their own cafeteria which is good. The rooms are about the smallest we’ve seen anywhere but they don’t triple the doubles like at other schools which is a plus. And with the corridor style housing and smaller building, the floors were tight knit groups. If you loft one and make the beds an L
the smaller rooms work much better.

Honors housing choices are much better as are the LLCs in Next Gen. That’s definetely a nice dorm but be aware that not all LLCs are in next gen. Recently Honors has been in Shippee and I believe Buckley which are closer to the shopping area. Although these aren’t the nicest dorms Honors can get into South and Next Gen sophomore and junior year and those are better dorms both conditions wise and location.

In general AP classes help a lot with both the complicated gen-ed requirements (differ by college) and with housing selection and parking. But you need quite a few AP Credits to move up the lists (below)

http://admissions.uconn.edu/apply/transfer/transfer-credit/AP-IB-A-level-credit

Can Freshman choose roomates? Are there wellness dorm opportunities?

I don’t recall wellness housing though UCONN is very good about unique needs like a companion animal.

The housing page On LLCs and other special interest housing lists an additciton recovery option but not wellness options per se.
https://reslife.uconn.edu/special-interest-housing/

You can ask for a roommate but it’s not guaranteed. See the student handbook. But check back because the new handbook isnt out yet
https://reslife.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1534/2017/10/2017-2018-New-Student-Guide-10.25.17.pdf

Wellness was in reference to substance free as in no drinking or other substances. We have seen other colleges with that option.

@TLD1267 - sorry for the ignorance, but what is grant money and how do we look for it? We don’t qualify for financial aid either and weighing all of our options…

For the poster that asked about hotels: there are plans to build a hotel in downtown Storrs area.

We stayed at the Best Western last time. This time I want something closer to campus. There are no hotels right downtown? Planning for admitted students day.

@3boyshouse …it does describe it on the UCONN financial aid page…we got a University Grant. The best way I can sum it up is, if the university has $ after giving out merit $, the can gift a student a grant…it is still based on your EFC…as I saw my grant go down over the last 3 years… I do not know how they decide who gets grant $, out of state vs in state, if GPA, or Act scores matter. In my opinion, it will be wiped out now, as there have been huge budget cuts passed in CT. But my fingers are crossed. If it is offered it will be on the Student Admin site, where you check for acceptances…listed along with other loans that you may be offered…so you should know in March.

JerseyMom~ there are no hotels yet in downtown Storrs. There are a few Bed and Breakfasts…The Fitch House and Stone Arches which are on the same road as Best Western but closer to campus. There are some hotels in Vernon and Manchester which are right off off 84. Vernon is slightly closer, but Manchester has more restaurants and shopping.

Isn’t Nathan Hale on campus? Looks nice but pricey.

Nathan Hale is pricey but is on campus and a short walk to the bookstore, Gampel, etc. My suggestion is that if you are seriously considering UCONN spend the extra money, stay at the Nathan Hale and spend more time on Campus and less going back and forth. The Best western is 10min away and the hotels in Manchester are 30min. Nathan Hale also allows kids to go out at night and walk around without you. There are even some people who dorm in the hotel so they might bump into students.

They did a good job at accepted students day. They got all the kids and families into Gampel -got to be close to 10,000 people. Then they trotted out the Women’s hoop team and NCAA championship trophy they had won just days before. That makes an impression. Explained why they did one big day versus several smaller ones

But what really clinched it for my son was that the campus was busy and he felt like he fit in with the people he saw just walking around. The accepted students day is good this way. Everyone there at once. Another reason I suggest spending more time on campus versus traveling to the hotel offsite.

Unfortunately, accepted student day falls on the day after my son’s senior prom. We are about 3.5 hrs away from UConn, so that will be a no go. Planning To do Husky for a Day if he gets in.

Husky for a day was nice. Helped crystallize my daughter’s decision to apply