Any idea when schools announce roommate matches to incoming students? I am specifically interested in the Hotchkiss timing, but perhaps it’s a general question relevant to all schools. Any insight on when it happens and how it is done would be great.
At Solebury, you meet your roommate when you show up.
^^^Same at Choate.
At Groton that’s how it works for the first year. After that you choose your roommate at the end of spring term.
We’ve been told that’s how it works at Mercersburg too. Filled out a questionnaire in June; find out who you got on Aug 30, show-up day.
Personal opinion is that within a couple of years of their founding, each boarding school found that:
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With enough pre-warning, they were opening themselves up to unwanted “suggestions” and complaints, and
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That first reactions often need to be worked through, but in a few weeks most roommates learn to live with each other.
For these reasons, it would not be very wise to announce roommate matching more than a couple of weeks in advance of the start of school. I do not know specifically for Hotchkiss.
I totally agree that letting students know in advance who the roomie will be is a recipe for discontent and hassle that the school neither wants nor needs. From a parental standpoint, however, it sure would be nice to know who’s going to bring the rug!
I met my BS roommate on move in day in the early 80s, and though we were never great FRIENDS, we were great roommates and lived together 3 of our 4 years there. It is a lesson I have passed on to DS.
This is what Stanford has to say on the subject:
While not critical with thing like rugs and lamps, many new students (and sometimes the parents) stress out about what furniture to bring. As many of the dorm rooms have unique configurations, it’s always best to see the room first. There are plenty of places to find stuff to buy near the school (most schools anyway) as well as from older students looking to offload their unneeded items.
I’ve heard Amazon delivers.
Most schools provide a list of items to bring; if your child heads off with the items on the list, he’ll be ready for the first few weeks at least. Sometimes roommate assignments change at the last minute, and there’s always next year. Your child will always need a lamp, an alarm clock, linens, a shower caddy, etc.
At Andover you can call the school and ask for your roommate’s information (at least it used to be that way). I found it helpful to talk with my soon-to-be roommate before I got to campus. It made me look forward to attending PA even more. However, I understand the reasoning behind not giving out that information beforehand.
Im also going to Hotchkiss and apparently students were supposed to fill out a questionnaire on what type of roommate you wanted (I didnt know this, I just found this out from 3 other people also going). A friend of mine found out they were to be placed in a triple through email.
I can see the rationale both ways on this one. No information ahead of time, no opportunities for complaints. On the other hand, no information ahead of time, no chance to have your mind put at rest either. My daughter found out a few weeks ago who her roommates will be and has had some email and text exchanges with them. She was very relieved to discover that they have some things in common – which of course is no guarantee that she’ll get long with them as roommates, but it certainly helped alleviate some of her anxiety about going off to boarding school. At least she feels like she “knows” her roommates a little bit already, and is excited to meet them in person.
@Blackbeard, I take it you figured out where to find the roommate information on the parent portal?
Amazon does deliver (thankfully!), and Hotchkiss is actually very far from any useful shopping (40 mins. and students don’t have vehicles) so it is helpful to know something in advance so to arrive as supplied up as possible. Our D needed more hangars and there were none to be purchased between the local CVS and local grocery store. Who wants to travel 40 mins one way for hangars?!