We wanted to spend some time talking about first year housing assignments. We know that many of you are anxious to learn where you are living and with whom.
It is very important that you complete the Housing Information form. We use this information to make housing assignments. Please do not let a family member or friend complete the form.
Rhodes houses students in double and triples. We even have a few quads (groups of four) for first year students.
Factors we look at in making housing assignments:
Roommate requests: This must be a mutual selection. Each person must select the other. Please talk about theme housing and/or learning community interest as well as co-ed or single gender housing. You may request up to two roommates.
Learning Communities. Rhodes is offering five learning communities based on academic course work. You will have an opportunity to sign up for these different environments during Open Rhodes. Learning Communities will be housed in co-ed environments.
Theme housing: If you are interested in theme housing, please mark it. We will work to accommodate this request. Theme housing options include: Substance free, quiet study, and restricted visitation. Every year we hear complaints about folks being assigned to theme housing when they did not want it. Well, yes you did. Or least the information we received noted that you want theme housing (remember you should be completing the housing information form)
Athletic Coaches will often assign players together.
Potluck vs. self-selecting a roommate. The majority of incoming students do not select a roommate prior to coming to Rhodes. Some meet folks during Open Rhodes Orientation while others may meet folks on Facebook. If you do wish to denote a roommate after you submitted your housing information form, please have all parties notes this on the Housing information form or contact Marianne via email at lutherm@rhodes.edu. All roommate requests must be submitted by July 14.
We spend time reading each Housing Information form and take into consideration the above factors. Ultimately, we try to match people up with folks who share at least a few similar traits. Since Rhodes attracts students from all over the country as well as the world. We also look at geographic diversity as well. We try not to match up folks from Texas together or folks from Tennessee together, etc.
We do our best to make good groupings but we understand that each person is more than what can be represented on a piece of paper. Each student brings different experiences, perspectives, and expectations. The key is to remain open and flexible as well as work on communication. I will have more about keys to a successful roommate situation, next week.
Our goal is to have housing assignments in the mail by July 21st. This gives you less than month to contact your roommates to discuss items to bring, living habits, etc.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Thanks,
Marianne
Just an tip for anyone wondering about how to select a roommate- I HIGHLY recommend that you go potluck and let ResLife select for you.
When you first meet a potential roommate, you usually don’t think to ask them things like, “How many times do you hit the snooze button in the morning?”, or, “How messy are you?”. These things sound mundane, but they can be a HUGE cause for roommate conflicts. The Housing Information form asks these questions and more, and they do a great job of pairing compatible people up.
A good roommate can be very different from a good friend- so if you do want to choose your roommate yourself, be careful!