<p>I started digging into my son's admission acceptance and it says after you pay your fees and deposits you will "select your housing option". What exactly does that mean at this point? Are they going to ask you to select a specific dorm? A specific roommate? Will it just get you toward the front of the line when you make these specific choices at a later date? Trying to decide whether I may want to accept and pay these fees now, even though son is considering a couple other schools at this time. Any clarification would be appreciated. </p>
<p>It’s been 3 years since I went through this for my other daughter, but we just put a deposit on housing. We paid our deposit in early February, DD settled on a roommate in mid-April and they decided on their first and second choices. Housing assignments came out in Early or mid-July. I thought that by sending the deposit early she would have a better chance of her first pick of housing area, but they picked East, then Pollock and got Pollock. After moving in and talking to other kids they were very happy that they ended up in Pollock, so it worked out. There was a Facebook page set up for the Penn State Class of 2016 and that’s how many of the kids found roommates. It also was used by kids trying to get their housing assignments changed. Apparently, if you ended up in an area that you really didn’t want you could try to find someone that wanted to switch with you. I remember that there were a lot of posts of “I got West and wanted East or I got East and wanted South”. If I remember correctly the deposit is refundable. I hope this helps a little.</p>
<p>Thanks. Says they are non-refundable. I figure if he was fortunate enough to receive an acceptance already…a deposit this early should get him near the front of the line. He will probably room with someone from his high school, but several of his friends may not get an answer until December or January. </p>
<p>My son didn’t know about his acceptance until about mid January. He sent in his housing deposit about 3 days later. Several of his friends found about their acceptance within the same few days.</p>
<p>My son did not want East and chose Pollack as first choice and West as his second. He got Pollack. He is so happy with his decision. Some of his friends are in East, but these guys end up hanging out at my son’s room.</p>
<p>My son picked to room with his HS friend. I believe you can add names later.</p>
<p>Your housing deposit puts you in line. You will be asked to prioritize (location, roommate, SLO – which is your first priority) and you can change those priorities/details up to the deadline. You can choose a housing area (East, Pollock, South, North, etc.) but not a specific dorm. Nittany Apartments and Eastview are only for upperclassmen, btw. North dorms are increasingly popular (but more expensive than regular dorm rooms) and are, in fact, open to underclassmen no matter what you hear. </p>
<p>I guess only Housing could really answer and I am guessing they wouldn’t, but…if both roommates selected each other, would they really need to make that their first priority? Seems like they would make location their first priority and roommate second or third. Would they really split two kids up who selected each other because they didn’t make that top priority? That wouldn’t seem to make sense, but who knows. Maybe not worth taking the chance. </p>
<p>You are right, that wouldn’t make sense, but maybe that’s why my DD ended up in Pollock instead of East.<br>
Or, maybe they were trying to save her from herself :)</p>
<p>I’d call housing or email them. Be sure to let us know what they say.</p>