<p>Hey, you former or current students/parents. Any opinions on what would be some of the more desireable choices for housing for a new student? Considering that coed housing would be a priority, more space, less to a room, less to a bathroom-and frequent cleaning services would be preferable. What do you think?</p>
<p>I’d say just avoid living on the dorms up on the hill (Scobel, Hammerschlag, Welsch) because it’s a real hassle to get up there in the winter when they don’t bother to salt/shovel the stairs. Other than that, it’s really up to what your most important priorities are. Air conditioning? New House (or it’s new name I don’t remember). Huge rooms? Donner. Few to a bathroom? Mudge (though I think ratio-wise it works out to about the same at all dorms).</p>
<p>Can only speak for Donner where DS lived. Don’t let the really ugly exterior turn you off. As RR said, very large room. Convenient location. At least that year, it was a very social dorm. He had a lot of fun there.</p>
<p>Location wasn’t ideal, but the rooms are HUGE at the Shirley Apartments. I don’t know if they’ll be housing freshmen there, but it was freshman housing two years ago, my son liked it well enough that he stayed in the same room sophomore year. (Double has a big bedroom, full kitchen and a living room with a dining area.)</p>
<p>I’d only recommend the Oakland Apartments for upperclassmen. Freshman year you’re on the meal plan, and it’s a considerably farther walk from Shirley/Scobel/Webster/Cathedral Mansions/etc to the student center than it is to Craig St. or many other dining options in Oakland. I think it’s an especially rough choice for people coming from warmer climates, as they certainly won’t want to venture out for dinner back on campus during the winter if they’re already back at home in their cozy apartments. You also won’t see nearly as many of the random things going on for freshmen as you would living in the typical freshmen dorms.</p>
<p>That said, if you’re staying on campus, they’re A+++ options for your sophomore, junior, or senior year.</p>
<p>Some of the buildings they listed as just for freshmen (entire bldgs, but not apartments) are Boss, Donner, Mudge, Stever and Morewood Gardens E (I wonder if that was New House)? Sounds like Donner, Morewood Gardens E (if that’s New House) and Mudge are all good, any ideas about the other two? Thanks alot for the information!</p>
<p>New House is now Stever.</p>
<p>Stever/New House has small rooms, but is new (as the former name implies) and has AC. Morewood is the most common dorm and is pretty much average around the board. They do have the advantage of dining in the basement, the health center and housing center being right outside, and I think they even have their own computer cluster.</p>
<p>just from looking at the map it seems like morewood is closer to the frat houses/slightly less distance from upitt. would that have any effect on social life?</p>
<p>
For the most part I got the impression my son stayed on campus until after dinner. He didn’t seem to mind the walk - it was shorter than his daily walk to our high school so he’s pretty used to tramping through cold and nasty weather.</p>
<p>My son has been in Morewood, Hamerschlag, Mudge, and Resnick and thought the walk from Mudge was least appealing. He preferred to be able to quickly get to the dorm during the day to switch books, grab a bite, relax, etc. For that, Morewood (and obviously Resnick) were the best. That’s one of the advantages of a small, close campus.</p>
<p>There are a lot of old threads on housing if you search the summer from the last couple of years. As the students will tell you, there are advantages and disadvantages to all dorms. For example, the Schlag may be up the hill with small, odd shaped rooms and all male, but it also is supposed to be one of the friendliest dorms.</p>
<p>Here’s the housing link again to see floor plans, sample room layouts, and virtual tours.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/]Buildings&Facilities[/url”>http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/]Buildings&Facilities[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Agree w/Marilyn. D2 is currently in Morehouse. She will be in her 1st choice next yr…Morehouse East.</p>
<p>Also re the cleaning issue - common hallway bathrooms are cleaned daily, semi-private weekly, and completely private (i.e. one room, one bathroom) are not cleaned by the university. And no one will clean your room except you!</p>
<p>In terms of social life, there’s an extensive orientation the week before classes start - getting to know your hall, dorm, campus, and Pittsburgh. Plus all the freshman dorms schedule ongoing hall and dorm activities - maybe going out for ice cream, learning a dance, dinners, etc. There also might be dorm IM teams - depends on the sport and dorm. Some dorms have built booths during carnival.</p>
<p>IMHO the traditional-style dorms (with double rooms and common baths) make it easier for casual drop-in style socializing - students often leave their doors open.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, I don’t think dorm location has much effect on fraternity parties! If you pledge, you can’t move in until sophomore year though.</p>
<p>You actually can move in freshman year if you want, though I believe you still having to pay your dorm fees at CMU. One guy on my hall freshman year had an awful roommate and his fraternity was willing to let him stay there free of charge (said guy then had a Donner double all to himself).</p>
<p>New House (now Stever House) is green building. It has individual controlled heating and cooling. Although the rooms are a bit small in size (but this was deliberate so that students spend more time in lounge/study areas and interact) the building has fitness room and loads of other facilities.</p>
<p>Thanks alot for all the info. After reading these and the older posts, it makes it easy for the kids to make their decisions. Hard to do it from just looking at pictures and reading maps.</p>
<p>soooo when do we actually pick our dorms and housing? Has it begun?</p>
<p>Hey, you need to get online ASAP and get your CMU id and password-you need to put in your preferences by the end of May, or you will end up with little to no choice in housing. There are a bunch of forms, online and mail in that you need to send in soon. The web site is: cmu.edu/admission/go/ntie.html.</p>
<p>other than the online housing application, what has to be completed? I havent seen any forms that need to be mailed in</p>
<p>If you log onto that website, under Dates and Deadlines, there are alot of additional forms such as immunization and health record, parent info, ID card, final grade report, college credit, etc, etc. Seems the most critical one is the housing application. The meal plan enrollment is not up yet.</p>