<p>Quite frankly, you are going to move in to Bates and live there for a least a month before you even get to think about changing, so you should probably not even think too much about switching dorms at this point. </p>
<p>I lived in Freeman my first year, Beebe last year, and will be in Tower next year. I would agree with you that Bates, etc. are the less picturesque dorms. However, one AWESOME thing about Freeman and I would think by extension Bates is that there are common rooms and kitchens (that’s two rooms) on every floor, not just one living room for the whole dorms. For all the stereotypes about the new dorms being quiet and filled with overly studious, buzzkill people, we hung out in our common rooms studying, talking, playing games, etc. all the time when I lived in Freeman. I loved this past year in Beebe too, because I had a lot of friends around, but if I wanted to have a casual conversation with them or with my other floormates, we would generally either stand in the hallway or one of you would stand in the doorway of the other’s room. I lived on the same floor as the living room, and people did hang out there, but it was far less intimate than in Freeman where each floor had it’s own dedicated common area. </p>
<p>I also agree that the walk is not a huge deal. I hesitate to give walking times, because everybody’s pace is different, but living in Freeman my walk to the Academic Quad was about the same length as my walk to the Science Center living in Beebe and vice versa. I would think that the walk from Tower to the Science Center would be even further. And living in the new dorms the walk to town is really short. That said, again, when you want to go someplace, the somewhat longer walk is no big deal. I walked from Beebe to the ville to go to Starbucks, etc. at least 4 times a week, which is a comparable length walk to that from the Athletic Center to Bates. (And the walk is not what kept me from going everyday–it was the expense of the Starbucks habit that kept me from going more often!). </p>
<p>And the room size is very nice in the new dorms, especially for the doubles. You get your own closet, built in dresser, built in bookshelves, just generally lots of space for two people. All of my friends complimented my room in Beebe last year for feeling large and being generally neat, but the truth is just like WendyMouse said–it is <em>hard</em> to fit two bookshelves, two dressers, two beds, two desks, two chairs, and two floor lamps into one not very generously sized room (not to mention anything else you might have, like extra lamps and a refrigerator). In looking at the floor plans for Tower, with the caveat that they are drawn only nominally to scale, my single appears to be the same size or if anything bigger than the First-Year double next door to it. And the rooms directly above and below that double (ie, rooms with the same footprint) are singles. So in Tower you very well may be put in a double the same size as many of the upperclasswomen’s singles. That just isn’t the case in Bates, etc. I do agree that hardwood floors are nice, but this past year in Beebe I had quite the time keeping them free of dust bunnies, a problem I just didn’t have in Freeman. </p>
<p>In sum: there are trade-offs for sure, and people who never lived in the New Dorms do tend to make a face when you said you live(d) there, but the New Dorms have plenty going for them, too. Give Bates a chance!</p>
And I truly hope that everything is going to be fine and I will not want to switch… But if that doesn not happen, what should I do?</p>