When do we submit suggestions for housing preferences (is it w/acceptance by 5/1)?
Any recommendations ? Is there a school link with details?
Typically freshman will more than likely end up on ‘Freshman Hill’ which is a series of buildings on the East side of campus about a 10 minute walk to the center of the central class buildings. You will be given a email notice from ‘Residential Life’ which will give you access to a survey which will ask you personal questions about taste in music, sleep times, exercise, etc. Be as truthful as you can and you won’t regret it because you don’t want to end up with someone that gets uncomfortable. You will see many matches after a few days of compatible people and you text back and forth amongst yourselves to see which 2 or 3 will dorm together. If you don’t have a preference you don’t have to chose, it will default for you the person closest to your tastes.
You will be given on the questionaire a few choices to choose your preferred dorm. Depending on if you chose a dorm-mate that wants the same dorm, you will have better chances of getting that dorm. It’s a compatibility priority thing.
At the end of June (June 28 or so) you will be notified which dorm you got. Around July 15 you will be notified who your dorm mates are. August 26 you can move in. Big tip, find out the best way to drive to ECAV building. We got lost trying to find it lol. You want to drive to ECAV to get your room key. drive over to whichever dorm you got as most dorms have nearby parking places or you can park on some streets.
As far as which one is best, all the freshman dorms in RPI are great as far as I saw. The only real difference is some have a/c and some are a slightly further walk. I wanted Davidson for my son since it was newer and has a/c but really the one he got which was further and without a/c was perfectly fine for him and comfortably cool in the Spring. I’d guess you should probably chose one closest to the center of campus but really we’re are talking about a 1 minute difference among the buildings in Freshman hill.
[Housing Calendar](Home | Student Living and Learning)
[Freshman dorm costs](http://www.rpi.edu/dept/cct/apps/reslife/forms/2017-18FreshmenRoomRates.pdf)
[Stuff for your dorm](Home | Student Living and Learning)
*Tip: remember that the bed size is extra long twin so be careful when you buy your bed covers and sheets
[The portal where the questionaire will be available](Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Welcome to the Housing Portal)
[Pictures of the dorms](https://rpirooms.com/)
[Floorplans for each of the dorms](Home | Student Living and Learning)
Thanks! u r very helpful. Will your son move off campus as a junior? Is he doing the Arch placement this summer? If u live off campus, where do kids park cars if it’s a distance from school?
Since we live further away, my DS did the last orientation and pick up his key right there on Freshman Hill. He requested and received Barton (the newest dorm on the hill, with A/C) and two good randomly assigned roommates. They will be living together in one of the townhouse-styled dorms next year. That will be nice since each will have a single room in the house. Agree – be honest in the survey to get the best roommate match.
DS did mention that some of the freshman dorms’ shared kitchens have cooktops in addition to microwaves. If cooking your own meals is important to you, look for that. Barton does not have cooktops, just microwaves.
@love2teach I’ve heard there are places on certain streets where some of the kids that know how to get around can always find a spot to park. Not sure how reliable that is nor where these spots are. I wonder if there is a nearby monthly pay garage.
I was just talking to him Saturday about what he thinks about housing for junior year and the 4 of them (now best of friends for life) may plan on renting one of the many houses in the nearby city. Look at [this link](https://www.jumpoffcampus.com/map?location=rpi) to see how plentiful the options are. That would save a few thousand dollars off dorm and meals but that can also be a negative. If they move out, they’d be responsible for meals and cleanup duties and I’m kinda suggesting he leave that idea for senior year and just stay on campus for junior.
He went to his adviser yesterday (Monday) to ask questions about possible issues with his ideas of a coterminal after his dual major. They went onto the topic of summer-arch so to answer your question, the adviser mentioned the fact that RPI was flooded this year with an overwhelming amount of companies desperate to hire RPI students for co-ops. For that reason she recommended to him and many other students to take the Spring co-op instead of the fall in order to have more options to choose from. He won’t have to worry about summer-arch for a while though since he will be entering sophomore this fall, and summer-arch isn’t until after sophomore into junior year.
@reformedman Thank u! RPI should b paying u a royalty for all your helpful info.
I have a junior at RPI, and I would also put in a plug for the roommate matching system. It seemed particularly effective, with a lot of discussions back and forth with potential roommates, resulting in a great, compatible friend that he chose to live with a second year. I don’t know if it is better than at other colleges, but it worked for my son.
@belmom so clarify, by doing the questionnaire honestly, student select matches or RPI selects a match for u?
Students make a pick a roomie, but it does through the housing system to make sure that both students are picking the same type of housing. For example, as long as both (or 3) students are picking dorms from “Freshman Hill” and not choosing wildly different housing options from each other, they should be matched up. Also, when there was a small glitch sophomore year, a call from a parent fixed things in about 5 minutes.