<p>Everybody gets a room, but they dont tell you how many are getting the same room. Last year were forced triples, this year will be forced doubles.</p>
<p>Forced doubles? What dorms are you talking about, and what year is your son or daughter?</p>
<p>They are planning to make the RA's rooms into doubles. My D will be a freshman and won't be single rooms for freshmen this year. My S still doesn't know where he will be next year. I'm really worried about this, and it's really expensive to book the Knight Center for a year :(</p>
<p>This housing crunch is one reason I think it's a good idea for WashU to cut back on freshman enrollment as previously announced. S1, a current freshman, is in limbo after missing the app deadline for round 2 (long story) and being forced into the "administrative round" for university housing. I'm just hoping he will get an on-campus spot --- it's too late to be picky about where. The res life page on the website says they are building a new on-campus dorm on the north side, but it won't be finished until next year, so it won't help for this fall. </p>
<p>Housing is one of those things that's simple when you're a prospective student looking around ---- what do the dorms look like? Traditional or modern? How far from classroom buildings, shuttle stops, laundry and food? But the tricky thing is the year after freshman year. WashU's excellent housing and res life community activities are great for the first year, but then there's this Byzantine structure for deciding who gets what the following year and it seems to leave a fair number of students out in the cold. First, freshmen have to put themselves into groups of four or six and hope no one drops out, then they all have to have good lottery numbers or the average lottery number will be less advantageous and they might not get the suite they need for their size group. Some students are lucky and have this wonderful housing for as long as they want it; others are shut out and reassigned and get whatever is left over. It's like musical chairs when the music stops. It's been the first less-than-wonderful aspect of life at WashU for my son. I'm hoping he will get a single on campus, but a triple would be less than desirable, particularly for a soph. (Okay for a freshman, though, because you get a much better lottery number for the following year.)
A triple would be pretty ironic for us too, since we justified his turning down Berkeley and UCLA (overcrowded dorms with forced triples are common) for the seeming sweet res life at a private college.</p>
<p>We had the same experience than jazzymom turning down Ivies and top ten schools because of the nice living at Wash U. My S applied when he was supposed to do it, and he had his own group. Unfortunately, they gave him the lowest lottery number of the four (hope the other guys forgive him ;)) so they didn't get any of their choices.
At least the scholarship committee doesn't work like Res Life, they renewed the scholarships on time.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that you ran into problems. Our experience has been just the opposite. Nice double in a modern dorm as a freshman - good suite arrangement as a sophomore and next year off campus (by choice) with friends right accross the street from campus. This seems to be the experience of most students we know. Checked with mine and was told that there were no major problems they knew of for next year. I am sure it will all work out.</p>
<p>I posted earlier on another thread about how a lot of my friends were having difficulties with housing. Apparently it is all starting to work out (they have housing oncampus next year). So hopefully it will work out for everyone. Good luck to those still in the mess! : )</p>
<p>From your lips (keyboard) to God's ear......or the ear of Res Life.</p>