<p>Last year as a freshman there was much drama for my daughter during spring break when she was all set with a group of 6 girls for a suite when one of the 6 girls joined another group and my daughter and her friends had to scramble to find a replacement.</p>
<p>This year once again during spring break the roommate situation is unsettled. Her friend is currently in a group of four roommates. One of these girls may be leaving the school and my daughter has been asked to replace her as the fourth for next year However, this girl who might be leaving will not commit to this decision until the day before room selection. </p>
<p>I spoke to a friend today whose son did not get a lottery number for housing at his school when all of the numbers were given out and then today was told he would get one. </p>
<p>Seems like the whole housing selection process is filled with angst - getting a lottery number, getting the roommates figured out, picking the room, etc. Is this everybody's experience?</p>
<p>Yes. I have/had 3 in college and there was drama every year for all three except for my oldest’s jr and sr years when her roommates stayed the same. </p>
<p>Oldest had a single for three years until senior yr when she had a college owned but slightly off campus two-bed/two bath townhouse with a friend.</p>
<p>Youngest had a dorm freshman year with a roommate she met online.
Next year she had a two bedroom apt at one end of campus.
It worked fine, but was a little removed from middle of campus.
The next year she had a house that was very close to middle of campus.
It was too noisy and this year she is in a smaller house with just two other people & one of them is always at their boyfriends.
The advantage/disadvantage to living off campus is that you dont have to move out at the end of the school year.</p>
<p>So not really any drama. None that Ive heard about anyway.</p>
<p>Yes. The housing numbers, combined with the variety in the number of people in a room, make things crazy. Someone’s feelings get hurt every semester. They live.</p>
<p>I have been extremely fortunate with my two girls in college right now. One is in the second year with the same roommate, the other has lived in her sorority house for the last two years with no drama and both will move into apartments next year, each with a respective sorority sister and there was no drama around either apartment. If there had been an iota of drama, it simply would have advised them to figure it out because it is not my apartment, I am not living there and they are big girls. (That does mean I don’t listen to various other vents on a weekly basis…just that we dodged THIS bullet)</p>
<p>Year one, random selection. Roommate got really blottoed every weekend and needed to be cared for when she got home. D moved out. Second roommate was great, and the two decided to live together the next year.</p>
<p>Year two, during the summer, second roommate decided not to return to college. Last minute scramble to find third roommate. Third roommate met man over the summer who moved to college town and, with no place to go, moved into the dorm room. D moved out again. Fourth roommate was great, and the two decided to live together the next year.</p>
<p>Year three, over the summer fourth roommate got engaged and bought house with fiance. Fourth roommate moved out at semester. Fifth roommate moved in, and the two get along, but D is giving up on campus housing. </p>
<p>Yes, drama and anxiety every year. DD has been trying to find people who don’t have to get drunk every single night, and every year we think it’s going to be a better year, but it never is. She has all new people for next year, she has a lot of hope that she will get one year of happiness at her living situation.</p>
<p>My son did random roommate assignment for this frosh year. Ended up becoming really good friends with 1 of his 3 room mates but he gets along well with the others.</p>
<p>His entire floor has been fantastic. Lots of movie watching, game playing, etc with very little drinking. </p>
<p>16 of them are moving en masse to another floor for next year. He knew the date that things needed to be decided by. If he couldn’t find roommates for next year, then he would get a single somewhere. He was ok with that.</p>
<p>My DD has had some issues, but usually when the other 3/4 of the suite is all of a different culture/group than her. The expectations are just different.</p>
<p>My D is a 2nd semester sophomore. She found her freshman year roommates online prior to freshman year room selection and there was no drama. She chose to live with three other friends sophomore year - again no drama. She’s chosen to get an off campus studio apartment for next year (where she’ll likely stay senior year) - completely drama free. Then again, this kid is fairly agreeable and has never been involved in much drama. I have a close friend who has two daughters - one (good friend of my D) was drama-free, the other had multiple housing situations that I would not have believed had I not seen her mother trying to navigate her through them. I suspect it’s partly the student involved, partly the luck of the draw, that determines whether one has a good experience with housing/housing selection. </p>
<p>Having that many roommates just seems like a recipe for drama. I roomed blind my freshmen year and then roomed with the same woman for the next three years (my fiance moved in and then we added a fourth roommate our senior year). It all worked out fine and there was no angst (though we did not like our fourth roommate but that is a whole 'nother story lol) </p>
<p>I thought you meant with the actual selection process. DD’s school uses a lottery system for when you get to choose your room. They do it all in one or two days, and I think have some sort of web based system.for people to track “what’s left”. So you don’t know until the last minute what room will be available - the person right above you may have picked the last single or whatever. Basically, the lowest numbered person in the roommate group picks the room, and “pulls” anyone that she wants in. Last year, DD wanted to room with three people, but the foursomes were gone by the time her "excellent " number came up. She elected to do a double instead with her best friend. This effectively bumped the other two way down the selection list, which worked out fine but was frustrating for them, as they happened to both have very high numbers so had to choose from the dregs. I can’t imagine how else they could do it, but it does cause drama and chaos. </p>
<p>Yes, the selection process is also stressful - similar to what shoot described - the students put together groups of 4 and then the rooms for 4 are all gone by the time they have to select. Or they all want to be in a certain building and that building is filled by the time their numbers comes up.</p>
<p>I wonder if housing drama is a bigger issue on larger or smaller campuses. Or maybe a function of urban vs rural campuses. My son has not had any housing drama so far but men are less drama prone than women. His freshman year he found his roomate on a FB page that the football team set up for themselves. He had no problems. This past year he had a single in the fraternity house (university run). Next year he plans to be in the house again. His senior year he wants to find a rental near the campus.</p>
<p>Sons are much less likely to have drama, no matter what the size of the campus or its location. As soon as saw the thread title, I knew it would involve a D. :)</p>
<p>^^^ Agree w/ Consolation.
I have 2 sons…absolutely no stress. They each lived in the dorms with friends from high school as roommates for their freshman years. Both S’s and and their three respective roommates moved off campus after freshman year. They handled all the logistics of the moves themselves. </p>
<p>Perhaps it may also depend on if the school is one where many or most students move to off-campus housing after their frosh or soph years. In such cases, they are choosing housing and roommates on their own, without the added variable of the campus housing office, random housing or roommate draws, or needing to replace a roommate who moves out (since many off-campus housing options allow for +/-1, although with the costs being split among +/-1 people). Of course, there can still be drama in off-campus living situations.</p>
<p>There was much drama last year and there appears to be drama again this year. Last year, they had 4 they were trying to get into a suite together and by the time they picked, every group of four was gone. She ended up on the guaranteed wait list which meant she was guaranteed housing but had no control over where or with who. She got a single (which costs more, of course) and her roommate from last year also had a single in her suite. It was very frustrating to have no idea where she would be or how much it was going to cost until mid July when payments were due August 1st. </p>
<p>This year, I got a text “Room selection is all messed up again. Is it ok if I end up in a dorm that requires a larger meal plan?” I told her that was fine with me because it would be cheaper than all the delivery she orders all the time. I think it is always the worst for the sophomores because freshman have their guaranteed dorms; seniors choose first; juniors choose second and sophomores get whatever is left. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s a girl thing. Although my D never really had any drama (senior now and looking for a new “grown up” apt). My only issue w S was getting him to pay the housing deposit before the deadline! Of course, his school is so tiny that there is only one dorm - so no real choices to make other than roommate. And at this point, all 40 of the freshman boys know each other so I’m not really sure it matters! haha</p>