D22 requested a double but just found out she will be in a single. I was shocked that she wanted a double to begin with but was happy that she was stepping outside her comfort zone. She was really looking forward to the roommate experience with a clear understanding that it may or may not work out.
I’m thinking she dodged a bullet on this one. Having a roommate can be a wonderful experience but the things that can go wrong seem to outweigh it. She is on a floor of all singles which I think will help. She wanted to ask for a transfer until she realized she wouldn’t be the only one in a single like on the other floors of the dorm. It’s a nine story freshman dorm and the top two floors are singles. It seems like she may have the best of both worlds.
As an aside, I’ve heard of so many kids recently that requested doubles and got singles. I would have thought singles were highly coveted or saved for those that needed them as an accommodation, but apparently not.
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Your D sounds like she has a good situation as her entire floor is comprised of singles. Keep your door open those first weeks. Hopefully the RA will arrange some group activities to help with meeting and mingling. I also recommend pre-orientation programs if available.
2 of my 3 had singles in college. They loved it! They both did pre-orientation programs which provided the opportunity to meet other students prior to the bulk of freshmen arriving and they both formed many of their permanent friendships during that time. My kids said the hardest part was that initial foray into the pre-orientation without a wingman….but since most kids are starting from the same baseline everyone was very open to meeting each other.
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She loved it! She decorated the room the way that she wanted. Brought in her own vibe into the room and decided she wanted a single all 4 years and got it. Junior and Senior years, the single students were also groups with other Jr’s and Sr’s so that they didn’t have to deal with the freshmen.
ETA: She was on a lot of the housing tours because being from Southern California and being in upstate NY at SUNY B, the way that she decorated the room was to keep her from being homesick. Lots of Command Strips!
Her dorm had a wooden hanging board ( ~2"x 2" x length) covering about 2 ½ walls, that you could staple, pin or tape anything to. She hung a large surfboard memo board (4 ft long) that they sold here in SoCal. She had tikis, fish netting, aqua fabric strips that she hung with background lighting and looked like waves and then she had her surf music to remind her of SoCal. She said that the kids and their parents would enter and all gasp at the same time. She often threw them off by saying something so “Cal” (and very unlike the studious engineering student she was), “Dudes, pretty ‘gnarly’, huh?” A few brave souls would ask if she was from “Cali” and she would correct them and say, “Dude, we locals don’t call it Cali! We call it California or SoCal.”
My D really loved a single. She never had roommate drama and could go to her room when she wanted to chill or study.
The rough part was the first few weeks when she didn’t have an automatic wingman, but eventually she made friends it all worked out.
She did meet some friends at the orientation in June which I think will smooth things out. They have been chatting and have already picked a table to meet at for meals. I think just knowing she will not be eating alone the first week takes a lot of the pressure off.
My daughter finished a tournament today on a college campus. They stayed in the dorms and she had a roommate for the first time since she shared with her sister at age 10! All through college she lived in a suite (fr and soph years) with 3-4 singles sharing bathrooms and living area, or a house (jr/sr) with her own room.
Her roommate had just gotten married 2 weeks earlier so we were teasing her that she was on their honeymoon too.
I think she was happy she always had her own bedroom with a door that could be closed, but living with friends.
I would have loved a single my freshman year, since my roommate was a sorority girl who thought she could make me (an engineering major) over! We weren’t a good match.
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