D is concerned about how housing assignments work at Alabama if you commit late. It is unlikely she will commit to any school before the spring. One of her top choices only has ED and RD so she has to wait until January to apply. She does have a shot at merit money there so I can’t imagine she will commit anywhere before she gets that answer in March. She has two good acceptances now (Alabama and Pitt) but wants to keep her options open until all the answers are in.
She has been accepted into Honors but my understanding is that doesn’t matter if you commit so late because all the Honors housing will be taken by those who committed earlier. Does this then put her into a general pool where she could be assigned to any random person? She is very concerned that she could get assigned someone who is a partier, who stays up late, etc. Is there any effort made to match students who commit late with those who are like them? Is there a questionnaire about what your habits are and what type of roommate you would want? She is also considering applying to the Blount Initiative which I believe will guarantee her housing in Blount if she is accepted even if she commits late. Does anyone know if that is correct or not?
My understanding (someone correct me if I’m wrong) is that your D can be pulled into an Honors suite at a later date if she finds roommates with an empty room. So if she doesn’t commit to UA until April, if she found an honors suite with two or three girls they could add her as a roommate. I’m not sure about Blounts policy, sorry.
Hopefully UA Housing will chime in here and provide some clarification. She could be “pulled in” (into a 4-person suite, for example) by others who have early housing selection dates, but I’m unsure of the cut-off date for allowing that. After a certain date (maybe sometime in March?? maybe early April??), I believe that the student can no longer be pulled in and will be placed somewhere by Housing.
Amy, I think you are right. In the past you could commit late (like my son did) and be pulled in by someone else who has an earlier time. I think they changed last year and there was a deadline for that. After that deadline housing assigned you a spot. Its probably on the UA website (I’m just too lazy too look). If housing assigns a room for your daughter, then yes, she could end up with anyone. My son at another school was assigned by the school for 3 years…it all worked out okay, although he wasn’t “best friends” with any of his roommates.