<p>Hi mcel - I have heard once before that is the case, that Paterson residents don’t abstain, but isn’t that part of their agreement when they choose Paterson? Maybe I should have been clearer also, I didn’t mean that they had to abstain all the time, but at the dorms they are supposed to be substance free. At least that’s what the website says. Theory and practice are often different; what’s the real story? Also, when are you heading back? My D goes back tomorrow. Maybe you two are on the same flight.</p>
<p>supaumar - Yes, once you tell Tulane you are coming you make a small deposit and that gets everything rolling. They will instruct you on dorm selection (all on-line I think). Basically you can request a roommate or they can just assign you one randomly. There are two main ways to find a potential roommate 1) Go to one of the orientation sessions in June and get to know other students committed to Tulane. With luck you find a guy or group of guys that you seem to get along with OK and see if one of them wants to room with you. Trust me, almost everyone has the same apprehension you feel about this process. If you agree, then you both tell Housing you want to room together and select the same dorms as your first and second choice. It is rare that Housing doesn’t give you what you ask for in cases like this. 2) Go online and list your characteristics and preferences with regard to roommates and dorms, and see what others have posted. There are two main sites for this, a Facebook one and one the Tulane officially uses (Roommate Click, tulane.roommateclick.com). If you see someone that you think would be a good match, you send them an e-mail or whatever or they send one to you and you “talk” it over. If things look good, you do the same thing I said about submitting your choices to Housing. finally, I noticed you said that you “know for sure that I want a roommate.” Actually there is little choice anyway, there are no singles for freshmen as far as I know, but you have the right isea anyway. Having a roommate is all part of the college experience, and a valuable one I think, even if sometimes it is very difficult.</p>
<p>Oh, and thanks for the compliment. Pleased to do it.</p>