<p>Yay, one that I'm an expert in!</p>
<p>Anna,
Shepard, although one of the larger buildings on campus (177 residents), is relatively a much smaller community than Willard (~360 residents). Because of this, each floor is much more cohesive--you're much more likely to know everyone on your floor in Shepard than in Willard--also, you're much more likely to know a greater percentage of the people living in Shepard (and thus, more likely to have closer relationships with, say, the hall government).</p>
<p>Willard is a pan-thematic RC, while Shepard is "multi-thematic". What this means basically is that Willard claims to have <em>all</em> manners of student foci, whereas Shepard merely claims to have "multiple". Shepard has very nice facilities on its first floor and in the basement, including multiple pianos in several practice rooms. Because of this, Shepard tends to have a high propensity of musically-inclined residents (the powers that be, however, realize this and tend to cap the number of music majors they let into the building, and they also tend to be disinclined to accept applications that focus on the "nice practice rooms"/"good facilities"). Willard, on the other hand, has different lounges (computer, TV, study) on different floors in addition to their basement and first floor main lounges. Both Shepard and Willard have adequate basement kitchens.</p>
<p>Willard also has a dining hall that is open 5 days a week--Willard's dining hall (known as "Saga" to the residents), has improved drastically this past year with a change to an electronic buzzer ordering system as opposed to traditional dining-hall style service. Shepard has no dining hall inside, but Shepard is about a 30- to 45- second walk away from Allison's dining hall (where Shepard has a private dining room). </p>
<p>Willard and Shepard are about the same walking distance from downtown Evanston, but Shepard is much closer to most University buildings (Willard is on the westernmost edge of the sorority quads). What this translates to in practice is about 3-4 minutes extra walking time to any destination on campus--which is actually pretty significant to those walking up to Tech for math and science classes periodically.</p>
<p>Both Shepard and Willard have thriving communities--there is NEVER a shortage of events planned for residents in either building (often, the reverse is the case, and residents <em>want</em> to participate in more but simply can't make it to every single event). Shepard tends to be more "tame" than Willard, especially in terms of partying--Willard can vary quite drastically sometimes among residents.</p>
<p>Oh, and to address a common concern; yes, you'll be able to find someone else with your major or a similar area of study at either Shepard or Willard (even engineers!). If you have a different-than-usual major or a science-based major, although you may be in the minority in the predominantly liberal arts/humanities South Campus, you'll have plenty of people to run to for help/form study groups with.</p>
<p>--just so you know i'm not some rando with bad information, I lived in Shepard my freshman year and still keep up my Shep ties (I play ultimate frisbee every Sunday night with them), and I'm currently the head CA of Willard (and Chapin+the mid-quads+the female houses), and have quite a few friends there.</p>
<p>Oh, and just to set the record straight: I have Sprint, and I get EXCELLENT service on campus (even in Norris, and in many parts of the basement of Tech!).</p>