<p>I am not sure if this has been discussed in a previous post but which dorm is the best?</p>
<p>susan b for the best freshman experience i heard</p>
<p>Advantages and disadvantages to both,</p>
<p>Sue B–newer building, dining hall in the complex, smaller rooms, farther from classrooms</p>
<p>Quad dorms–older buildings, next door to gym, bigger rooms, closer to classrooms/library/student center/frat row</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen: flip a coin.</p>
<p>You do not get a choice of dorm, with the exception of those with special medical needs. I do believe that ED students get to request their preferred dorms, but not regular admission. My daughter was in a forced triple in Gilbert… the rooms are quite large to accommodate three- bunk beds and a single. Gilbert was co-ed by corridor…she loved the great location on campus.</p>
<p>D is in Gilbert this year and loves it. She has a roommate but is in a room that fits triple accommodations as are alot of other freshmen. She and her roommate have an extra closet they share. The room is huge!</p>
<p>The rooms at UR, including Sue B, are bigger than at most schools I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Sue B all the way!</p>
<p>Which dorms are in the quad?-- which dorms are best for freshmen?</p>
<p>[University</a> of Rochester: Maps and Directions](<a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/maps/]University”>Maps — University of Rochester)</p>
<p>Select River Campus and Residence Halls for an interactive map. (With some pictures!)</p>
<p>Freshman Quad dorms are: Gilbert, Hoening and Tiernan.</p>
<p>The other 3 quad dorms (Crosby, Burton and Lovejoy) are for upperclassmen and special interest groups.</p>
<p>Which dorm is best? Why the one you live in, of course!</p>
<p>OK, I might be extremely biased here because I lived in Sue B. for 4 years…</p>
<p>As a former D’Lion (school spirit sophomore on a freshman hall) and a two-year freshman Residential Advisor, I voluntarily committed myself to the same building for my entire college experience. Sue B. and the 3 freshman dorms on the Quad are almost the same distance from most classrooms. The distance is negligible, we’re talking 1 added minute if you live in Sue B. All of the freshman dorms are located very close to the center of campus, so the location shouldn’t be too much of a factor.</p>
<p>What Sue B. has that the Residence Quad doesn’t have is not one, BUT TWO dining halls in the building. Danforth and Hillside were incredible, having two dining options in the building was fantastic. (Danforth is also being completely renovated this summer). </p>
<p>What the Res Quad has that Sue B. lacks is larger rooms, but honestly the Sue B. rooms are big enough by any standards. Still, the Quad rooms are enormous compared to most other colleges.</p>
<p>Sue B. houses approximately 550-600 freshman, so a majority of your classmates will be in that one building. Gilbert is the largest of the Quad freshman dorms.</p>
<p>If I were to go back in time, I still would have lived in Sue B. for all 4 years. Maybe I would have spent a year in Riverview, the new dorms for juniors and seniors, but I really loved the Sue B. atmosphere. Sue B. is great, the Quad is great, wherever you end up you will love it and you will form an “allegiance” with your fellow residents.</p>
<p>The battle between Sue B and the Quad will likely rage on for centuries… </p>
<p>When you get your Enrolling Student Packets in mid-to-late May, your housing preference sheet will be included. On this sheet, you can select basic things like “Smoking or Non-Smoking”, “Co-ed or Single Sex halls”, and you can even rank your building preference “Sue B. vs. Hoeing vs. Gilbert vs. Tiernan”. Res Life cannot guarantee that you will be matched with your top choice building, but the earlier you turn in your housing sheet the more likely you are to get the dorm you want. People who turn in their housing sheet after the deadline (which will be clearly indicated on the housing sheet), will be likely candidates for triples.</p>
<p>Here’s last year’s housing/dining info pamphlet for freshmen</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/reslife/files/contract_freshmen2010-11.pdf[/url]”>http://www.rochester.edu/reslife/files/contract_freshmen2010-11.pdf</a></p>
<p>Note: there will be changes to dining services next year. Hillside Cafe is undergoing renovations this summer and will have a changed format next fall. It will be a POD (provisions on demand) market.</p>
<p>[New</a> dining renovations proposed | Campus Times](<a href=“http://www.campustimes.org/2011/01/20/new-dining-renovations-proposed/]New”>http://www.campustimes.org/2011/01/20/new-dining-renovations-proposed/)</p>
<p>And the club plan is being replaced by all-you-can-eat at the two campus dining halls: Danforth and Douglass.</p>
<p>Yes, I think only ED students and those with special needs get to choose. If you do get to pick though, go with Lergnom’s advice. Flip a coin.</p>
<p>There is no difference for freshmen. The rooms are large in SueB and even larger in the Quad. Distances are negligible. </p>
<p>Sophomore year is when things change. I don’t think the school realized the extent to which the dining plan changes would affect the housing lottery, with juniors opting out of the dorms collectively know as “Phase” to get into the towers next door because those have kitchens on each floor and don’t require a meal plan. Good for many sophomores because they got nicer rooms.</p>
<p>Towers does require a meal plan; however, Towers is now allowed declining-only (largest option only) rather than being forced into one of the unlimited options. As a Towers resident, I can testify that the per-floor kitchen is small and cramped, and it gets difficult when multiple people want to cook at once because someone will inevitably elbow or drop something on someone else or the floor. The problem is that there’s one fridge/freezer and one oven with 4 stovetops, for a floor where there’s around 30 residents per floor (24 in the suites, there’s 4 center doubles). If I wanted a place where I could cook every single night, I’d take Southside or Riverview with proper kitchens, definitely not Towers, but Towers is good for the occasional cooking once or twice a week.</p>
<p>Also, while I wasn’t a freshman here, I’ve seen the freshman rooms, and compared to my freshman dorm they’re huge and you’ll have space for everything.</p>
<p>Another bonus feature of Sue B. includes a really cool underground tunnel to the music practice rooms in Spurrier Gym. When I stumbled upon this tunnel my freshman year I felt like I was walking into Fraggle Rock (I’m certainly dating myself here).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are no tunnels from any dorms to Rush Rhees Library / academic facilities.</p>
<p>Also, the 7th floor “Solarium” of Sue B. has a really cool lounge with a piano, two billiards tables (you need to sign out a key from the RA Service desk), and a really cool view of campus.</p>
<p>That was my point about Towers but I didn’t elaborate because this thread is about freshman housing. For anyone reading, Southside is connected by buses because it is south of campus, kind of surrounded by parking lots. Nicer living arrangements but offset by distance and really the only UR housing that’s not right on or next to all the rest of the buildings. Riverside is just across the bridge over the mighty Genesee. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if the meal plan options change again next year, but that’s just a guess.</p>
<p>Funny thing is that when I went to school, like many parents here, we had many fewer options: essentially live on campus and pay or live off campus and don’t. One plan at most schools. Few eating options. Next to no dollars to spend at stores, for coffee, etc. You just ate where they let you and what they put out that day.</p>
<p>Spurrier also has dance rehearsals. The tunnel is cool, completely covered in graffiti like a college tunnel should be.</p>
<p>I was in a dorm while visiting last week and walked by a room in which a guy was sitting on a couch watching a movie on their big screen flat panel tv. Times change. I remember being so cut off from events in the world that we had no idea Mao had died.</p>
<p>I hope the danforth dining center will be much better this fall compared to what I have read very negative reviews about it. As long as the food there is about fast food quality with variety, I’ll be satisfied.</p>
<p>I lived on the quad my freshman year (I am a rising senior) in Tiernan and I loved it! It was close to Wilson Commons and the Pit/Douglass dining facilities, and also pretty close to my classes on the quad. Plus, I am a genetics major so it was closer, or at least more direct, to walk to Hutchinson Hall from Tiernan vs. from Sue B. </p>
<p>Danforth was really bad my freshman year but they are renovating it so Sue B definitely has that advantage but I really loved the quad! I had a lot of friends pledge fraternities as well and the res quad is conveniently located right next to the frat quad.</p>
My son’s room is so small it is frustrating. He can’t move about without tripping over the chair or desk. The chair, desk and bed take up almost all the available room. It is miserable. Apparently there is a discrepancy between dorms. Or he was perhaps assigned a broom closet. His best bet is to get rid of the desk chair as there is no space for it. And beware of first floor rooms if the idea of being enclosed bothers you or if you want to use a fan. The windows only open 3 inches. We bought a tiny tower fan and laid it on its side in front of the opening. Even with the fan running I was literally dripping on the floor.