Good question @creaky. We did not need to have glasses adjustments but I know what you are taking about. There is probably a customer service line one could contact at Zenni to ask.
Water filters. Iâm certain I want to get a water pitcher for S21. Partly because of my ignorance and assumptions about east coast water supply and partly because I read a few Reddit comments about water at Brown that just made me react. We use water filters here at home, too.
I found this that I thought would be great for the dorm fridge but it only seems to filter out chlorine.
Brita Stream Water Pitcher with 1 Filter, 12 Cup, Ice & Stream Replacement Filters, 2 Count, Gray https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G4YVQQ1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_F619QRWEQ8JV56WVMZWX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Anyoneâs kid use a pitcher they like? The PUR ones are great and I love the tech but they seem to be bigger sized.
We just got the small, 6-cup size Brita pitcher.
https://www.amazon.com/Brita-Small-Metro-Pitcher-Filter/dp/B01G9ADQYG/ref=sr_1_8?crid=7297ERHCH9S9&dchild=1&keywords=brita+water+pitcher&qid=1621446117&s=home-garden&sprefix=brtia+%2Cgarden%2C267&sr=1-8
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S19 was in an LLC and worked well for him. He is on the spectrum and isnât the type to put himself out there to make friends and actually is ok to just be on his own, however, I think he benefits from having caring people around him. I donât think his LLC were anymore cliquey with each other than perhaps another traditional college floor would be that promoted some activities/floor meetings/RA to guide them, but it helped to know they did have one thing in commonâan interest in business. I donât know if that really limited the diversity-both male/female on different wings of the floor. For my son, I feel like some of the guys had a connection with him and acknowledge him or invite him to their table for lunch if they saw him alone (even though my s is actually fine eating or being alone). To me the LLC seemed more like a home base family, but they didnât do everything togetherâŠmuch like my experience at a small lac traditional floor without an LLC. You have me wondering what other peopleâs experiences have been in LLC groups.
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EhâŠroommate matching isnât always a disaster. Probably helps that my daughter is in the Honors LLC but she clicked right away with a girl (school does a calculation on how âmatchedâ your responses are on the survey) via the roommate matching portal. She probably added and was added by 10-15 other kids on Snap, but can only have one roommate. Will they be great together in real life? Itâd be awesome, but who knows - they arenât even in the same college (Engineering vs A&S) and my daughter will be busy in the fall with marching band and likely find lots of friends there too. I donât want her to rely solely on her roommate.
School matching portals are probably the exact same scenario that goes on at a school that does random match via survey, but instead of just matching people together with similar answers like a school would do, the kids can look at all the bios of the â90% matchesâ and say, hey - this girl likes live music or reality TV or canoeing or whatever- just like me. Iâll message her instead of these other three kids that also match 90% with my preferences.
Most LLCs are just about having a common interest. The kids can be a diverse bunch in every other way. Universities push groupings like this to create a sense of community, which is important for students to feel connected, especially at large universities. The beauty of it is that students can choose whether they want to go this route or not. None of my kids have been interested in it, and they did just fine 
@Creaky Thank you. Not many of the Brita filters filter out lead, so I think Iâm going to get this one. I know for sure the PUR filters do. 6-7 cups would be about 48-56oz, so enough to fill the 40oz hydroflask and heâll have to get water refill at drinking station at the food locations on campus.
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The issue is not everyone is in one, so when the entire focus is on LLC this or LLC that you are left wondering if your kid is not in one how it will impact their experience. This is the issue I have with them. At some schools the LLCs are invitation only and so kids donât have a choice if they arenât invited.
So LLCs provide a common interest for some kids but others have to find this on their own, which again is like a group of haves vs have nots. I think starting out in such a fashion doensât promote a diverse, inclusive environment and in fact does just the opposite.
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Okay, well I can only speak to the four universities I have significant experience with. In all of them, kids can apply to be in an LLC. LLCs are definitely encouraged, because I think the universities see them as improving retention, but most kids are not in an LLC. Itâs an individual choice. If your studentâs college has only very selective LLCs then I think itâs safe to assume that most kids are not in one, and so it isnât a huge loss to not be in one. Like I said, none of my kids chose to be in one and it wasnât a problem.
I agree that this is potentially problematic. I did wonder - if you donât do the LLC do you end up in dorms with the less academically minded students? In looking at reddiit comments about his collegesâ LLCs the main negative students talked about is they arenât âpartyâ dorms. Thatâs not a negative for S21 so he did decide to do an LLC, the one for students in the college of Science. Since heâs in a fairly small major it seemed a good way to up the odds that there will be others in that major in his dorm. One college S21 considered has ALL students in LLCs and that seems like a good way to start to build connections with a group that has some degree of common interest without there being kids who are âleft out.â
LMU didnât have an LLC that my daughter was interested in that she was also eligible for, and the LLC dorms also had zero singles, so that was a double non-starter for her.
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My D has been in her LLC for three years now. Itâs been super for her and a way to make a large school feel much smaller. Her school does promote LLCs but only about 40% of students opt to live in one so there isnât any feeling of being left out since it isnât the majority. Most of her friends did LLCs but not necessarily the same ones as D.
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Not sure what you mean about NJ, but the school that some kids suddenly from another high school in our district are going to is Wisconsin. That seems to be the most popular school this year from our school, possibly more popular than UIUC but I havenât checked for sure.
Not sure. We werenât shopping for glasses based on what our insurance covered or not - the person didnât even know we had eye insurance, so I donât think thatâs what it was and my son was already 18, so it definitely wasnât that either. Whatever it was, not gonna worry about it. He has only worn them a couple times in the house and only has them in case of an emergency. We actually do have great vision coverage, new lenses and frame covered every year, contacts covered annually up to a certain amount (I think it covers about 40% of the cost) and before heâs 26 if he wants to get lasik he can get it at a huge discount from any Dr he wants, assuming his father doesnât decide to retire when he turns 55, when my son is only 23 - although he still has to cover him on insurance until heâs 26 either way, so maybe he will suck it up for 3 more years just based off that requirement from our divorce!
I think every kid is different and has a different experience and every school does it differently and some have good luck with how they work their matching âalgorithmsâ and some definitely do not! You also have to hope kids are not lying when they fill out the roommate information and that itâs also not parents filling that out, which happens a lot and letâs face it, kids are going to lie (especially if they know the parents are going to see it) and parents who fill it out may think their kid is one way when they are not. Not always a good mix.
I have had no less than 6 people say they wanted their kids to room with my kid or kids like mine. I rolled my eyes and said to myself, thanks but no thanks. Their reasons were that their kids needed a kid disciplined like mine that would help their kid become disciplined and study and not party. SMH. No way! My kid doesnât want a roommate like that. These are the parents who will fill out a form and totally lie about their kid. Disaster in the making.
Two of my kids found their roommates on social media and they were the absolute best matches ever. One is in the same sorority, the other kid while not in the same sorority they have remained great friends. I love it! But their process for finding the roommates wasnât based on how they looked and pictures. It was a whole process. Interests, and then they had about 30-60 minute interviews and then each thought about it to see if they thought they would be a match. My son OTOH filled out the roommate info form and found someone that way based on their common interests etc and then they too had about a 60 minute talk over facetime and decided they were a good match, and then talk regularly. I think my son wanted a roommate also from OOS. Not sure why, but I got that sense after two others he was talking to were both from in state and he didnât click with them like this one. Maybe he was worried they would be going home a lot on weekends. I had a roommate like that, so I get it.
Anyway, with random, for those worried, your kids still should have enough time to try to coordinate things and work out whoâs bringing what (things can always be returned), get some ground rules together, and get to know each other. Some of the random roommates have turned into the best of friends, some unfortunately have not. If not, someone can always change rooms at mid semester. No one should have to be miserable all year. Just remind your kids of that - it doesnât have to be permanent.
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Britta - plus filters. I just threw my daughterâs away. Never used it but when I got to the extra filters (which arenât cheap) she told me to keep them, maybe she would buy a new one. Smh.
You can buy it at BBB and usually use the 20% off thing. I also recall there was a nice rebate available when we bought ours. Thereâs a certain size that fits in the dorm room size fridges. Personally, I found my kids just preferred I send bottled water to them. Much easier and they didnât have to worry about changing the filter.
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Like @rbc2018 my 3 kids that have gone to college were not interested in LLCâs. One can say an LLC is no different than kids who join Greek houses (they are not all social frats/sororities as there are engineering ones, business ones, etc). Like anything, theyâre not for anyone. Some people love them, some donât. One of mine in any honors program, couldâve lived in honors housing but chose not to. She definitely didnât miss out on being with what some may view as âsmarterâ people because of it. Maybe those people wouldâve considered themselves more elite, who knows. She wanted to be with more diverse people.
What Iâve seen is that some schools just push push push the LLCs so I think some donât fill. I also think for some kids theyâre great if youâre looking for people like you or similar interests. Like if youâre a musician, or a first generation, or minority, or into technology. There is nothing wrong with it. But not everyone needs that. Also you take classes together in a small group which I think is kind of nice. My kids unfortunately just werenât interested in them, but if there were ones that really caught their interest, I wouldâve told them to go for it.
Have we talked about graduation parties? Are you guys doing one? How are you decorating? high school colors or the college?
We are having a party. Will ask that everyone is vaccinated. Put both the high school and college logo on the invite. Purple/silver high school, purple/gold college 
. We lucked out!
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We are doing a graduation party (outdoors) and have the high school colors. Hoping most guests will be vaccinated. Planning the party (though in July) is my favorite thing to do these days. Just ordered the big balloon arches and the tents. Still figuring out DJ or no DJ & for Offcourse the food. 
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