<p>OK, it is looking more and more like Bama. Son had a great visit, liked the presentation by Honors College, liked that Bama seens to really want him, and the NMF package is better, especially the first year, than others he likes (why couldn’t it have been a sunny day, with a competitive football team when he visited UKY?). </p>
<p>Any tips or ideas on Ridgecrest?. Are various towers better, floors, etc. He won’t have a car his freshman year and is a business major. He knows two kids at Alabama already (a year ahead of him), but other than that, no support network of family or family friends.</p>
<p>You might search as there are lots of threads where the differences in Ridgecrest are discussed. Bottom line is that East and West are closer to Lakeside dining and have a different floor plan. All of the bedrooms are down the same hall. They have a bigger living area and smaller kitchen with very little free counter space. South and North have two bedrooms and one bath to the left and two and one to the right. Slightly smaller living area but more room on kitchen counters.</p>
<p>All are gorgeous. The supposition on here (but no one is really sure) is that South south will have the most freshmen. I do know that the 4 sophomores that my son knows all chose east for its living area and proximity to Lakeside.</p>
<p>You can look at the floor plans on the Res life site.</p>
<p>My first suggestion is that your son strongly consider enrolling in Alabama Action or Outdoor Action. These two programs are outstanding community service opportunities, but they also give students the chance to move into their dorms early, as well as find a built-in group of friends. My son, who graduated in May, still hangs out with some of the students he met through Alabama Action his first few days on campus. We are from Virginia, and my son knew no one when he got to Alabama.</p>
<p>As for Ridgecrest, it is a lovely dorm complex. You cannot go wrong with East, West or the towers.</p>
<p>Is he looking just for 1 bed or is he planning on finding roommates and needing a whole empty suite? when is his selection date and time? My son who is a business major currently lives in RCS-N tower but will be living next year in RCE. </p>
<p>As you may or may not know only the N tower of RCS is honors this year but both will be next year so there are more “open” beds in the S tower if he is looking for more than one spot.</p>
<p>There will likely be more freshman in RCS than in RCE/RCW as it is the dorm they show on the tours.</p>
<p>If he is looking for just one spot he will probably be able to find one in any of the buildings (4 options RCS-N, RCS-S, RCW and RCE).</p>
<p>Look at these links to see which floors have laundry and kitchens, etc.</p>
<p>If you want to be near the Activity/Game room, then 2nd floor north tower. I think the 2nd floors in both towers have the laundry and community full kitchen. Another floor (4th??) does as well.</p>
<p>Sorry to go off topic a little, but I have a question about roommate selection in Honors Housing. My daughter signed up for housing in January, but after the deadline. She has tried to find a roommate on Rooomate Finder, but hasn’t tried really hard. Is the purpose of finding a roommate now to match up with someone who is allowed to select their room? Should she continue to search throughout April for a roommate, since it seems those who registered closer to the deadline have to wait until the end of April to choose a room? If she does not find someone before the end of April, I assume the university will match up roommates and make room assignments. Can they request a certain roommate at that point? Does the university use her roommate profile to match people up? Does any of this really matter since it seems like all the rooms in Honors are nice and finding the right roommate certainly isn’t guaranteed? So many questions! Thanks for letting me vent here!</p>
<p>Here is a copy and paste from a post from UAHousing a few weeks ago:</p>
<p>Honors Housing: we can’t anticipiate exactly what the demand for Honors Housing will be, but based on previous years, all Honors students who requested to live in Honors Housing were able to find a space.</p>
<p>For those who applied after Jan. 1: The application changed to allow students to prioritize kinds of housing, i.e. Honors Housing, suite style, traditional, apartment. They are also given the opportunity to mark a specific roommate preference. Students will be assigned to a space that fits their requests, as space permits.</p>
<p>We are not asking “personality” or behavior questions to match students based on fit. In order to find someone that fits based on these characteristics, please make use of the Roommate Finder.</p>
<p>whyme1, last year there seemed to be a frenzy of roommate search activity right before room selection. Some of the girls are not very intentional about it, but it would be in your daughter’s best interest to find someone who appears compatible and, best case scenario, has an earlier room selection time and can pull her in. </p>
<p>One of the downsides of Roommate Finder (last year, at least) is that you have to actually go into it to see if you have any messages or contact from anyone. It’s easy to forget about doing that. Once they cross over from communicating through RF to communicating on FB it seems to flow more easily. And some students just use the FB group (Class of 2017 for your D) to look for roommates. We also tried some sort of roommate finder that was non-UA and linked in with FB last year. I don’t remember the name of it but found it to be more informative than RF.</p>