@donnaleighg Just going by what he told me–thanks for the clarification. You’d think he had to trek across Siberia the way he described it.
By the way, having a bad roommate is much worse than a dorm in any location. Compare to that, a 10-15 minutes bus ride is nothing.
^^^So true! My d was in West Quad at Michigan with a terrible roommate and ended up moving when second semester started. She knew when she decided to get out that she might end up on North Campus but decided anything was better than staying with that roommate. As luck would have it she ended up moving down a few floors in the same dorm, so she kept her great location and made some good friends.
I am helping her move again in her college town in a few weeks…her 7th move in 4 years! Ugh!!
“From my kid’s friends experience the North Campus at UM has been the most difficult/far away dorm, – it is something to be wary of and ask about when looking at colleges.”
I encourage all of my non-engineering Michigan applicants to apply to the residential college or Lloyd. It’s certainly what I would do as an applicant.
At Stanford, some of the freshman dorms in the Sterling Quad area are a half hour walk from the stadium, while others are more centrally located an easy walk to the main campus. One can also have a half hour walk from various other common academic scenarios, such as med school students living in Escondido Village, which can be a half hour walk from the med school. Of course a large portion (probably most) do not walk and instead bike, take public transit, etc. However, the “bad” dorms as measured by what students prefer in their draw number do not correlate well with distance. For example, Enchanted Broccoli Forrest and Slavianskii Dom are two of the most desired dorms, as measured by draw number, yet they both have roughly a half hour walk to the stadium and are somewhat separated from the main campus. I expect the reason for this correlation is that things like quality of rooms and dorm themes/activities are more important to most than spending a few extra minutes biking to class.
Since it is typically 75 degrees on any given day at Stanford, and well, it is Stanford, I don’t think they get to be in the “bad dorm” discussion. 
^^^^^. Lol. I don’t know where you are from @Data10 but when the dorms are located somewhere it’s sunny and warm most of the school year it’s a little different when the dorms are somewhere it’s cold and snowy a good portion of that year.
@Hanna. That’s interesting. From your perspective what do you think the biggest problem is with the “bad” dorms. Is it academic ( hard to get to class) or social ?
My daughter’s freshman year dorm was in a great mid campus location. On game days, the students had to move their cars to an outer parking lot because the athletic association used their prime location to lease tailgating space.
It is fun for the students if they like that sort of thing but early Saturday games also meant very early tailgating revelry right outside the rooms.
@maya54, just logistical. Spending time every day commuting isn’t any more fun as a college student than it is as an adult. Of all the ways you want to be spending your time freshman year, riding the bus is low on the list. And the geography is such that even though it’s not so far as the crow flies, it’s an inconvenient and lengthy walk if if you miss the bus or don’t want to wait 20 minutes for it. Lots of freshmen live on North Campus, so I don’t think there’s a social cost.
@Hanna. Interesting because kids we’ve talked to also complained about the social cost of not being easily able to get back from late night parties. 230 doesn’t seem too early to me but it does to the kids apparently. And also complained that is difficult to get to early Saturday tailgating.
First of all, there are many more residential programs than the one at Lloyd, but one should not use it solely as a way to avoid north campus housing. Second, for engineering freshmen, there is no way to avoid the bus anyway as they will have classes at both campus. Some may even have schedule to go back and forth between campuses within one day.
Well, certainly take the word of any recent Michigan undergraduates as the best information, far better than mine.
Of course there are other reasons to apply to residential programs, but for non-engineers, distance is a great reason to examine them and pick the one that’s best for you. All of my non-engineering students have found a central campus program that appealed to them a lot. Some like the all-female theme option, etc.
“Interesting because kids we’ve talked to also complained about the social cost of not being easily able to get back from late night parties. 230 doesn’t seem too early to me but it does to the kids apparently. And also complained that is difficult to get to early Saturday tailgating.”
I don’t know if this qualifies as “1st world problems”, but it is something along those lines. :-j
^^^ First world problems for sure, but a college with an OOS price tag of $55k per year is a “first world” experience … And for my “first world” money I would expect my kid to get the full “first world” benefits I’m paying for!
^^^Well, the dorm on North campus is a one year experience. Secondly, almost universally, students at Michigan that lived on North say they really were upset at first being assigned to Bursley/Baits but it turned out terrific for them. They were surrounded by essentially all freshmen and loved their year.
That said, I’ll admit that my two sons were equally pleased being placed in South and West Quads. :">
I agree with you, @Prospect1, especially your last paragraph, unless the students who live far from everything are getting a discount on housing. While I don’t care about football, I know that for many students, it is a huge part of their undergraduate experience.
@Pizzagirl : I think GW took over Mt. Vernon College when it closed a while back. I just looked it up, and it’s 3 miles to the main campus, but it says it has 24-hour bus service . On the plus side (for me at least), the Mt. Vernon campus has much more of a SLAC feel in a leafy neighborhood as opposed to GW’s very urban, less traditional campus.