It’s up to you to find the roomie, there’s no ‘roommate matching’. Can’t stress enough to take a dorm tour over Christmas break.
For someone with no familiarity with TAMU dorms, any recommendations on the 3 preferences ?
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The first thing to consider is southside vs. northside. This isn’t so much about class locations (Freshman classes can be anywhere) but there is a culture around southside and northside dorms. Southside is closer to the Quad (band practices early in the morning), somewhat closer to MSC/ Kyle Field. Northside is closer to Northgate, engineering, etc. The two main dining halls are probably equal (Sbisa on Northside and Commons on Southside) but people have preferences.
Then the second thing to consider is what type of room you’d want - Modular, Commons, Balcony, etc. Commons has a much more community spirit. Balcony would not. Do you want to share a bathroom? With how many people? Do you want to have more people coming and going? Or do you want to be private?
Overall, I don’t think there’s a bad choice at A&M. I stayed in a Northside mod for 2 years (twenty years ago) and thought it was perfect. If I was going back now? I’d probably try a ramp dorm because of the location, the history and they’re not going to be around forever. 
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@voda2013 it doesn’t matter what you list, promise! It means nothing…no one even knows why they ask. When you receive your dorm selection time, it’s a free-for-all. You hop on a website and virtually pick your exact bed, in whatever dorm you want. The process is like picking a seat on a plane… during SWA Black Friday $49 sale, not kidding. It’s crazy fast & frantic, but you’ll have 1st day selection, so it won’t be an issue.
I can’t stress enough, go up during A&M Christmas break and take an official dorm tour. It helps so much to see the actual rooms, walk the campus, especially once you’ve been admitted.
Agree with @LaFinalista, it’s all about Northside or Southside. My husband was a Northside guy, so he was adamant our Aggie would live on Northside. She chose Hullabaloo (which is a quick walk to Mays, for the 1-2 freshman classes you’ll have over there). Tons of Mays kids in Hullabaloo.
Every major lives in all dorms, and freshman will have classes all across campus. Hullabaloo and Northside Modulars are the most popular dorms, fill the fastest.
ResLife website is great-it breaks down cost, gives photos, location, amenities, year built/renovated and more. Don’t overthink phase 2…just list any 3 dorms, you won’t be bound by it. Promise.
And take a tour!!
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@LaFinalista @52AG82 Thanks for your great advice and help!
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My dad was an Old Army guy and insisted that I HAD to live on Southside. My first two choices were Southside mods and I got my third choice on Northside and ended up loving just as much of the history nearer there - Sbisa, the YMCA, Fish Pond, Century Tree, Academic Plaza, the Chapel, the Chicken… Like I said, there’s not a bad choice on campus, IMHO.
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Do all dorms have airconditioning ?
@LaFinalista my husband lived in Moore Hall, which is where Hullabaloo is now. Location was ideal!
They both also had P.O. Boxes at Houston St USPS. She had 1st day, 1st time selection, so was able to choose a room that had an amazing view of Kyle Field!
Former students are certainly loyal to Northside vs Southside!
Yes…they do now (but not when my Aggie husband was in school). I do think 1 or 2 might still have window units, but ResLife website will state that.
TAKE A TOUR
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D23 definitely has her heart set on Hullabaloo (if A&M is her choice - and I’ll tell her about that Kyle Field room!!!) and Moore Hall might have been where her dad was written up a time or two by an RA… not sure on the statute of limitations on those infractions… 
We Aggies are alllllll about traditions, aren’t we? 
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Thanks about “airconditioning” reply. Had attended a 10-day Leadership Seminar at Notre Dame and the dorm had no airconditioning/fans; and it just happened to be the hottest 10 days of the year in South Bend, IN 
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Thank you so much, this helps!! I did call and they said that we could pull out of LLC before dorm selection day, but it wasn’t clear if my daughter would loose her spot in line, but that does make sense. I think we will spend some time looking deep into the engineering LLC before deciding, since there’s no rush to finish phase 2. Thanks again, I appreciate all of your helpful insight!
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@Momoftwo1 she will lose her coveted dorm selection time, if she pulls out of LLC. I’ve seen multiple posts, every year, from parents who groan about it…because it wasn’t made clear.
The Engineering Village is definitely popular…the other LLCs, not so much.
My Aggie didn’t even apply to University Honors (UH) because it requires living in Lechner or McFadden, rooms & roommates couldn’t be chosen. She wanted to live in a ‘real’ dorm (her words), to meet a variety of students-all majors, backgrounds, personalities, co-ed, etc. She wanted nothing to do with major specific or UH dorm.
She’s a Senior now, and still very close with the friends she made on her hall freshman year (turns out every kid on her hall was either Business Honors or Engineering Honors, none of them knew each other prior to arrival).
Definitely think long and hard before listing LLC, take into consideration roommate, too.
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Regarding Roommate selection:
Suppose “A” wants “B” as roommate. “A” signed up for housing in September and “B” in December. Will that work out ?
Yes. The A roomie can pull the B roomie at the earlier time slot.
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@voda2013 yep, @ChristiR93 is correct.
The only time it won’t work out is if someone wants to live with a student who hasn’t been accepted yet. Don’t select a roomie who may not get in until spring break…or later. Only accepted students can go thru dorm selection.
You will officially ‘match’ with your roomie (if you have one) during Phase 3. Everyone wants to room with someone with a high dorm selection date!
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My DD received her acceptance banner yesterday. Yaaaayyy!! She thought it would never come! We’re working on housing phase II and FAFSA this morning.
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@K_Lo congrats!! Phase 2 is honestly pointless, just list 2 dorms and submit. It DOES NOT MATTER what you list. It’s open picking when dorm selection time opens up.
FAFSA opened up today, correct? Good job jumping on that, getting it out of the way. That’s a task I punted off on my husband & Aggie. I think there’s a way to ‘save’ the info, so it’s easier in future years.
Be sure to submit yearly, as many/most scholarships require FAFSA to be on file (even if you don’t qualify).
I passed the FAFSA over to my husband to finish too. The IRS data retrieval tool didn’t work for us last year and isn’t working again this year. Not sure why so we have to manually enter info off our return. Last year was such a pain because we had a 401k rollover. It messed up our EFC and we had to have the college financial aid office correct it and send them documentation. It counted our entire 401k as income for that year. Our EFC is too high either way just extra high with the 401k rollover but some scholarships require a fafsa and an EFC number, so we do it!
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