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My S's room was so small, any dorm room he has seems like a palace.
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I kind of freaked out when I first moved into my dorm room this year. Being able to touch both walls while sitting on my bed was pretty disturbing, especially since I'm claustrophobic. Needless to say, I spend as little time in my room as possible. </p>
<p>Speaking of fancy dorms, has anyone read about Yale's two new $600 million dorms?</p>
<p>Warbler--at home, my S sits on his bed which takes up all of one side of his room, and works at his desk which is against the opposite wall. The dimensions are approximately six by seven feet. He has no closet, and his dresser is in the hall outside his door. So yeah, he had a different perspective on dorm rooms! :)</p>
<p>Warbler - your dorm room sounds like my daughter's shared freshman room in Harvard. One bunk bed, no closet, no room for a dresser. The dimensions were 8'x8'. Some people got a room like that if they were rich, some got a room like that if they were poor. Either way, it was tiny.</p>
<p>There are a lot of kids sleeping in bunk beds at Harvard - not by choice.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>There are a lot of kids sleeping in bunk beds at Harvard - not by choice.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Like my S, who could live at home and be in class faster than from his House. Not all Harvard dorm rooms are like that, though. I vaguely remember visiting an undergrad many many years ago. His room--a single--had a fireplace. Sigh. S just did not luck out in the housing lottery. But he loves being with his friends. It trumps having mom doing his laundry and having home cooked meals.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is too far off topic, but it is about class difference vs. community.</p>
<p>My friend's D was a freshman this year at very selctive (non-Ivy) school. For pre-orientation they were offered a choice of off-campus trips (to be paid for by parents) where they could get to know other members of the class of 2011 for a week away together. Trips ranged in price and in distance from the campus. Friend's D chose the most exotic trip to Fiji! Also, of course, the most expensive. Fiji could not possibly prepare her for life on campus. And the only people she would be likely to meet are the 5 or 6 richest incoming freshmen. This seemed "wrong" to me as a community-building activity.</p>
<p>What do you all think?</p>
<p>What do you all think? </p>
<p>Sorry, pyewacket. The TOS do not allow me to share what I think of that idea of "community-building". ;)</p>
<p>I like S's trips: totally funded by college; unglamorous but community building wilderness experiences. Ten of them slept under one tarp (uh oh, the dreaded co-ed sleep over ha ha; see other thread.) He hiked, canoed, ate beans or some such, and really made friends with the other kids. Heck, they sang every song they knew about rivers.</p>
<p>pyewacket: That's truly revolting. I would like to go to Fiji though. Maybe I could get S's school to pay for it.</p>
<p>They also have 1/2 singles, 1/2 doubles for frosh. Doubles in a more collegial frosh quad; singles in all frosh buildings without amenities of frisbee field, outdoor benches, etc. Same price; placed kids by preference. It seems half the kids want the roommate experience; the other half (like S) are chicken. His little cell is actually quite nice.</p>
<p>Barnard's dorms vary greatly but all cost the same. I don't think anyone minds because guaranteed housing in NYC on or near campus is a kind of miracle that should not be questioned. Last year we paid for a year of mice! Oh well, D likes the urban life. She's getting used to it.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I vaguely remember visiting an undergrad many many years ago. His room--a single--had a fireplace.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>D's freshman dorm room had a fireplace, but they were not permitted to use it. I don't think it had been used for fires since the 19th century. It was blocked up by a wooden panel bolted on across the front. But of course the girls unbolted it to get a look inside. Looking for hidden treasures or mysterious passageways perhaps.</p>
<p>I almost laughed at article's mention of the cushy dorm at Tufts. Our S. is there, and living in extremely close quarters in a very utilitarian forced triple with bunk beds and negligible floor space. I think it's the luck of the lottery as to where you end up rather than tiered pricing. OTOH, his roomates are nice and he has a place to sleep and a spot for his laptop, so seems happy enough. Some more space next year and windows that open completely would be appreciated, though! Housing is not guaranteed all four years.</p>
<p>The dorm mentioned in the article is for uppperclassmen (seniors?) only. The writer failed to mention that, while it's obviously new and upscale, the university bent over backwards to make it a "green dorm." Here's the link:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tufts.edu/tie/SGH/%5B/url%5D">http://www.tufts.edu/tie/SGH/</a></p>
<p>(alright, I still don't know how to highlight links and quotes here on CC-- any help would be appreciated-- or did it work?)</p>
<p>As for new dorms I'd like to see in person-- first on the list would be the new Whitman residential college at Princeton. I was shocked when I saw the photos-- it's unusual that you see a new building fitting in so well with the old.</p>
<p>I saw a beautiful freshman room at Harvard last year - spacious, brick walls with fireplace ... kind of like the ones on the web site that we looked at when my daughter was admitted. So they apparently exist. </p>
<p>I think the thing is that the buildings are so old; they were just built in a different era when people didn't have so much "stuff." Then again, I wonder how kids managed in the sixties and seventies when they brought their full stereo systems (rather than an Ipod) and crates of record albums ...</p>
<p>The pre-orientation group that my daughter participated in served peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch. (Good thing no one was allergic, I suppose.) Nothing fancy, but good times provided. It gave the kids a chance to get the lay of the land and begin some enduring friendships.</p>
<p>My son's LAC did not offer a pre-orientation.</p>
<p>Pyewacket: Yeah, those kids sure will have their community for the next four years. A closed one, at that.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theradianapartments.com%5B/url%5D">www.theradianapartments.com</a> The new dorm at Penn opening in August. It's a private dorm.</p>
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Last year we paid for a year of mice!
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At least they're cuter than cockroaches. ;)</p>
<p>Yes, they are, but all girls, D said it was like a cartoon with everyone screaming eek! and standing on chairs.</p>
<p>When one was in her bedroom, that was the last straw!</p>
<p>The hookah bar right next door closed and the place was totally renovated, dislodging the mice from their comfy home. They was easy access into D's apt. Although it was official school housing, it was an apartment building six blocks from school, so res life had no real juristiction. They did send exterminators many times.</p>
<p>The only way I had of comforting D who did lose sleep was to buy her a teeny tiny stylized silver butterfly from Tiffany's. It looks like a small M, her initial, and now she never takes it off. I think it protects people against mice.</p>
<p>This year she has a single back on campus with a real view of the Hudson. I could live to be 250 years old before I could afford her view. No mice!</p>
<p>My daughter's dorm room has a view over Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It's awesome. The room itself is a tiny double they turned into a triple. The girls could hold hands from the two top bunks. </p>
<p>At UCLA the cheapest housing is in the Frats and Sororities.</p>
<p>Interesting that the thread has turned from the supposed evils of luxury dorms to reports of mice and cockroaches! Still, they wouldn't bother me as much as bedbugs, which sound impossible to get rid of. Have read recently that they're popping up in hotels and dorms in all parts of the country now. Yuck.</p>
<p>Are fancy dorms evil? OMG, for a moment I thought we were talking about dorms filled with ghosts and evil spirits! You know, Halloween is almost here... D spent a night in a "fancy dorm" last week, and the only remotely "evil" thing I can think of were her snobby hostesses who were still recovering from a major frat party hangover. That would have been enough to scare off some prospies, but D just laughed it off. She still wants to apply! Good god she has not seen any roaches or mice!</p>
<p>there gottabe a fancy dorm so that we can get the less costly rooms. It's one of the two ways we think we can really economize and feel good about being frugal. </p>
<p>A $1000 savings gives DS, 2 RT to Home. </p>
<p>By the time they become seniors, Parents should not expect to know when, who, what, where or how, your child sleeps.</p>
<p>BTW: DS just booked a oneway flight home for Christmas. Its expensive. If you haven't done so, book early, its not going to be any cheaper. (He's done with his MS program).</p>
<p>My daughter had a very tiny mouse last year in her tiny dorm room. There was barely enough room for him, so he left for a larger room across the hall.</p>
<p>I say give them luxury. JHU opened Charles Commons dorm last year to rave reviews <a href="http://www.jhu.edu/hds/campushousing/charlescommons.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.jhu.edu/hds/campushousing/charlescommons.htm</a>
A look inside here <a href="http://www.jhu.edu/hds/campushousing/charlescommons.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.jhu.edu/hds/campushousing/charlescommons.htm</a>
Suites with single rooms are definitely the way to go.</p>
<p>Twinmom, that must have been one very fancy mouse!</p>