<p>Room selection question. Sorry if this has been asked before, I couldn’t find reference to it. Does UA Housing pre-select certain suites for males and females in Ridgecrest? For example, there are 10 suites per floor in Ridgecrest East, are half reserved for males and half for females or are they first come, first served on selection day?</p>
<p>Yes, rooms are set aside with gender designation. In the past only the rooms available to a student’s gender have shown as available at the time of room selection. Those will be first come first served. I understand the process will be new this year, but I doubt that changes.</p>
<p>Ok, so we log on at our designated time slot. Then what? Will the available suites be there to just click on? We have the first time slot. How much time will it take to complete the process?</p>
<p>Here is a link to Housing’s guide to room selection. The process is new this year. In looking at the guide, it appears rooms are no longer set aside by gender until a student has selected the room. That’s a change from past years. It appears one thing hasn’t changed…things will happen quickly…within five minutes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/pdfs/FRSGuide.pdf”>http://housing.ua.edu/pdfs/FRSGuide.pdf</a></p>
<p>^^^Thank You!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! 
Let us know how it goes, but remember that it is NOT a good idea to post your room assignment here on this forum.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link! </p>
<p>This link and the new instructions are VERY helpful to you new families! Makes for fascinating reading, actually! 
This process IS a bit different from previous years, so old-timers are limited in advice we can give. The things that stand out to me are: 1) making sure you have a “confirmed roommate request” beforehand, because you will not be able to pull them in/select them unless you have that confirmation…2) making sure you are eligible to room in the building you select because it appears that ALL housing choices will come up, but you should only select what you are eligible to room in to avoid an error message blocking you…and 3) reminding that you only have 5 minutes max to complete this process.</p>
<p>Advice that still holds true from year to year: have back-up plan(s) agreed upon with your other, potential roommates, in case you all can’t get into your 1st choice (e.g., if there are 4 of you, and no open suites for 4, will you split up and go 2-2 or 3-1, and if 3-1, who gets left out?). If you’re selecting only for yourself, have alternative back-up choices researched in case the building/floor/suite you want is not available. Can’t stress enough that things go quickly! Good luck to all incoming Freshman families! </p>
<p>How much of a backup plan is necessary if you have all your ducks in a row AND you’re in the very first time slot?</p>
<p>Bigdaddy88: The impression I get is that you would still want to have several (10 to 12??) potential rooms identified because you don’t know which rooms are already reserved by returning students. But first time slot should be great!!</p>
<p>You should have several 4 room suites available…but they will go quickly. Don’t take too long to find the perfect room. Maybe have an idea what building and floor you want to be on, go there first, and then just grab an available room quickly. If it’s the same as it was two years ago - you will only see room numbers. You will have no idea where those rooms are actually located on the floor (or relative to laundry room, kitchen, elevator etc.)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I didn’t think about returning students. She will be thrilled with any suite in Ridgecrest East. </p>