<p>Now that most enrollment decisions have been made, please share your ideas about dorms/food/orientation/books (used or new)/social life/what to bring to campus/anything else you think the incoming students should know!</p>
<p>(see University of Maryland thread for this same discussion)</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>
<p>This would be a great resource! I am looking forward to info.
Thanks musicalmom for the outreach to the SU community.</p>
<p>Excellent thread and link Musical Mom. This is sure to help the incoming class of 13</p>
<p>aight heres my advice from a current SU Student:</p>
<p>Dorms: don’t worry about what dorm you get place into and im pretty sure you cant choose yours as a freshman so dont worry about it they are all alright.</p>
<p>Food: Unless you got money to blow don’t buy the biggest meal plan you’ll never eat all the meals. SUpercard money which is on your card you will use a lot and eat other places.</p>
<p>Books: Mad expensive and a waste of money haha. never buy new you wont get more money back for it anyways. A lot of times amazon is cheaper than the su bookstore.</p>
<p>Social Life: Greek Life is huge so get ready for it either way but it isnt totally dominated by it.</p>
<p>General Tips: Have fun and get your stuff done so you can have fun on the weekends. Have fun partying and socializing freshman year but don’t get so caught up in it that your grades take a novedive to start off your freshman year. Remember your paying to go here and its your future haha</p>
<p>Any questions lemme know</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice Orange555… I was wondering how much money a month do you have to pay to be in a fraternity?? Does it come out to costing less than University housing???</p>
<p>How do SU students cope with the dark gray syracuse sky?..does it interfer with the social life…does it make people depressed?..thank you in advance!!</p>
<p>knight…all the frats vary by price and what you get out of them i think dues are like $500-1000 a semester for dues. and if you want to live in the house it will probably end up being cheaper than university housing… mainly bc university housing is so expensive</p>
<p>bklynqueen: hahahaha its not gray all the time! it does get cold and snow a lot in the winter but does it interfer with social life…hell no haha its not Antarctica we still go out and have fun in the winter… don’t worry too much about it, its cold but people overplay how bad it is if your from brooklyn im sure you’ll have no problem with it</p>
<p>knight, I know someone who is a brother of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity and he is paying 5,000 to live in the house. This covers obviously living there, a personal chef that cooks three square meals for the brothers and some other things. Now I’m not sure if 5,000 is the price for all the fraternities but you will find out if you plan on joining one.</p>
<p>bklynqueen, you really do get used to the cold after a while so it doesn’t really phase you as much. Honestly, it is the strong winds that is the most annoying. I’d say get a good pair of gloves from H&M or any other cheap clothing store and stick to it. Students at SU are also creative enough to find things to do when it is dreary outside.</p>
<p>advice from a (now) junior…
Dorms: learn whatever one you’re in well. befriend the RAs, as that saves you a lot of hassle later on (bending rules to get mail early/late, benefit of the doubt in writeups). learn the pattern of laundry (monday mornings are EMPTY) so you don’t get evicted. don’t feel you have to eat with your floor EVERY night. your floormates are your friends for freshmen year, but by second semester you’ll only be talking to a core few of them, so reach out and find some others!
Food: Ditto on the mealplan. I started at 17, dropped to 15…chose 10 for second semester freshman year and dropped to 5 for soph year, even though i was in a dorm. SUperfood is good for using in the cafes and food courts, but bad for the grocery–the prices are waay high and you’re better off walking 5 min to CVS. but with SUperfood you don’t pay tax on any food from the food courts, whereas you do with cash. good to know!</p>
<p>Books: check fb marketplace for former students. usually the library will have it as well. don’t buy from the bookstore, and follet’s (on marshall) is decent but if your prof registers the book there they give you a 15% off coupon so don’t buy it until you ask!</p>
<p>Social Life: try out lots of things. join clubs. meet people. drop the ones you don’t like (clubs and people). the great thing about college, particularly one of SU’s size, is that there’s enough of everything that if you’ve got an interest in it, someone else does too. go to parties. don’t get caught drinking on the floor. find friends with apartments; way more fun. don’t underestimate a night playing video games.</p>
<p>General Tips: professors are people too…chances are they’re somebody’s parents, so treat them that way. aka, talk to them, make sure they know your name, and for goodness sake, office hours exist for STUDENTS TO ATTEND! don’t get caught up in the SU culture of northfaces and uggs if that’s not who you are. if you are, enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>college might be overpriced daycare for teenagers, but make sure you learn something while you’re there, even if it’s not academic. this is your chance to find out who you really are, when no one’s looking over your shoulder.</p>
<p>Hold on to this link. You’re going to want to use it.</p>
<p>[Uloop</a> College Classifieds - Jobs, Apartments, Textbooks, Carpools, Roommates, Tickets, Furniture, Scholarships, Travel](<a href=“http://www.uloop.com/]Uloop”>http://www.uloop.com/)</p>
<p>hey my sis is a sophomore in college and she said this website has everything youll need for things in your dorm.</p>
<p>[Dormbuys.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>and…</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.target.com/Bed-Bath-College/b/ref=nav_t_spc_7_25/175-1337280-8827462?ie=UTF8&node=13158831]Bed”>http://www.target.com/Bed-Bath-College/b/ref=nav_t_spc_7_25/175-1337280-8827462?ie=UTF8&node=13158831]Bed</a> + Bath : College : Home : Target](<a href=“Dormbuys.com”>http://www.dormbuys.com/)</p>
<p>plus Amazon.com has soooo many used textbooks and all you have to do is type down the name of the textbook and the author and you could find it.</p>
<p>Is there a bank that is the most convenient for students?</p>
<p>Yes. There is a Chase branch down Marshall street and HSBC right across the street. Both are frequently used by students.</p>
<p>There wouldn’t happen to be a nearby Bank of America?</p>
<p>Are laundry facilities located in the basement of each dorm? Do you use quarters for the machines or is there a system in place to swipe your student card to pay for laundry?</p>
<p>Yes there is a laundry facility in the basement of every dorm. I’m not so sure about where the facility is for Sky Halls residences since they are on South Campus. You are free to use quarters but you can also opt to put money on your card through what is know as the SUpercard PLUS money. You can access that through myslice.</p>
<p>See [Syracuse</a> University - Housing, Meal Plans & ID Cards](<a href=“http://housingmealplans.syr.edu/supercardplus.cfm]Syracuse”>http://housingmealplans.syr.edu/supercardplus.cfm)</p>
<p>there’s a bank of america ATM in marshall square mall</p>
<p>Books: I always bought my books on Amazon or Cheggs.com( a rental service you can use to rent the whole book for a whole semester). It helped me out a lot freshman year. I am a biology major and our books were pretty expensive. I wound up spending $500 for both semester where some people spent $400-500/semester.</p>
<p>Dorms: Pray for a great roommate. I got lucky with my roomate this year but Ive heard plenty of horror stories as well.</p>
<p>BRING A NORTHFACE!! You dont have to bring a northface im just kidding, but you should bring some rainboots and the full gear so you can stay warm when it gets cold.</p>
<p>A couple great pairs of flats
A doorstop (good way to meet new people freshman year)
An open mind</p>
<p>Yeah…thats all I can think of for now.</p>
<p>O.T. </p>
<p>But congrats to Syracuse on their National Championship in Lacrosse!</p>
<p>Bank of America has a main building near South, but there’s an ATM in Marshall Square Mall.</p>