<p>*your housing selection date is determined by what time period you place your deposits. *</p>
<p>Exactly…</p>
<p>And to avoid the frustration that some had last spring when they deposited very late and couldn’t get their best choices, it’s best to deposit early.</p>
<p>One problem people don’t seem to foresee is that while they may find a room at a later date, it won’t be in the desired residence hall, and it won’t be with desired suitemates or it might be with upper-classmen while the student wanted to pick his/her suitemates and/or wanted suitemates who were also freshmen.</p>
<p>to use SEA_tide’s airline analogy…depositing late is like booking a flight the day before departure and then finding that you have to leave at some ungodly hour or you have to have a 7 hour layover in some city.</p>
<p>So, if S deposits early how do you best ensure you are in with Fr? Are there going to be totally empty rooms in the Honors Dorms you are just going to put yourself in and hope that other freshman request the room? What stops 3 Jr’s from seeing the room and choosing it, or they choose first? I don’t think S is going to be going to the roomate finder.</p>
<p>Upperclassmen will choose their rooms first. That will occur in February, but they will inform housing in late October/early November if they plan to recontract for housing for the following year. A lot of students chose to move off campus or to the frat/sorority houses or some may study abroad.</p>
<p>Housing for upperclassmen is based on credits earned. The more credits you have, the earlier you select your housing. Students who entered UA with lots of AP/IB/dual enrollment credits have an advantage.</p>
<p>Should a student wish to remain in his/her current room/suite, recontracting is simpler, as those students will be among the first to select their housing.</p>
<p>The earlier a student makes his deposit for his housing, the better. Your son will have a better selection of suite/dorms/rooms. There will be empty rooms/suite in the honors dorms, but again, a lot depends on the demand for housing from the current students. </p>
<p>As an incoming freshman, my son knew no one. So he just placed himself in a suite. He lived with three other freshmen.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that you have until July to change your room request. So, if you place yourself in a room and then others place themselves in the same suite and it doesnt seem like a good fit you can always switch to another room. You can change as often as you want until the July deadline. There seems to be a lot of room switching so I think if you find out the rest of the suitemates are juniors and you want freshman you can still switch.</p>
<p>ldinct: my D put herself in a room that already had 2 people in it (she decided to bypass rooms that had 3 since she wouldn’t know if they were all friends & she’d be the odd one out.) turns out they were both sophomores and another incoming freshman joined the room at the next room selection date.</p>
<p>I was a little concerned but I can tell you that there’s really no difference between how D gets along with the sophomore roommates vs. the freshman. They’ve been very nice, have given D rides & they share their panini maker They’re all in honors housing & the sophomores chose to stay there over other options. I think that says something about how they want to live while on campus. </p>
<p>You’re allowed to have a panini maker? D will be thrilled. That was on the top of her list of must haves and I told her she probably couldn’t have one. Oh, boy, now it’s really a done deal.</p>
<p>If you deposit early, there should be some totally empty suites to choose from. </p>
<p>However, if you want to choose a suite with other students in it, I think you can look up their names on Facebook to find out what year those students are. If there’s another way to tell, others will post.</p>
<p>Many kids find potential roommates thru Facebook…I think FB has some kind of application for finding roommates. Others can chime in here and give more info.</p>
<p>I think S is down with the early depositing, so that is good. I don’t think he will want to go on fb roommate searching though, you know it might seem un-guy-like. You never know. While I absolutely would rather have the choices here, you don’t get the option of matching up by personality - night owl, v. early person etc. But he is easy-going and gets along with a lot of different types of people, so I don’t think it will be a big deal. They matched him up really well at his summer program, they had a long questionnaire, his roommate was from the deep south but they had so much in common personality-wise. Being able to choose early is fantastic, I have been reading horror stories on some of the other threads where FR were bumped off campus, in triples or quads, etc. It just adds so much stress to the process I think.
On a completely anal note(I will ask it here as not to start a new embarrassing thread) - when is fall tuition due (I like to plan) is it June/July or just prior to the semester?</p>
<p>Usually, someone from the incoming class starts a Facebook page. That’s often how kids find their roommates. My son did not use Facebook. In fact, I don’t think any of his freshman roommates were on that page.</p>
<p>I don’t really know when I’ll be paying my deposit… The big issue is I don’t want to be stuck scrambling for space, but I hate having to pay the nonrefundable $200 enrollment deposit before I know if I even got into other schools, let alone if they’re giving me scholarships. Rhodes and Furman are big considerations for me, so this is pretty problematic.</p>
<p>I’m most likely going to UA though and I’m planning to live in an Honors suite with probably one chosen friend. I don’t really care who the other two people are. If one of us pays in October and the other in December (or later), can the person picking early select the other as a roommate still? Or would we have to hope that the first person’s room stays open for the second person?</p>
<p>I believe as soon as the first person picks his spot he can pull the others in using their proxy code. My DS got pulled in before his pick time.</p>
<p>I would still not delay too long to deposit. Bama may have gotten some criticism about the pulling in of students who deposited late before their “time” since last year was the first year that there were honors shortages. So, Bama might change its policy this year. </p>
<p>I don’t know that they will, but if people who deposited early couldn’t get desirable spots because too many others were pulling in late depositers, then Bama probably caught some big complaints.</p>
<p>I’m going to try to deposit by October 31 since I’m like 99% sure I’ll end up at UA. My parents just have (reasonable) reservations about potentially throwing away $225 for the freshman enrollment and housing application is I change my mind when all the scholarships and NMF status have come through in February - April.</p>
<p>But I really want a super suite… which, sadly/oddly/insufficiently, is probably the deciding factor between Bama and the liberal arts schools I’m applying to.</p>
<p>Thanks for that insight though – it’s definitely something to think about…</p>
<p>^^^Quality of life is something important to think about when you’re choosing a college. Yes, of course, it’s about academics, but if you have a few choices where you’ll be intellectually challenging & have access to the programs that you want, why wouldn’t you want to choose the place that has the nicest living arrangements?</p>
<p>But I really want a super suite… which, sadly/oddly/insufficiently, is probably the deciding factor between Bama and the liberal arts schools I’m applying to.</p>
<p>There were 2 UA reps at my school today (for the university – Dr. Sharpe will be coming for Honors College next month) and they said there should be no problem with pulling people in from later pick dates.</p>
<p>Also, if anyone was wondering and it hasn’t already been said, you can pull non-honors people into your honors room but only after your freshman year, apparently.</p>
<p>Crazyinalabama11: Not sure if the information about housing is correct. This is what is on the website about recontracting:</p>
<p>“The residence halls for which you will be eligible next year are determined in part by your gender, college, and where you live now. In order to select Honors Housing when you recontract, you must be living in Honors Housing at the time of room selection in February. Only current residents of Bryant, Ridgecrest South, East and West, Lakeside and Riverside will be able to select those residence halls during room selection. Additionally, Harris Hall, Parker-Adams Hall, and Byrd Hall are currently designated for freshmen only, and current residents cannot return to those next year. Please check with HRC to help you determine exactly where you can live next year, before your submit your contract and deposit.”</p>
<p>One of the reps is currently an RA in Ridgecrest South (I think – the Ridgecrest with the living learning communities that’s like half honors?) and that’s what she told us… I think it maybe has something to do with “extra” honors housing too.</p>
<p>One thing that they weren’t sure about is whether you can live in Honors housing and participate in the Blount Undergrad Initiative. Their housing is… less than desirable, but I know it’s part of the experience.</p>
<p>Anyone know if you can live in a regular Honors dorm and do the program? Or if you can have an exception and switch into Honors housing if you start in Blount, since that’s designated housing as well?</p>
They’re all in honors housing & the sophomores chose to stay there over other options. I think that says something about how they want to live while on campus. </p>