Horrible dorm assignment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name the fuggin school.

Seriously. If it ends up being UCLA or Pomona, I might laugh hard enough to never open DCUM again.

Why would you laugh? It’s not a good situation at all for any school, much less these two that have plenty of resources!!

UCLA is right next to the beach and has excellent weather all year. The day/night time temp is consistently perfect.
Pomona is closer to the desert and mountains and is very cold at night.
If someone cannot survive without an AC in these locations, I'm convinced they could not survive the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here-I plan to let DC handle it but living so far away does make it more difficult to bear. I appreciate those of you who have a modicum of understanding-and the rest of you can go a sit on a thumbtack. After a bad high school
Experience we were expecting college to be way better and this is a very bad start in our book[i]!!

Not meant to be snarky - but maybe it's the expectations and the way you look at (or handle) what life throws at you that is leading the the bad experiences.

I'm sorry your DC (and you) are upset - but I think many of us have given some helpful feedback - ranging from how to not end up in a single - to it might end up being great...

Good luck

[Anonymous]

UCLA website shows that their four, large "classic" dorms have no ac. The info is easily accessible. Older dorms are very hard to retrofit because of older wiring and code requirements. But the students seem to be happy at UCLA anyway. I'm sure many students in other schools' dorms with no AC are happy, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name the fuggin school.

Seriously. If it ends up being UCLA or Pomona, I might laugh hard enough to never open DCUM again.

Why would you laugh? It’s not a good situation at all for any school, much less these two that have plenty of resources!!

UCLA is right next to the beach and has excellent weather all year. The day/night time temp is consistently perfect.
Pomona is closer to the desert and mountains and is very cold at night.
If someone cannot survive without an AC in these locations, I'm convinced they could not survive the DMV.

Exactly - our family in West LA doesn't even have AC in their home. They have a single portable unit they can turn on and it barely gets used.

[Anonymous]

The UCLA tour mentioned a lack of AC for some dorms on the hill. Sounded like a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you agree to pay for a double? I'm curious if colleges honor requests if you ask for double or single and are willing to pay the higher rate.

All rooms at his college are the same price. Assignment is random.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. My very quiet kid has been assigned to a triple. He had read that his college has a lengthy questionnaire for incoming freshmen to match roommates and assign people to hall sections, including a free response essay about interests and the opportunity to request a single. But when the housing form came out this year, it asked exactly two questions: one about sleeping habits and another about visitors. Then it took until near the end of July for the college to even tell him where he's living. Not sure how random assignments took that long. He's not happy, not excited, and not optimistic. I am starting to regret the horror stories I've told him over the years about my own experience in a freshman year triple. Not good.

Did you agree to pay for a double? I'm curious if colleges honor requests if you ask for double or single and are willing to pay the higher rate.

Many colleges don't have different pay rates. I pay the same for my junior's single studio-like housing with its own kitchen and bathroom as when she was a freshman in a triple dorm that can only be described as a halfway house.

Interesting. DC's school charges much more for a single than for a double/triple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. My very quiet kid has been assigned to a triple. He had read that his college has a lengthy questionnaire for incoming freshmen to match roommates and assign people to hall sections, including a free response essay about interests and the opportunity to request a single. But when the housing form came out this year, it asked exactly two questions: one about sleeping habits and another about visitors. Then it took until near the end of July for the college to even tell him where he's living. Not sure how random assignments took that long. He's not happy, not excited, and not optimistic. I am starting to regret the horror stories I've told him over the years about my own experience in a freshman year triple. Not good.

This is not uncommon timing for room/dorm assignments

My kid still doesn’t have a dorm assignment. Roommate but no idea where they’re living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People lived without air conditioning for thousands of years. Your snowflake will survive.

Studies done *on college students* show that sleeping in temperatures that are too warm cause lower math scores on tests. Authors compared math scores from students in dorms with A/C and dorms without.

So this is academically important. A/C is not a frivolous demand these days.

I'm so curious about this. Can you cite the study?

Some questions I would have:
1. Who funded the study?
2. Was it peer-reviewed?
3. Did it control for other variables?
4. What was the magnitude of impact on test scores?

DP: I found the study: https://content.tcmediasaffaires.com/LAF/lacom/summer2016.pdf

This sample size is too small to be predictive.

Not to mention that it doesn't control for several other variables (eg, region)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you agree to pay for a double? I'm curious if colleges honor requests if you ask for double or single and are willing to pay the higher rate.

All rooms at his college are the same price. Assignment is random.

Definitely one of the Claremont Colleges. That's very good housing and students will be jealous of him (he's near the laundry room!). If he's completely miserable (which I don't think will happen), he will be able to go through a Room Change Request and might actually end up in a nice dorm in North Campus. The dorm culture, at Pomona specifically but same for Claremont Mckenna, is very very strong due to Sponsor groups.

I'd get adjusted first and let him live a few weeks before assuming he'll hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. My very quiet kid has been assigned to a triple. He had read that his college has a lengthy questionnaire for incoming freshmen to match roommates and assign people to hall sections, including a free response essay about interests and the opportunity to request a single. But when the housing form came out this year, it asked exactly two questions: one about sleeping habits and another about visitors. Then it took until near the end of July for the college to even tell him where he's living. Not sure how random assignments took that long. He's not happy, not excited, and not optimistic. I am starting to regret the horror stories I've told him over the years about my own experience in a freshman year triple. Not good.

Did you agree to pay for a double? I'm curious if colleges honor requests if you ask for double or single and are willing to pay the higher rate.

Many colleges don't have different pay rates. I pay the same for my junior's single studio-like housing with its own kitchen and bathroom as when she was a freshman in a triple dorm that can only be described as a halfway house.

Interesting. DC's school charges much more for a single than for a double/triple.

It's pretty typical for private colleges to have a flat rate if they know students won't be choosing to live off campus. Some colleges have 90%+ students living on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I am not going to judge because my kid would hate this. I also think if you are super far away then comfort in form means even more. I would reach out to the housing coordinator and ask if something can be done. My guess is there is a student there who wants a single and got a double. I would also see if you have a medical reason that you could get a note on. My DC has allergies and would be miserable in a basement. Anyway worth a try.

I honestly think switching could be worse. Roommates are still people and more often than not, people hate or just end up in really iffy dorm situations from being assigned someone they don't know to live with. I thought I could never be a freshman with a single, two weeks into college, I was sick of my roommate and clawing Housing/Residential Life to get me into a single.

100% this. Both of my college kids ended up with bad/horrible roommates. Only one was bad enough to warrant a room change to a single but I’d take the single in a second over a roommate.

One kid was in a no a/c dorm twice. The second time by choice-their sorority housing is all in air conditioned. It sucks for a few weeks but they will survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's why kids who pick schools that have nice dorms, good food, great amenities etc have a much better college experience than kids who pick schools based on the academics.

People laugh at High Point but it is like living in a Four Seasons hotel.

Exactly.

We were in line at Disney last year when my daughter was in the thick of deciding which school to go to. We struck up a conversation with the lady next to us - who worked in college admissions. She said to my daughter “the most important factor is - will you be happy living there for 4 years? Not how high is it ranked, or what kind of reputation does it have. That is NOT the most important thing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's why kids who pick schools that have nice dorms, good food, great amenities etc have a much better college experience than kids who pick schools based on the academics.

People laugh at High Point but it is like living in a Four Seasons hotel.

Exactly.

We were in line at Disney last year when my daughter was in the thick of deciding which school to go to. We struck up a conversation with the lady next to us - who worked in college admissions. She said to my daughter “the most important factor is - will you be happy living there for 4 years? Not how high is it ranked, or what kind of reputation does it have. That is NOT the most important thing.”

I couldn't imagine choosing a college only on academics. When I was choosing, most colleges were very solid at my major, and I would've theoretically done well at any of them. What made me choose was seeing how students lived, ate, and the condition of academic buildings/resources in labs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's why kids who pick schools that have nice dorms, good food, great amenities etc have a much better college experience than kids who pick schools based on the academics.

People laugh at High Point but it is like living in a Four Seasons hotel.

Umm my kids picked their schools for their academic offerings. They certainly weren’t picking based on dorms. One ended up in a crappy one and was fine with it.