Many potential freshman are asking the same questions - to find answers faster, start new threads like this with your topic.
rather than keep posting in another thread ( Just hit the new discussion key at the top of the thread, fill in a title and post your question)
Here’s the info. that is posted online about priority housing:
"Texas A&M University has implemented freshman priority assignments in all Residence Halls and at White Creek Apartments beginning Fall 2015.
Students must be officially admitted to Texas A&M before they are eligible to apply for on-campus housing and every effort will be made to accommodate as many freshmen as possible. Housing assignments will be made on a first-come, first-served basis—established by the housing priority date, which is defined as the date the housing application, including fee, is received in the Housing Assignments Office. Priority housing will be given to freshmen who apply for housing within 30 days of being admitted to Texas A&M, if space is available. Apply as soon as possible because space is limited.
Freshmen who apply for housing after 30 days of being admitted to Texas A&M will be considered for on-campus housing—if space is available and after all other priority students have been accommodated. All housing assignments will be based on the housing priority date, so the sooner students apply, the greater chance of getting their top choice of housing options. Admitted students can apply for housing at Online Services.
Graduate students, married students, students with dependent child(ren), international students, U.S. military veteran students, students who are at least 21 years old, and undergraduate students who have completed at least 30 semester hours or 2 semesters in residence at a 2 or 4 year college will continue to have priority housing at The Gardens Apartments."
A tip for housing - they will not put you in a category of housing above the highest cost you indicated on your form even if it is available. In the past, they fill based on the priority list then if someone drops after rooms are assigned, the next applicant without an assignment becomes eligible for that room. So, it is possible for someone further down the list (or waitlist) to get the most popular dorm, Hullabaloo- provided they had that category of cost on their list. Otherwise the next person who does have that category will get it.They don’t re-shuffle everyone that has already been assigned when an opening occurs.
It is by cost that you become eligible NOT by dorm style so if you put the highest cost you are willing to pay on your form, you become eligible for that price and below.
Do you know if A&M has roommate matching in order to choose a roommate?
He has not accepted his admissions yet (still waiting to hear from another school) but the application for housing and housing deposit has been made. The friends he knows who want to go to A&M either are not accepted yet or didn’t apply until Dec 1 and were accepted long after he was, so dorm choice, if I remember correctly, would defer to the latter accepted person.
His first choice was the engineering learning community, followed by Hullabaloo, if memory serves.
I have not yet seen a TAMU online group for finding a roommate, especially in a learning community.
They do not do roommate matching. They just assign the next person on the list into your room. It is random, but that isn’t as awful as you would think. It seems the students who pick to attend here have very similar traits, they are respectful, friendly and courteous as a general rule. That normally makes for a pretty good roommate situation. There are actually very few problems with the random procedure. Maybe it is because people start off with lower expectations than a matching system?
Since we’re OOS, many of our friends kids have gone to other schools - helped fill out a form for roommate matching at another college… pages of questions. In fact, many of the forms are filled out by parents (or with parental input) & very inaccurate of the type of person who is going to be on their own for the first time. Think about it, would you have some input in what was written? The roommate matching in year 2 and beyond works better (many apartments do that) because the students have a better feel for where they fall on the lifestyle scales compared to other students at their university. Also, almost everyone fills them out by themselves vs. with parent input.
Yes, if you pick a roommate with a later date, that is the date for both of you. Mosher is the engineering dorm - it is part of the Commons. Hullabaloo is the newest, most popular dorm. Our friend took roommate over dorm with his best friend from HS who was a review applicant that heard late in the game - they ended up in Fowler together (balcony), preferences were all modulars. Worked out fine, they had a great time!
Although you think housing is going to be a huge deal breaker, it isn’t. Going to school here seems to be the bigger attraction versus which dorm you are in. Many study outside of their rooms and with cell phones, they easily meet up with friends who live elsewhere (unlike my generation where dorm mates were crucial since you had only landlines & often couldn’t reach your non-dorm friends).