<p>some handy things to have…Clorox or Lysol wipes, swiffer mop, disposable toilet wand cleaners, Febreeze fabric freshener, shower antibacterial spray, magic eraser (for shower floor) kitchen sponge (so it can be microwaved to disinfect), baking soda for the fridge, and don’t forget the toilet paper isn’t provided:)</p>
<p>a wide shower caddy is helpful because there isn’t much room for shampoo bottles and stuff in the shower</p>
<p>Oh, and a small vacuum cleaner (about $25)</p>
<p>My D is going to Rush, but is also choosing to live in Honors dorms…hopefully Ridgecrest. As an OOS student, she is considering that she may not get a bid and being in Tut or other South dorm would be a bit painful. She also wants to expand her social contacts…if she goes Greek then she also wants to have friends who are in Honors and not Greek.</p>
<p>She also really likes the opportunity to have some quiet in her own room. Her sister had mono + complications at her school in a standard dorm and it was never quiet during the day and evening so that she could rest. She’s not planning on getting sick…but you just never know.</p>
<p>Plus we talked to several kids in Ridgecrest when we toured and they told us that they leave their doors open and sometimes just sit in the hallways and chat. lol They were so cute and welcoming to D that she was ready to move in that weekend! Of course it did not hurt that they were cute, polite Southern boys ;-)</p>
<p>how are your kids making the choice between ridgecrest and riverside honors dorms? What are they thinking is the +/- of each of the dorms?</p>
<p>Some kids prefer Riverside if their classes are in the Northeast quadrant of campus.</p>
<p>Some kids want Ridgecrest South, but it fills up before they can choose it.</p>
<p>I don’t think either place has strong pluses or minuses.</p>
<p>Thanks, M2Ck- that is what he was looking at, location of dorms to his expected class locations. I saw a number of students post about wanting Ridgecrest, and I was trying to determine the draw to that dorm vs Riverside.</p>
<p>D wants Ridgecrest for exactly that reason…closer to her classes. But if it is filled she will go for Riverside and will be closer to food! lol It all works out. I think that since everyone see’s Ridgecrest, that is what they want. D does like the layout better w/ 2 rooms on either side of the living area. But that is not a deal breaker at all. She has her 3 roommates already and they all just want to be together.</p>
<p>i think kids want ridgecrest because it is a bit newer and ridgecrest south just looks cooler. any of the honors type dorms are head and shoulders above most other dorms.</p>
<p>buzy…remember if she pledges she will eat Mon-Fri lunch at the house (you will pay for this and they will really want her to!)…her meal plan will be bumped to a Greek 50. DD found she ate almost NO meals (maybe 5 at most the whole semester) in the dining hall…she used Bama bucks and dining dollars to eat around town and Julia’s in Tut became her favorite hang out on the weekends (of course she lived in Tut)…I think she’s was (and still is) on a first name basis with the people who work at Newks! During football season she will have home game, Saturday, game day meals at the sorority and her date will also have game day meals at his fraternity :). I think the Honors College kids also did some sort of tailgate thing.</p>
<p>i thought sorority girls had more than just lunches at the house?</p>
<p>I was not clear Mike…it has been a long weekend :)…I meant Mon thru Thurs (all three meals and snacks) and just Fri…breakfast, and lunch. they do have special meals during prep before finals and if their house mom gets a whim. Each semester DD has had 4 or 5 of those…breakfast a midnight kinds of things…they had a special Sunday dinner before Christmas and they also had a cocoa and cookies Sunday. I have to say DD loves the house food…the cooks do a great job of trying to cook what the girls want and they even sent us an email asking us to send favorite recipes from home :).</p>
<p>i am thinking that the house food should be a giant step up from the dining hall food (even though my kid doesn’t really complain much about the food).</p>
<p>Because pledges eat their meals at their Greek Houses, it increases the number of Greeks wanting to live on the south side of campus…where the Greek houses are. It just makes sense convenience-wise.</p>
<p>That said, if a pledge chooses to live on the north side, and has an 8 or 9 am class, does he/she have to hoof it across campus to eat breakfast at his/her Greek house before class? Or can they skip breakfast?</p>
<p>It’s a dilemma! With pledge classes of 80-90 girls the sororities encourage the pledges to be around the house as much as possible so they get to know not only their pledge class but the actives as well. DD had girls who lived on the north side of campus (all were honors girls) and yes it was hard for them to get over for breakfast. I don’t think it is “expected” but “encouraged”. With the Greek 50 you certainly would not get enough meals for the entire semester if you were to eat breakfast as well as weekends. I honestly don’t know a single girl that ate breakfast in the dining halls even if they lived on the North side of campus. Most of the girls kept yogurt or little boxes of cereal and some even made oatmeal in their dorm suite. DD even kept breakfast food in her room in Tut even though she was just across the street from sorority row. If you are planning on not living in the sorority house at all and can do honors housing I certainly wouldn’t turn it down because of location. We have found from experience that most of DD’s friends and acquaintances, (even the honors girls) who did not move into the house moved off campus their sophomore year. If you have free housing then that might be a different scenario With 4 new sorority houses going up there will be a lot more beds available stating fall of 2013. The way it’s looking the new houses will have room for appx. 40 more girls and financially those beds will need to be filled! We are already seeing the repercussions of the new house as parents even though my DD’s house will not be able to be moved into until Spring of '13. Our house bills will go up over $1000 ($500 each semester) next year and another $3000 ($1500 each semester) the year after that! For those girls living in your semester Sorority bill could run as high as $7300 a semester…</p>
<p>Well, if the fraternities have food like that, it may be the one thing that would encourage my son to actually consider pledging! Right now, he says he is not interested in fraternity life, but he does not really have any exposure/ experience to make that decision. I believe that the fraternity decision will be made based on who my son meets, and what he perceives they have to offer to him.</p>
<p>And my son does not really like to eat breakfast food for breakfast. He usually has a sandwich, left overs, or other protein based food other than eggs.</p>
<p>Game day meals at the Fraternities are wonderful! We have had simple meals like traditional barbecue, brats, hot dogs and hamburgers, to whole roasted pigs (head was on a decorated table for viewing…ewww! it was the Arkansas game). Sororities and fraternities have a certain day a week they may bring a guest…it think it’s lunch only. DD’s boyfriend eats with her every Tuesday and I think she eats with him on Wednesdays.</p>
<p>I think many kids end up either eating breakfast in their rooms or just eating an early lunch. Many kids just don’t have time to get themselves to a “sit down” meal situation in the morning. All too often, they have their clock alarms set to go off with “just enough time” to shower, dress, groom, eat/drink something quick in their dorm (or on their way to class).</p>
<p>Older son routinely would leave his dorm, head over to Lakeside Lattes ( I don’t think it’s still there), order some kind of sugary, milky, coffee drink…and then walk to class. That was pretty much his total use of his Dining Dollars.</p>
<p>my kid doesn’t really like to eat breakfast, so she has something small from the room, or nothing.</p>