<p>My son wants a single room. A lot.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we are awaiting financial aid information before he can confidently reply to the admissions decision.</p>
<p>Is it hard for freshman to get single rooms? </p>
<p>What if he decides to wait until March 29th? or into April?</p>
<p><a href=“https://housing.sites.uchicago.edu/sites/housing.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Housing%20Grid%20Page%201%20FINAL.pdf[/url]”>https://housing.sites.uchicago.edu/sites/housing.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Housing%20Grid%20Page%201%20FINAL.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here is a bit of info to help, although disregard Pierce, as they are demolishing it after this term. Our son waited until he went to an admitted student reception in our area before committing-it was the end of March. He was placed in his first choice dorm with a single-very important to him as well. He was going to wait after the admitted students weekend in April at Uchicago to commit, but felt he would lose out on getting his first choice in housing. Most students in his dorm were EA admits, so he was glad he didn’t wait any longer than he did.</p>
<p>You can definitely wait for financial aid information, but I would encourage you to have him make his selection ASAP.</p>
<p>BJ has plenty of singles, so he should contemplate putting that down as his top-choice. Even the doubles are basically two singles anyways connected by a door, and it’s easy enough to transfer rooms within the house.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information</p>
<p>B-J is his first choice and then I think he cares less.</p>
<p>Can you tell me about the double set up? That seems like the best of both world…privacy and a roommate.</p>
<p>The doubles are comprised of two rooms, but only the “outer” room will have access to the hallway, so the person living in the inner room has to walk through the outer room to get out. There’s a door and a whole lot of wall separating the inner room and outer room. It’s been a while (3+ years) so I can’t remember if that door can be locked – I think it can be from the inside? – and I’m not sure which direction it swings … I don’t recall having issues with it though, and if your son makes it clear that he doesn’t want to be disturbed when the door is closed, there shouldn’t be any problems.</p>
<p>Inner rooms tend to be bigger in terms of floor space. I think there’s less closet space though. Both will have similar views from the windows as long as the window’s not staring into a tree.</p>
<p>They don’t assign which person gets which room, so if you value your privacy, I highly suggest you get there pretty damn early during move-in day to grab the inner room. 
Otherwise, you’ll have to set up some rules with your roommate.</p>
<p>Is there a piano at B-J?</p>
<p>Yup, two retired Steinways in the dorm-wide lounges.</p>
<p>It might be good to double-check with more recent residents though.</p>
<p>Maclean is ~90 singles and 2 doubles. A really good place to go for a single.</p>
<p>Do your chances of getting your preferential dorm completely vanish if you wait until after the overnight days in april to commit? </p>
<p>I still want to wait until I get all of my letters back to commit, but I also know that UChicago is one of my top choices (I don’t really have a first choice yet), and I really want to stay at B-J should I go there.</p>
<p>Depends; it’s hard to say, but for BJ you will probably be on the line. Either way, it’s smart to get your deposit in as early as humanly possible: the housing office is notoriously incompetent (I’ve seen more facebook posts dreaming about burning down the housing office then I can count…) and it’s best to avoid them whenever possible.</p>
<p>Oh okay.</p>
<p>Which dorms would be difficult to get in, if I waited after the overnight days to commit?</p>
<p>Only based on what I’ve heard from my friends:
Snitchcock is hardest to get into - you’ll have to make your deposit shortly after your decision comes out or shortly after Ivy day.
BJ seems to be the next difficult. I think it filled up around early- or mid-April last year (and decisions came out closer to the end of March last year).
Max and South filled up for my class - waiting until the last couple of days won’t be good for these dorms. Basically all the dorms close to campus fill up fastest.</p>
<p>If you know you want to come here, make your deposit asap, but if you’re not sure yet, don’t let housing decisions affect you. Most people are happy where they end up, and if you aren’t, you can switch dorms after three weeks (I’ve had friends who have gotten into Snitchcock/South/etc by doing so). I wouldn’t say the housing office is incompetent - probably not significantly more incompetent than any of the other offices on campus - and it certainly seems like they do a great job at pairing roommates together and truly reading your housing application. If you write “I JUST NEED A SINGLE; I DON’T CARE WHERE I WIND UP,” you’ll get one as long as you don’t wait until the very last minute to submit your deposit.</p>
<p>getting a single is very easy because ihouse will have 4 houses next year and they are all singles</p>
<p>Right. There are hundreds of singles available for first-years, just not in the most popular dorms. Getting a single is really not a big problem, as long as you don’t count on getting a single in B-J, which will be the first choice for almost everyone who wants a single. The other single-heavy dorms are on the fringes of campus, though, so for your second choice (after B-J) you may want to think about whether you would rather be closer to the gym (Maclean), the commercial areas of Hyde Park (Broadview), or the Metra (Breckinridge, I-House, Blackstone).</p>
<p>Can you get a single in South as a first year?</p>
<p>^ Yes. South has a lot of singles as well, and although many upperclassmen take them, there will certainly be singles available for first years (if you don’t wait until the last minute).</p>
<p>Sigh I’m getting very concerned about housing haha… if only I had applied EA and committed early on lol</p>
<p>Is it possible for a first-year to get a single in Hitchcock?</p>
<p>I submitted my deposit on December 22nd (four days after EA decisions)</p>
<p>Hitchcock doesn’t really have singles, Snell does.</p>
<p>Also, you sent in your deposit really early, so you should be able to get into most any dorm you want.</p>
<p>I get that, but has it happened before (a freshman being assigned to a single in Hitchcock by housing application)? Is it possible?</p>