<p>How long does it usually take the housing to fill up as soon as all the admission decisions are out? For instance, if I get accepted around August 22nd, around what date would all the good housing fill up (ex. Ridgecrest, Honors dorms, etc.)?</p>
<p>Selection times are based off of when you submit your housing deposit. As long as you submit it by Oct 1st you’ll be in the first group when it comes to selection.</p>
<p>Check out this link for the schedule from last year. You’ll see the chart where it lists when you select your room based on when you’ve submitted your housing application and deposit. </p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/new_students/selection_schedule.cfm[/url]”>http://housing.ua.edu/new_students/selection_schedule.cfm</a></p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Yes…as long as you deposit early and do the housing deposit early ( I think by about October or so), you’ll have the best chance at Ridgecrest South. That doesn’t mean that if you deposit later, you won’t have a chance. It just means that to have the BEST chance, you should deposit early enough to get an early “pick date”</p>
<p>Is the housing deposit refundable? What if I submit the papers by October but decide to attend another college in January or so?</p>
<p>The housing deposit is refundable less $25, I think, if you cancel by a certain date. January would be more than fine since you don’t even pick rooms till March at the earliest.</p>
<p>Just a note, if you do pay early, make sure you don’t end up missing the early pick day. Most people pick on the second day, which is two weeks later - I was under the impression I could just make up my pick any Tuesday or Thursday, but nope, it’s just the specific dates. Thus, paying in October ended up being a bit pointless.</p>
<p>In addition to what Crazy said you’d lose your enrollment deposit as well since that is required before you submit your housing app.</p>
<p>January would be more than fine since you don’t even pick rooms till March at the earliest.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that “January would be more than fine” since a January deposit gets a later pick date/time. Since Ridgecrest South tends to get chosen first, and some returning students will be staying there, it’s too hard to say that any of those rooms will be left by the pick time given to January depositors.</p>
<p>^ Sorry if it wasn’t clear, I meant canceling in January would be fine since the OP mentioned possibly changing college choice in January and getting a refund.</p>
<p>They don’t start cutting your refund in half until May or June, I think.</p>
<p>Ah…yes…</p>
<p>And it should still be fine to cancel in April as well.</p>
<p>I’m just curious why Ridgecrest South is the most popular. My D loved Ridgecrest South when she toured it during her campus visit, but it was the only dorm she saw. If I was just going on floorplans on the housing website, I’d think that Ridgecrest West was nicer because the common areas seem larger. Is it that it’s newer, or the greater bed lofting flexibility, or is it the underground garage or other amenities that makes it more desirable to the kids?</p>
<p>I think it is simply because that is the dorm that the students see when they are touring, so the name gets stuck in their head.</p>
<p>All the honors dorms are really super! It really comes down to just a personal preference in regards to the slightly different layouts.</p>
<p>RCS it was NOT the dorm we saw when we toured, and when we toured, all we saw was a room. nobody took us around to see the common areas or the outside areas, so we had no idea about any of those differences.</p>
<p>my daughter picked RCS by looking at all the dorms on the website, i think just based on the floorplan. they thought about switching to a different ridgecrest for this year because (i think) the living area of the suites is a little bigger and/or the furniture is better/different, but , in the end, they just decided to stay in RCS, but in a different room.</p>
<p>their room last year was not a normal room. one side of the suite had their sink area practically in the living area. not an ideal situation, and, of course, they didn’t know that until move in day. not a huge deal, though.</p>
<p>all of the honors dorms are nice in comparison to dorms at other schools. some schools have dorms as nice, but many do not. i think kids prefer it because it is the newest and also because it just looks cool with the big entry thing.</p>
<p>i like it a lot because the parking is underneath, and i heard that parking at some of the other dorms is a pain.</p>
<p>my daughter would probably like to live on campus all 4 years. she just likes the convenience of it. i don’t know if that will be possible, though. she will probably get pushed out next year. : ( </p>
<p>there is plenty of time for living in an apartment/house … the rest of your life after college. i don’t get the impression that the UA shuttles make living off campus all that convenient.</p>
<p>^ waaah, mike, I hope your DD does not get pushed off-campus next year!!</p>
<p>DS is in Riverside East, which seems to be on the outer rim of campus. He’s in a D room – we’re hoping that means it will be quiet and good for studying! Can’t wait to see it. (Well, actually, yes, I can wait…don’t want to rush this letting-go stuff, LOL!)</p>
<p>How do you get notified for housing after you deposit, i.e., Mybama, email address, etc.?</p>
<p>You’ll get a notification sent to your crimson email account when they announce the room selection times. There will also be a link to that info on MyBama.</p>
<p>The link to make the freshman enrollment deposit and for the housing application and deposit are also on MyBama.</p>
<p>So, let’s say my dd doesn’t decide on Bama until April and sends in her housing deposit then- will she still get honors housing? Does it make a difference if she has the NMF scholarship? She definitely won’t know in October where she’s going.</p>
<p>We sent in housing deposits without formally accepting at a couple of schools…I think we talked to the schools before doing so and it was fine. Our deposits were refunded when we became headed to UA.</p>
<p>I think students choose for proximity, also. My son was in Lakeside West and liked it very much. He’s headed back there next year.</p>
<p>oops…this year… !</p>
<p>linnylu: I wouldn’t wait until April. I don’t know if there is a formal cutoff for honors housing. FWIW we deposited in October to be in the first group to pick a dorm.</p>