<p>Hi all! After a long, torturous search and decision-making process, my daughter has decided to attend Davis in the fall. I think it was a good choice for her and she is very excited (and nervous!) about going off to college. </p>
<p>She sent in her housing request today, and wondered why there wasn’t an interests form, or some sort of process for roomate matchups. She says she asked on a UC Davis forum and others told her that Davis doesn’t do this-it’s totally random.</p>
<p>True? False? I know it’s probably a big pain for Davis to do this, but might potentially save them some trouble down the line. For instance, my daughter is whatever the opposite of a night owl is-like if she doesn’t go to bed by 10:00 she gets very ****y. (Exciting teenager, hunh? ) It might serve everyone best if she didn’t end up in a room with someone who likes to stay up till 4:00 a.m. on a regular basis. (Like her sister, ha ha. When they shared a room, it was a nightmare for all involved.)</p>
<p>I know when my other daughter was going off to UC Santa Cruz, she filled out a very extensive form online. (Actually, it was pretty funny because she had a friend that she wanted to room with and they went through the form together, trying to match their responses match up perfectly. They did all this crazy stuff, like “I am a student with a toaster and would like to room with someone who has bread.” The other girl reversed it “I am a student with bread seeking someone with a toaster.” I mean, they took like 45 minutes to do this. Then they got to the last screen and there was a question “Is there a UC Santa Cruz student that you would to room with? Please write that name here” and they realized they did all for nothing. But I digress :)</p>
<p>Anyway, just wondering if the info she received is accurate, or do they send something during the summer maybe?</p>
<p>There is no interest form. You are able to switch rooms after the first quarter if you know of a vacancy or have a person who wants to switch with you. My d roomed with a girl who was on a very opposite schedule her freshman year. They were never really good friends, but were able to work out a reasonable rooming arrangement. The RA's were very helpful in setting up the initial agreements between roommates.</p>
<p>I was a little surprised to find that there was no matching whatsoever as well, but after living in the dorms I realize that it's not really that important. </p>
<p>Almost everyone is courteous and almost everyone wants to do things that will lead to a positive experience in the dorms, so when you have two people working together to achieve that it ends up working out well. Practically everyone on my floor is either fairly close or at least neutral with their roommate. </p>
<p>If your daughter really does intend to go to sleep every night at 10pm and is worried about getting a roommate who would not be able to handle that, you should consider requesting a single. But from what I've seen, roommates are usually able to be respectful of each other's sleeping schedules, even if they do find them slightly annoying at times. </p>
<p>For a college the size of Davis, the labor required to match 5,000 freshman students is an unreasonable burden. For us it's more economical to train advisers who can help roommates work through any conflicts they may have. Smaller colleges are able to do matching because they don't have as many people to match, and private colleges are able to do it because they have enough money. But mostly it's just a luxury to help incoming students, many of whom have never shared a room, feel more comfortable before moving in.</p>
) It might serve everyone best if she didn’t end up in a room with someone who likes to stay up till 4:00 a.m. on a regular basis. (Like her sister, ha ha. When they shared a room, it was a nightmare for all involved.)</p>