Oldest son to be starting fall 2019…all of this now is so different than when we went to school…
He’d love to try to start meeting people ahead of time and possibly seek a like-minded roommate…he’s on an Instagram and Facebook group for class of 2023…
Any other suggestions? Or are we pretty much doing okay?
The Facebook group is a great place to start. However, many students go random and let the process play out on its own. My daughter got a roommate assigned in her Scholars group that she considered choosing as a roommate after talking on Facebook, which turned out to be a disaster. Her next roommate was random and was a dream. They are still very close to this day (2.5 years later).
Ohio State advises students not to pick their roommate. They have students fill out a pretty extensive survey and matches them. Both my kids had really great (for them) roommates. They do a really good job at pairing people or at least a better job than a student can usually do on their own. They pair thousands of students each year - and have a lot invested in making sure it’s the best match possible. Both my kids decided to room again with the same person tOSU assigned them.
Thank you so much @bucks724 and @BuckeyeMWDSG. This was so helpful. That was the direction that I was leaning in, but he’s watching friends heading to other schools picking roommates ahead of time so he was starting to peruse Facebook. I am going to encourage him to wait. Wasn’t sure how comprehensive the survey was but now I’m sold??
@BuckeyeMWDSG When do you fill this extensive survey out? I just completed the housing application and they only asked 5 questions and had me write a little description of my hobbies. Is this what you are talking about?
It is only those five questions now and people that match 100% are paired first, then near perfect, etc. I wasn’t aware how much it changed, I recalled a much longer questionnaire more similar to a personality test about tidiness habits, conflict resolution style, etc. Both my kids had good experiences with their room mates assigned by housing.
Yes! So surprised that it was so few questions. What my son did like is you can actually view some matches and still have til June 1st to actually enter a roommate request.
Another question. Is it true that most incoming freshmen end up 4 in a room?
You can see the residence halls, rate by room type in each building, floor plans, etc. https://housing.osu.edu/roomsearch/ although the floorplan for morrill/lincoln doesn’t depict the common area the suites are adjacent to, but the 360 view does
Both my kids lived in south campus which is mostly doubles and ended up in a double as freshman.
Taylor on north campus has nearly as many quad rooms as double rooms, so the math would work out that most people in that building would be in a quad vs a double.
@mommamo1
Many freshman end up in quads. Once the new dorms were built it seems that everyone thinks north campus is the better place to be. Incoming freshman hear this, then request north. Problem is there is very limited space for incoming freshman in the new dorms after sophomores pick. That leaves all of the north quads.
There are a lot more doubles on south so requesting south may decrease the chances of those quads.
For what it’s worth, my child lived South freshman year then moved to a new dorm North sophomore year. He really missed south campus.