<p>My freshman daughter's roommate decided to leave school, creating an empty bed. I heard there is a waiting list for dorm rooms. My daughter is concerned she might get a smoker, partier, etc. to replace her other roommate. </p>
<p>How do they go about filling that spot? Can she have any input into the person that moves in? If so, who should she be talking to?</p>
<p>They may save the spot for a freshman who was deferred to spring semester. In the meantime, if she has a new friend who wants to change rooms she should ask her now. There is a certain time after which current students who are unhappy can request switch or change - she could also get one of those. Call housing if you are concerned.</p>
<p>She has no control over who moves in and it is very possible she could have another person move in before the end of the semester.</p>
<p>Where does she live? If it’s something popular like Patterson, then she’s likely to have a new roommate. If it’s something like Bates, she might get the room to herself.</p>
<p>People who have problems with their roommates or don’t like their location, go to housing every semester to try and switch. I had one friend who lived in three different places her freshman year. I had another friend go through three different roommates her freshman year. Movement around the dorms is really common. Housing doesn’t even necessarily let you know that you’re getting a new roommate. A lot of times, a new person just moves in and the person already living there doesn’t find out until the new person shows up. Sometimes the new person moves in when the roommate isn’t even there (they’re in class or something).</p>
<p>My son has been involved in roommate/suitemate moves both of his first two years of school at two different schools … in both cases the student considering moving was allowed to meet the potential new roommates (and see the new room/dorm) before deciding to accept the move or not. </p>
<p>As I type this I realize I do not know if the people already in the room/suite had any formal say over the new person moving in … it seemed not.</p>
<p>Based on experience of good friend’s son last year, housing evidently wants people to make an effort to talk to someone before moving in but at the end of the day you don’t really have a say. However, in the friends experience housing was dismayed about the way a student claimed he had discussed move with her son and when the experience turned bad, they found a new room for friends son. Bottom line, keep an eye on situation and call if things seem bad - squeaky wheel and all 
</p>
<p>Hopefully she’ll just get another girl who wants a quieter room and it will all work out.</p>
<p>This happened to a family friend’s d in another school her freshman year. She finished the semester with a single but second semester an international student who was doing a semester abroad moved in. Although they did not become friends or maintain a long-term relationship after that semester, it worked out fine.</p>