<p>In reading the many threads here about various methods to try in identifying a roommate, DD and I realized that many of her “comfortable” friends ended up with NMCommended or higher status…these girls are not always her “besties,” but are the ones she tends to have classes with, study with, trade notes, etc… I think she just appreciates their minds and apptitude as well as their dedication to academics…</p>
<p>This begs the question, is it possible to identiry other incoming NMFs from among the Honors Dorm incoming freshmen to explore potential compatability??? Is there an event in the summer at which she might meet prospective roommates? Or are the facebook pages the best option?</p>
<p>Is your D a junior?
I’d say the fb groups are the best option. There are groups within the UA network for everything: honors college, NMF, different majors, etc.</p>
<p>There is Capstone Scholars Day in January where she could meet others in the Honors College.</p>
<p>Well, DD like the phrase “rising-senior” lol</p>
<p>But until the last final is taken next week, yes, she’s a junior.</p>
<p>The January event sounds like just the thing…maybe there will be other opportunities like that.</p>
<p>I know it’s early, but we could not find a UA Class of 2017 facebook page yet. Guess this summer when kids start making early applications would spawn that…</p>
<p>If she wants to have roomies that she <em>might</em> have classes with and could study with, then she should look for girls with her major. I don’t think the student should need to have NMF status (since states have different cut-offs), but could be other young ladies with strong stats. </p>
<p>Frankly, it’s very doubtful that roomieswill have a schedule like hers. In high school, everyone has a similar schedule …starting around 8am, and ending around 3pm. And, the honors kids are often taking the same AP classes.</p>
<p>In college, schedules are all over the place…starting at 8, or starting at 10, or having certain “school days” days completely free.</p>
<p>I agree. I don’t think the point was to find roommates who have the same classes, but rather roommates who are intellectually stimulating and academically dedicated.</p>
<p>In fact, DD’s much-older stepsister recently told us of her experience at a smallish private college (ORU) where she roomed with the same girl all four years, they had the same business major, they mapped out their classes the first day of their freshman year and took nearly every class together all four years. They both graduated with 4.00+gpa - AND THEY NEVER GOT CLOSE TO ANY OF THE OTHER GIRLS IN THE DORM. In fact, SisSis told us an embarrasing story on herself, in which she and her roomie actually went out and shhhhh’d the other girls at 8:30pm the night before freshman classes started because they could not believe how loudly the girls were while meeting each other, and the two of them wanted to get lots of sleep so as to be academically ready the next morning. It’s okay now, she’s 30, beautiful, married, very gainfully employed, but her warning was clearly NOT to tie yourself too closely to one or two other girls, but rather to open yourself to meeting many, many sorts of people…</p>
<p>That being said, we thought that the tenor of the quad room might be more stable if the girls had similar approaches to their studies - NOT that they would study together, but rather that they each WOULD STUDY and would need a respite in their quad so as to facilitate studying. </p>
<p>It was just a thought…DD wants to go through sorority recruitment, so we imagine she will be very busy and will need a place to find quiet. She is one who needs seclusion to get things done…</p>
<p>I’d suggest the fb group. She could join the Honors College group or the group for her intended major/majors, although since a crimson mail account is required, there won’t be any C/O 2017 kids until applications open up.</p>
<p>The honors residence halls should provide a good enough environment for any academically driven student. She’ll have a ton of time to meet and find friends/potential roommates.</p>
<p>SOunds like a good plan.</p>
<p>We are going for the big official vist in less than two weeks, and we all expect an early application to follow… ;-)</p>
<p>I think you’ll find there are certainly many more serious students on campus than a limited number of NMF. If you’re assuming these are the only serious students or are necessarily the most disciplined students on campus I’m afraid you may surprised to find out differently.</p>
<p>My son said riverside west was “dead” all the time. All his roommates were academically focused (and sports and gaming lovers). He really got lucky. Every time we visited we had to clear off the couch and table or risk sitting on pages of math problems</p>
<p>I think pledges have to study a number of hours at their houses. Not all of their study time, but a set amount. </p>
<p>Anyway…there will probably be about 180 NMFs (maybe half girls) when your D is a frosh. I promise you, those won’t be the only smart, dedicated girls and they may not even be the smartest and most dedicated girls.</p>
<p>Gosh NO, neither of us think that, but HOW are you going to sort through and find the “serious students” if you don’t have some kind of methodology? Among thousands, DD only needs to find three…the NMF’s come conveniently pre-tested and labeled…just thought it would be easier to identify potential fits that way (certainly not an indicator of anything other than they would have that ONE THING in common, if little else). It isn’t an exclusionary process, it is an inclusionary process. Clearly there are hundreds that are potentialy well-suited…but reading here made it seen that there is a large potential for error (and that reprecussions can be tough when roommates are not “as advertised”).</p>
<p>We aren’t looking for best friends or brainiacs, just like-minded girls who really want to get through their freshman year with a strong academic performance.</p>
<p>For what might be the first time in my life I am without speech. And I’d say that’s probably a good thing right now.</p>
<p>Right there with ya, Casino.</p>
<p>I sense that I have offended you guys (once again) and I am truly sorry.</p>
<p>I mearly wanted to find a way to help DD avoid a situation that would make it difficult for her to get her studying done.</p>
<p>She has executive function issues and really requires a quiet environment, and I thought that if she was with a bunch of studious girls, the quad would be more likely to be quiet.</p>
<p>Of course NMFs are not the only dedicated students, but how in the world will she find the potential roommates that really are? And, NMF status is not proof of dedication either - we know that.</p>
<p>I’m only trying to help my kid.</p>
<p>She is all stressed out with exams now and concerned that that stress level will be unmanageable in a large college, in a dorm study room or a sorority study area.</p>
<p>I apologise.</p>
<p>TXArchitect, I think your daughter will be able to find like-minded girls through Roommate Finder, the FB page or even CC without having to inquire about their NMF status. The most quiet and studious girls aren’t necessarily the ones with the most furniture upstairs. Frankly, a few of the NMFs from my D’s high school, while extremely bright, aren’t all that studious and are major party animals. I don’t think you can categorize people based on their performance on a single test on a particular day, and it’s probably a mistake to try.</p>
<p>I tried to make it clear that that is not what we were thinking at all.</p>
<p>We (I) was just looking for a smaller pool among the honors dorm girls that she could actually identify from which to try to find roommates.</p>
<p>If I thought we could identify “girls who watch HOUSE MD” then THAT would have been a GREAT POOL of potential roommates.</p>
<p>It was just a way to whittle down the potential candidates, it offended you guys who have been so helpful.</p>
<p>I feel very badly that I am so clumsy that I did so. Sorry.</p>
<p>I’m not a NMF scholarship winner so I’m not smart enough to be offended :-). But I will say that college is about learning. And in many cases the more useful knowledge is gained by interaction with people different than yourself and not from a classroom.</p>
<p>You know your daughter better than I. But I think you’d be doing her a great disservice by arranging who she rooms with in general and by limiting those candidates to only those like her in particular.</p>
<p>The only thing that offends me are people capitalizing the word “auburn”. Other than that I’m unoffendable. And I know that’s not a word but since I’m not a NMF I couldn’t think of a better one :-)</p>
<p>You do realize that by choosing an Honors dorm, all of the kids will have qualified to be in Honors and will have had a fairly decent GPA?</p>
<p>That’s the thing about the FB group and Roommate Finder - you probably CAN identify girls who watch House, MD. My daughter contacted more than one girl simply because she listed D’s favorite TV shows in her profile. You will find that many girls mention whether or not they’re studious, how into partying they are, etc. On the other hand, I did not see a single Roommate Finder profile that indicated whether the girl was NMF. Roommate Finder was not a particularly easy tool to use, but it was a decent starting point.</p>
<p>Okay, perhaps she should think about her individual study needs and not worry about the other three roommates. My son had suite mates with all different schedules, and in probability, so will your daughter. The suite mates that your daughter rooms with will most likely have different majors and different incoming credit levels, so the likelihood that they will be taking the same classes is slight. Different schedules means noise at various times of the day, so I am afraid that if she is looking for three more girls who will study and be quiet at the same time, that probably will not happen. That is why it is so wonderful to have your own bedroom. Your daughter can go study in her bedroom when she wants, and in peace. However, there may be times when the suite is not as quiet as she might like, so it is always good to have an alternate study spot.</p>
<p>Now, as for “like minded studious” individuals, there are many, many extremely talented and serious students at UA both in the STEM and other majors. The studious students are really not relegated to just the NMF’s or even to scholarship students alone. After all it is only a matter of a few points or even one point that may designate someone as an NMF, and each state’s cutoff is different. You may not even realize who the most serious students are until they have completed some college classes.</p>
<p>I would hate to see your daughter miss out on the opportunity of meeting a wide variety of interesting students just because they did not meet some initial criteria.</p>