So my college thinks they have a fair way of picking the type of dorm room you want with your roommates. The process is, each roommate is given a time and whoever has the earliest time picks the room. However not everybody is given a fair chance in picking the rooms available to them because some are already all picked by the time you can go into your selection. Mine and my roomate’s problem is that we were looking to get a dorm room with more space and privacy. It has a kitchen because my roommate has certain dietary needs and prefers to make her own food. My reasoning is that I have some personal health issues and am uncomfortable sharing communal bathrooms and small spaces. Our current rooming situation is a traditional style but since there are other, better rooms available, we thought we’d try to get the one that suits our terms. We also do not want to buy meal plans but having a traditional style requires you to have a meal plan. We have already put in a request for room change, but it doesn’t ask why you want it, so we have considered calling the school and my doctor to write a note. My question is do you think these are viable reasons to have our room changed over priority of someone else? Do you think the college would understand? Thanks for any answers!
We can’t say if your reasons are good because we don’t know your “personal health issues” but if you have a doctors note saying that you have an actual medical need for X because Y, the college will probably make the accommodations if possible
Way back when 4 of us were trying to get a suite together two of my potential suitemates got doctors notes and each person who could do housing with a dr note could bring in a person. One of my suitemates got a drs note saying she had to have ac for her allergies from an allergy doctor. The other one who somehow had a note that she needed a kitchen for health reasons which were probably related to her having gall bladder surgery.
We were given a handicapped suite even though we tried telling them we didn’t need that type of accommodation. Some friends also got one (the room right above ours) without a drs note so I think they just had extra. Interestingly we found out a handicapped suite meant no dishwasher so there was space for a wheelchair under the sink and since we had a stop in shower our bathroom floor tended to get wet. We could have gotten a suite without the drs notes but no guarantee we could have gotten 2 single/1 double rather than 2 doubles or 4 singles.
If you want accommodations due to personal health issues including getting a room with a private bathroom then you need to contact the school’s Office of Disability Services, ask what documentation would be needed to get that accommodation, and move forward accordingly. This should have been in place before you started college, but get it done as quickly as you can.
If your roommate’s has certain dietary needs and requires a kitchen for dietary/health reasons that the school cannot accommodate then she should also work through the Office of Disability Services and provide necessary documentation from doctors.
In the meantime you can contact Residential Life with your issues, (but my guess is that without the necessary documentation they won’t be able to do much)