I’m late into the conversation - but I am an alum of the ISRC dorm at NU. It was fantastic back in the day. Met my best friends who now live all over the world - Greece, Germany, Israel, France, Hong Kong. I didn’t speak any foreign languages, or have much interest in international affairs before I moved in, but I still had a great time. We had great parties - one night in the Russian suite with blintzes and vodka shots, the next week in the Spanish suite with nachos and margaritas. I’m sure things have changed a bit since my day (more restrictions on dorm drinking), but it is probably still a nice, friendly place (judging by the ISRC alum facebook page).
Meg, why did I not know you went to NU?
My ChemE son got a res col assignment on South Campus - He wrote an email request and got reassigned to North campus. So that might work - but as others have commented - most kids will can fit in anywhere. Good Luck!
She will take her cues from how you handle this. If you treat it in front of her as “this is awful, we better make a stink,” it will be a big deal. If otoh you treat it as “oh well! I’m sure it’ll be fine” then it will be fine.
I have to say, I met a former friend of mine as her son was moving into NU two years after my son. She had complained about wherever her son was placed and called the school and did the “do you know who I am” routine (she and her H were president of the X area alumni association) and the son got moved, I want to say to 1835 Hinman. I said nothing, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Part of the growing process is enabling them to see what seem like big disappointments are really minor bumps.
Upperclassmen dorms tend to be nice because they’re more orderly and (typically) nicer buildings. I lived in one all four years of undergrad.
Did you go to NU too, psych?
Do many schools still have separate dorms for international students? It seems so old fashioned. What’s the point? It seems hard enough for many to get involved as it is.
No, that’s not what is being discussed. NU has regular dorms and then residential colleges which are (loosely) themed - there is one for those interested in performing arts, one for public affairs, one for humanities, one for international studies, etc. The one for international studies is what’s being discussed. It’s not a dorm set aside for international students necessarily. Hope that clarifies.
Some schools call them Living Learning Communities
ISRC back in my day was pretty cool. @BatesParents2019 – it’s not just for international students but for anyone who might be interested in other cultures and international studies. And as others have said, it’s not as if anything they organize is mandatory and you are forced to participate in anything you don’t want to. Look at it as an opportunity to learn about something new!
Mods, can this be moved to the NU forum? It’s really not of interest to anyone else.
I’ve watched a few North by Northwesten vides about ISRC, and one of the main complaints was the old amenities and lacking social life. The reason why the ran out of girls dorms was that people who were not originally with roommate on their housing contract decided to get a roommate at the last minute during the selection process. Everything got thrown out of wack
They ran out of freshman rooms because there were too many freshmen enrolled. That has to be the reason. This happens at many colleges from time to time. They think they have the yield projections correct, but they don’t.
The year my kid was a freshman at Santa Clara, they over enrolled by 125 students or so. Some were assigned to upper class dorms (they did not get a choice…they were assigned). At orientation all summer, the options of triples were offered…with a pretty substantial reduction in room costs. They were able to convert some of the larger doubles to triples, and these students were first in line for a new room if a space opened up.
My daughter said…spaces DOD open up, but all of the triple students she knew did not move. They had already formed good friendships and just stayed put. And they saved a good amount of money.
We tried to get our kid to triple…but she didn’t want to.
Oddly, hers was a room that opened up the third week of school because her roommate relocated to the dorm where the boyfriend lived. My kid had a single the rest of that term…until January. There were plenty of triples (not in her dorm). No one moved in.
@thumper1, the one freshmen-only dorm can only accomodate a small percentage of all freshmen. All other freshmen go to dorms with all classes (which would be all other dorms).
There doesn’t need to be overenrollment for someone who has a bad lottery number to end up in a dorm that isn’t their first choice (and I don’t believe that NU overenrolled). The last few kids left will end up where there is space. That’s the reality even if NU underenrolled.
Totally agree purple Titan. The OP is making it sound like her kid won’t have housing. Really this just means the student won’t be in the freshman housing…which really isn’t a big deal.
Honestly, at most colleges, the kid would have been assigned another dorm, and that would have been the end of the story.
AFAIK there is only one freshman dorm ( Elder). All other freshmen are simply “mixed in” with upperclassmen.
A freshman not getting his/her first or even second choice has nothing to do with over enrollment. You just can’t always get what you want. As I said upthread, my son got his third choice. So it went. He was fine.
I don’t think there overenrollment is the cause of the the shortage FYI. I know NU was kind of keeping it a secret during the housing process that one/two dorms were being renovated (like for example Shepard Residential College is actually not living in their building but the South Mid Quads with 1/3 of the space meaning there was little/no room for freshman). On my recent tour last fall I remember the tour guide bragging that NU hasn’t run out of housing for freshman in like almost 30 years or something. My guess is that 120ish less rooms in Shepard and a few miscellaneous elsewhere must have lead to this shortage because it seems odd that ALL the dorms don’t even have one/two spare rooms open.
I don’t think it’s a secret. You can google the master housing plan and it pretty clearly lays out what dorms are being renovated/taken off line when, when certain dorms will be knocked down (FINALLY someone’s going to destroy the pit that is Bobb McCulloch) and total capacity.
I think dorms are NU’s weak point compared to peer schools and I’m glad they are doing serious investing in upgrading. And I’m so glad Peanut Row was torn down. Looks like they are building a 7 story building there.
@Heisenbergyk, there’s no indication that there’s a shortage. It’s not like the OP’s kid isn’t getting a dorm; she’s just not getting one of her top choices, so there certainly may be space left over.
Northwestern guarantees all freshmen housing. Typically, transfers get what’s left over; I guess this year, there won’t be much.
Yeah. I do not at all get that there’s a shortage of rooms or a sense of overenrollment because a kid didn’t get into her first choice dorm. Lots of kids aren’t going to get into their first choice dorms. That’s how life goes. Some dorms are considered more desirable than others.