Any discussions about next year’s roommate(s) yet?
His college guarantees 4 years on campus housing.
DS2022 got matched to a QUAD this year, even though he asked for a DOUBLE.
He gets along well with his quadmates.
But his roommates don’t really do anything (except sleep in late).
For Fall semester, son did great with Academics,
but his social life lacked a lot. He met people, but haven’t found ‘his people’/click deeply with some people.
He’d like to have more fun Spring semester and next year.
He doesn’t do frat/wild drinking parties.
Dilemma:
A. Go with a KNOWN option: get a TRIPLE (not as close to the 4th roommate) with 2 of his roommates, or
B. Go for UNKNOWN and get in the dorm lottery for a DOUBLE?
taking a chance to meet someone else he really clicks with/have fun with?
I’m leaning to A for him:
better to go with a KNOWN/neutral living conditions
can make friends from classes or clubs/activities.
By sophomore year, my daughter had gotten to know a few people to go for a double in a 3 BR apartment. But it was always one “friend”, and then friends of that friend - and realized that not everyone who you enjoy hanging out with also makes a good suite mate. It wasn’t until senior year that all stars did align and she was living with two very close friends in a 3 BR who felt like she was living with sisters, and where everyone “pulled their weight” evenly.
This sounds like my D at Brown. I don’t know the answer. I just keep encouraging her to put herself out there. She may try for a service or literary society house. She won’t need to decide for at least a month I think.
When do they need to know at MIT?
They will find their people, but it is hard navigating the bumps in the meantime!
I agree with you, largely because having a “neutral” living space is a million times better than a rough roommate situation. And this doesn’t necessarily mean a personality clash, but just lifestyle mismatches such as early bird who needs to sleep with a night owl who has the lights on and is active at midnight (this is annoying to both people!). Or a roommate who is always bringing people in to your shared room, to the point where to have space you need to leave you own room (it’s not just your roommate you’re living with, it will also be your roommate’s friends if they’re the type to have people hanging out with them a lot in their room. Or a roommate who loves their cologne or has a strong fabric softener they can’t live without, and it drives you up the wall (you’re not allergic, but just dislike it)…there are lots of mismatches in which your living situation can end up being utterly draining to you. And it’s day in and day out and it affects the rest of your college experience: academics, social, all of it.
if you’re in a neutral living situation, you can always go out! You have options and flexibility.
Unless you are an absolute golden retriever of a person, who can and does always roll with everything and everybody - I’d go with the known neutral, and count your blessings!
Mine went in blind this year and while his 3 suitemates are okay, they are not his people really. Nothing horrible, but just a personality mismatch. And, at Alabama they don’t have space for most kids past freshman year, unless you have a scholarship. None of his current suitemates do, so they aren’t really an option. So he is working to find at least 1 person who has a housing scholarship to live with next year. They have a roommate finding portal that will open this winter and he’s hoping it’s clear on it who has the scholarship and maybe he’ll know someone from a class. It’s kind of an awkward question to ask others! And since they are on campus, I will encourage him to go through the profiles and then meet up with his picks. This should help find someone closer to a match.
From what I read on the Facebook groups, it’s not that hard. The closest places go the quickest, but it seems there is enough to go around, even if you wait until spring. Most places seem to rent by the room and do some types of roommate matching as well. I’d definitely join a group and read up on the good and bad places though.
D22 is living in an off campus house with a group of girls next year. Most students move off campus as sophomores because there isn’t enough space on campus. She’s excited about living off campus - I’m nervous about safety, etc.
I think it’s crazy how early everyone has to make housing plans for the following year.
It’s also great life-skill training: Having to meet with realtors, deal with a lease, guarantees, deposits, figuring out how to set up/activate the gas/power/water accounts, get cable, Internet hooked up… Even just making the rent payment every month and then distributing cost among co-tenants.
And, of course, when appliances or other things break, dealing with a super, landlord, or management company.
All very “adult” skills that will get them ready to be independent for when they might move away to take a job, or attend graduate school after college, where they will have to fend for themselves from day 1.
I too was skeptical at first, but soon realized the benefits.
My daughter’s reaction in Junior year, citing all the above: “Wow, I suddenly feel so grown up!”
DS22 was in quad where they crammed in an extra bed so much too small (5 boys in a space for 4) and he can’t wait to get into an apartment next year. He didn’t connect with any of these roommates (They get along fine but have nothing in common. He’s a literature major. They are all physics major by coincidence so study together all the time and discuss science endlessly and he’s not really able to participate ) so he’s hoping to meet new people this semester who might want to room with him. I suggested going with known/neutral living conditions with his current roommates but he really wants to “find his people.” Fingers crossed that happens. He’s at a big state school that only offers dorms for freshman so there will be a lot of students looking for off-campus roommates next year.
In your child’s situation, the known/neutral option sounds best. My S22 is in a triple at NYU. One of his roommates has become a close friend and is a core part of the nice social group they’ve found in the dorm; the other roommate is nice enough but has some persistent hygiene issues that make him unpleasant to live with. S22 and his good friend are planning to find an off-campus apartment for next school year. My D19 just finished at Parsons and has been living with three friends in Brooklyn apartments since January 2021, so S22 has an appealing model to follow.
I also became close friends with 2 of my dorm floor-mates and we are still very close life-long friends.
Son sees that because when my college roommates and I get together (often), we’d reminisce college stories.
Aside from the cost, the thing I hate about off campus housing is the full year lease requirement. I get why the leasing companies do that, but it’s such a pain and a waste of money if your child does not stay at the school for the summer. And subletting is usually not a great option unless you are lucky enough to know the person well.
S22 gets to remain in campus housing next year because his honors dorm guarantees housing through sophomore year. After that he will likely have to go off campus.
I might depend on the metro area - but upperclass(wo)men might have year-round internships, so they are looking for summer rentals. Also, there were international students who couldn’t travel home due to travel restrictions and needed a place until the fall. In my daughter’s city there was a VERY active sublet market for the summer.
And, the whole internship thing was also a reason why the full-year rental made sense…
D22 went back to school today after over a month at home. She had a great first semester so I was surprised and concerned at how anxious she got last night about the transition back. Thankfully, she said that as soon as she saw her dorm she got a whole lot better about going back. I know this week is going to be rough for me as I will miss her tremendously. These goodbyes are tough and I am realizing there will be so many over the next few years.
Anyone here remember if their kid got merit aid from Clemson or Auburn? S24 has both on his list, as well as several state flagships, many of which are transparent about merit aid. Curious if these two offer any type of merit aid, and if so, how it compared to other merit aid your student was offered.
My D18 got 15k a year from Clemson which for that year was the highest award. In 2019 the highest award was 20K. The next year they dropped down to 12k for the highest award. I think they will announce merit in February.
Clemson also gave her 36 or 37 credits for AP classes so she was able to graduate in three years which was a big savings.
My S17 and S22 received merit at both Auburn and Clemson. Auburn is a bit more generous with merit than Clemson. Both schools have decreased their top merit awards for out of state students over the past few years.
S17 was awarded $15k per year at Clemson and $18k a year presidential scholarship from Auburn. Auburn came out about $10k a year less for him due to Auburn’s out of state tuition being lower than Clemson. He is now a proud Auburn alum. He chose Auburn over Clemson primarily because he was interested in the wireless engineering major at Auburn. I should also note that Auburn also awards smaller departmental scholarships that stack with the other scholarships. I think there is a February 1 deadline to apply for other scholarships through AUSOM. One of his in state roommates was actually receiving $2k a semester back from the university. I haven’t heard of any out of state kids receiving that much.
S22 received a $16500 per year presidential scholarship from Auburn. His acceptance letter from Clemson stated he would receive a merit scholarship to be determined in March. He was accepted to his early decision school last year so declined his acceptance before we could find out how much the award would have been. My understanding is that the highest awards at Clemson last year were $12k per year.
