<p>River…this is why…</p>
<p>*[He] will not be able to put down a Housing Deposit or submit a Housing Application until the Enrollment Application is submitted. This is done so we can gage how many students do truly plan to attend so we can then gage how many we can continue to accept (as we have Rolling admission). *</p>
<p>Mom2twins…</p>
<p>With the second bldg of Presidential opening, there will a lessening of the “load” that was experienced last year. </p>
<p>I don’t know if the 2nd Presidential bldg is going to be honors or not, but there are probably some upperclass NMFs that will choose to move to that bldg to be near the new dining hall and rec center.</p>
<p>In terms of wanting a dorm with a bunch of non-drinking, non-partying, studious students, individual residence halls typically do not attract only a specific type of student. In addition, there are a number of students who are extremely studious and occasionally have a drink at a party. They still can be good roommates for a student who is studious and doesn’t drink or party.</p>
<p>Right…the honors dorms will have an assortment of kids. They will likely be more studious, but studious doesn’t always mean “never parties”.</p>
<p>Mom2agtds - I hope you don’t think that other schools don’t have partying issues. I know that your son has looked at GT and MIT. Well, GT has PLENTY of parties. And, as for MIT…well, MIT is KNOWN for its parties. Look on youtube. My Tufts nephew and his pals travel to MIT on weekends for the parties. </p>
<p>Your son should try to find suitemates that are more like him. Why does the entire dorm need to be like him?</p>
<p>Just an observation from my own D’s time at UA and friends kids at other schools, the heavy partiers tend to gravitate to each other. Even if they end up with a roommate that does not party, they go to where the party is. If they want to party, they are going to find it. They are not going to want to hangout in the dorm room with their roommate(s) that do not party. Which the quiet studious types might like that their roommate is always gone off to party, they have the whole place to themselves and can have quiet study time or study groups in their dorm.</p>
<p>I think my question is being misinterpreted. He absolutely does not need an entire dorm like him. He is not going to be picking a roommate. We know absolutely nothing about the dorms and right now any selection would be completely random at this pt. So, I was simply trying to understand if dorms have reputations. So is dorm x more of a party dorm and dorm y a quieter dorm.</p>
<p>And yes, he does know students going to the other schools that he could request as a roommate. </p>
<p>My ds is a very friendly, live and let live kind of kid. But, no, I don’t think it is wrong of him to not want to be a room with heavy drinkers/party-ers.</p>
<p>BTW, I agree that the party-ers tend to aggregate together. But we know a lot of kids that have ended up with their room being that room and they are the ones being in a difficult situation,</p>
<p>m2ck-Rolling admissions at the huge universities my kids attend too and they seem to do a pretty good job figuring out how many are going to attend without getting a housing deposit. Maybe they are better at stats in Michigan than in Alabama:)
Just think it is a very backwards policy weighted towards those who don’t need to look at financial aid packages.
Btw you have been a great help in solidifying our decision on Alabama. I appreciate all the time you put in on this board and feel that because of you, I have an actual grasp of how everything works.</p>
<p>*I think my question is being misinterpreted. He absolutely does not need an entire dorm like him. He is not going to be picking a roommate. We know absolutely nothing about the dorms and right now any selection would be completely random at this pt. So, I was simply trying to understand if dorms have reputations. So is dorm x more of a party dorm and dorm y a quieter dorm.</p>
<p>*
No, because the honors dorms are largely “freshman dorms,” so each year a different group is in each one. There isn’t some “undertone” that prospective students hear about that makes them gravitate towards one or another. </p>
<p>However, like I said earlier, if I were to guess which honors dorms might end up being the quietest, I would say Ridgecrest East and West.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>My ds is a very friendly, live and let live kind of kid. But, no, I don’t think it is wrong of him to not want to be a room with heavy drinkers/party-ers.</p>
<p>BTW, I agree that the party-ers tend to aggregate together. But we know a lot of kids that have ended up with their room being that room and they are the ones being in a difficult situation,*</p>
<p>?
the Honors dorms are PRIVATE bedrooms. They don’t SHARE bedrooms. He wouldn’t end up in a bedroom with a partier. He wouldn’t end up in a bedroom with anyone. </p>
<p>Are you concerned that someone in the bedroom next to his parties a lot?</p>
<p>My DD was very fortunate to find a roommate that “pulled her in” since she did not make a decision to attend Alabama until February. I would suggest putting the deposit in as soon as possible if you think there is a strong chance your son will be attending Bama. My DD is in RCE, and it sounds like the majority of her friends in her dorm are the “studious, non-partiers”, or maybe she is pulling the wool over my eyes!! I highly recommend having your son meet potential roommates that are like him on Facebook, or even on CC (that’s how my daughter did!) Good Luck! And BTW the Michigan Winters is what finally sealed the deal for Alabama for my daughter!</p>
<p>River…
Every school is going to have a policy or two that you won’t like…or have a policy that you think another school does better. In the big scheme of things, this is minor. You may think that Umich has a better policy than Bama on this issue, others disagree. Research would probably reveal that Umich has some policies that seem “out to lunch” to Bama folks.</p>
<p>I encourage you to contact Bama Housing with your complaint. They may provide other reasons for doing things the way that they do that aren’t stats related.</p>
<p>We are so thankful that my son was able to select his roommates. My son is a little quirky and probably not the easiest to live with, but being able to find roommates with similar interests, lifestyles and study habits was a huge benefit to him and made the transition nearly stress-free. (My son used Roommate Finder to find his roommates.)</p>
<p>Many schools allow students to pick rooms/dorms (or are assigned to select or be placed) based on first-come, first-served order. This is not unique to UA at all.</p>
<p>Students (or families of students) who want some sort of certain living situation, or rather, to avoid certain situations, should spend more time finding and selecting roommates, either through Roommate Finder, Facebook, or other avenues. There are benefits to going potluck w/ roommates and rooms, sure for some people, but if you’re one of those people who wants a certain type of roommate/suitemate, you might not want to consider the pot-luck route.</p>
<p>When we went on our tour, our guide told us the dorm we saw was not representative of all the dorms and that other dorms were more traditional dorm rooms. Ds hasn’t gotten to the pt where he actually investigated the different dorm layouts. I guess we just assumed they would be more like the dorms his siblings have lived in. </p>
<p>I am going to urge him to spend some time looking at the different floor plans. None of our kids have heard of roommate finder? Thanks for th Facebook info. I’ll get him to join that. I don’t have a Facebook acct, but he does.</p>
<p>Thanks for the useful info. Private rooms are not what we were anticipating. (I really thought that was more like the showcase dorm we have seen on other college tours and then it ends up being twice as much as other dorms. 
).</p>
<p>Mom2agrtds - Your son definitely needs to research the different dorm styles. Some are like the one you see on the tour, some are similar but slightly different (still private bedrooms and they hare a bathroom with another person, but have a dfferrent layout), and others are the more traditional dorms like I had when I went to college. I believe all honors dorms have private bedrooms, however. </p>
<p>The Roommate Finder can be utilized after a housing deposit is paid. Kids often find people they think might make good roommates through this and then get to know them better through FB.</p>
<p>When do the students actually select their room?</p>
<p>*our guide told us the dorm we saw was not representative of all the dorms and that other dorms were more traditional dorm rooms. *</p>
<p>The guide should have said that all honors dorms are that private room style. Yes, there are traditional dorm rooms, but they’re not honors.</p>
<p>Private rooms are not what we were anticipating. (I really thought that was more like the showcase dorm we have seen on other college tours and then it ends up being twice as much as other dorms.</p>
<p>Is your son a likely NMF? If so, then his honors room as a frosh is free. </p>
<p>We call these private bedroom suites “super suites” to distinguish from what other schools call suites (which is a shared bedroom with a shared en suite bathroom) </p>
<p>I’m guessing that you were shown Ridgecrest South when you toured? The other honors dorms have a different floorplan, but they’re all private bedrooms that share a kitchenette, livingroom, and 2 bathrooms. </p>
<p>Yes, the private room supersuites are more costly, which is to be expected since the supersuites take a lot of room…they’re similar to apartments. </p>
<p>Frankly, I wish there was an honors residence hall that was “standard doubles” but it seems that there is such a huge demand for the super suites (they fill up!!), that Bama keeps building those types.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it can be argued that those in honors prefer private rooms to lessen the distraction of a roomie with different sleeping hours or what.</p>
<p>The fact that one has to pay a non-refundable enrollment deposit in order to place a housing deposit is something that many families have questioned over the years. Yes, the deposit often has to be placed before financial aid packages arrive. The way my family and others rationalized paying a $450 deposit, of which $225 was nonrefundable is that UA was my top choice and would likely have a good financial aid package. If for some reason I decided to not attend UA, my family was out $225. While that’s a significant amount of money, when one considers all the money spent on applying to colleges one won’t attend and the large amount of money spent over 4+ years of college, $225 is a small gamble. Would my family have risked that at every school I was accepted? No. 2-3 schools? Possibly.</p>
<p>Alabama does have a variety of traditional dorm rooms, but most freshman honors students will be living in honors suite style housing. Having looked at housing options at many universities, each is slightly different in its housing options and policies.</p>
<p>Out of the 10 roommates I had during my 4 years living on campus at UA, only 2 were ones I chose and that was because we had posted responses to a roommate survey on Facebook around the same time. I went potluck for the rest. Except for a couple instances, they were all excellent roommates even though we weren’t exactly best friends. </p>
<p>Interestingly enough, my roommates and I never filled out any roommate agreements. We operated under a strict policy of respecting each other and making sure that our actions would not get the other roommates in trouble. As such, guests were allowed, some of whom would end up spending the night in our living room (the couches in Ridgecrest East and West which look like futons are quite comfortable). Any complaints would be quietly directed to the roommate. </p>
<p>I’ve known many people at UA an other schools who lived in dorm rooms with another person. While learning to live in the same room as another person can be a valuable skill, there is also the potential for more problems, especially if the roommates don’t have similar schedules or interests.</p>
<p>One thing I do suggest, subject to financial constraints, is that the student fills out all on-campus housing-related paperwork*, roommate matching questionnaires, and room selection without the parent looking at their answers. Note however that parents can and should check to make sure the student does these activities on time. The reasoning behind this is that too many parents make housing decisions and fill out roommate questionnaires based on how they believe or want their students to act, even if the student will not actually act that way once they aren’t around their parents. This way roommate matching will be more accurate and the students have a small taste of making adult decisions. Should they have any issues later on, provide helpful advice and only intervene when necessary, such as situations where the student is showing signs of depression or mental illness.</p>
<p>*If the student is under the age of 19 when the housing contract is [electronically] signed, the parent must [electronically] sign the housing contract as well.</p>
<p>Excellent advice SeaTide! I agree, the student should be the one filling out the roommate info as we as parents may say our kid does while in reality they desire something totally different. D found her roommate on the UA FB page for her class under the roommate finder info. She had several she was looking at but one stood out. That is who she went with. They, like I say, are 2 little peas in a pod. Her family is awesome! We shared a condo on Parents Weekend and get along like long lost friends. They are perfect for each other even though they grew up over 1500 miles away from each other. To show just how small this world is, my D’s grandmother went to the exact same high school as her roommates grandfather at the same time.</p>
<p>Re Roommate Finder on UA: note that you will only have access to this after you have applied for on-campus housing and have paid the housing deposit. Casual visitors cannot access this service. Students get info in their Crimson email accounts about this, after they apply/deposit.</p>
<p>If your kid is on the nerdy side of studious, I think Blount would be a great fit for him. A majority of the kids living in the dorm are in the Blount program (some liberal arts living-learning community initiative), but they will most definitely be welcoming to other people not in the program. They’re always hanging out in the lobby together. I personally think a lot of them are a bit weird, but if your son is nerdier in a different way, then he might really enjoy living there. If he’s just pretty studious, then I think Ridgecrest would be his best bet. Ridgecrest is a decent mix of partiers and studious kids. I would not recommend Lakeside, Riverside, or Presidental to him, as that’s where a lot of partiers live. Paty (all males) is full with a lot of drug dealers and that sort, so definitely not that dorm for him.</p>
<p>Thanks, sunshine341. That was the type of info I was looking for.</p>