<p>S2 has been accepted to Madison (yay!) and though we haven't gotten the housing paperwork yet, I've been reading about the learning communities. I'm confused about how it works. Do you just state the preference for that housing and hope you get assigned to it or is there a more selective application process?</p>
<p>Actually, there's something really interesting about the special communities, and Bradley and Chadbourne (the whole dorms) are considered as one of these communities.</p>
<p>Now, housing is done mostly random. It doesn't matter when you apply, get accepted, get your housing stuff in, whatever. It's random as long as you get it in by the housing deadline. When you do do your housing stuff, you go online and rank your preferences of the dorms, and you can change your preferences until May 1st or so. The really cool thing is, if you have one of the communities in your top three, like Chadbourne, Bradley, Adams MLC, etc., you will get to say right then and there, before anyone else is randomly chosen for their dorms, that you want to be in that community. At least, that's how it was done last year, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be done the same way this year. </p>
<p>Basically, if you want to be in that community, you can be in that community. Otherwise it's mostly random. You rank your preferences, but that's all you can do to influence what dorm you're in.</p>
<p>And there's really not much of a survey to match up roommates. I think the only thing is if you want limited visitation or not, but somehow, they tend to do a good job.</p>
<p>Good info above. Note what is involved in learning communities, realize there is an extra fee and sign up if interested in the particular dorm and l... c... List it/them at the top of your rankings. Otherwise just be sure to list most to least desired dorms in case you get unlucky and get one further down on your list. You will get a chance to revise your list next spring, don't panic if you realize you don't like your rankings. In May the computer will randomly pick students to be 1st, 2nd, etc and make assignments based on the available dorm rooms according to the ranked student list. They reserve at least half of every eligible dorm for freshmen so you don't have to worry that most of the dorm is returning students or that the most popular dorms will be filled with those students. </p>
<p>Pay attention to the contract due date, read the fine print about cancellations and rank dorms. Most people prioritize first with location- lakeshore or southeast- and then decide among the other factors (small/highrise, old/newer et al). Make sure the student, not parent, makes those decisions. It is ok to make suggestions and point out pros and cons from the parental viewpoint, but remember this is the student's life and choices. There is a wide range of choices, for every disadvantage there is an advantage for any particular dorm- it is a matter of personal preferences and priorities. I think Res Halls planned their programs well to ensure no dorm was far superior/inferior to any other one. Just about everything you can think of is found in the Res Halls website, read the brochure and look up room dimensions, etc. You can do Google maps and street search also for more info.</p>
<p>They found that random roommate matching worked as well as basing assignments on questionnaires (a parents forum thread details how different interpretations lead to mismatches- neatness and other).</p>