<p>So I'm looking for information about which dorm would be best for me. I want something in southeast preferably Sellery witte ogg or smith. My intended major is finance if that matters. I want a social dorm not one with a bunch of upperclassmen that go out for parties. I hear Sellery is good for parties but that the rooms are really small. I heard ogg is nice but that it has mostly uppercassmen. I also like to work out so one close to a rec center would be ideal.
Can someone shed some light on the situation for me?</p>
<p>Any of these res halls would be a fine choice. Sellery and Whitte are basically identical buildings just in different locales. Sellery is closer tot the business school, but you won’t really be taking any classes in there freshman year anyway. Sellery and Whitte and also primarily freshmen while Ogg has a hgiher % of upper classmen students. Lastly, Southeast Recreational Facility (SERF) is about a 2 minute walk from any of these buildings so that’s not anything to worry about. </p>
<p>For your specific wants I would recommend Sellery or Whitte, though as I said I think you’d be happy in any of them.</p>
<p>@wiscobad
I hope this doesn’t come across as mean, but there are like 5 different threads on dorms, +'s/-'s, comments from past residents, current residents, etc. below. I think if you read those threads, you’d have a lot of nice background. If you already looked thru those, I apologize. Remember, in the end, you list your preference, but there’s absolutely no guarantee you’ll get your top choices. A couple of posters indicated they’re actual assignment was like number 7 or 8 on their preference list.</p>
<p>I’m going to suggest Ogg, because I live there. You could read my other posts, but I’ll just tell you a bit about it. I’m a freshman this year and it is definitely not mostly upperclassmen. Yes, there are sophomores and juniors, but most people move into apartments after freshman year. I think my house has 6 sophomores out of 40. They’re all super nice anyway and hang out with the rest of us. The rooms are really big and you only have to share a bathroom with 7 other people. In Sellery and Witte, its with a whole wing of people. Plus, there is AC in the summer 
People go out on weekends and party, but its not a crazy atmosphere. Its pretty quiet during the week, but people are social. I heard that Ogg was not a social dorm before I moved in, but that proved to be untrue. Sure, you have to prop your door open during the first week or two school if you want to meet people, but its really not an issue. My floor is really close. Theres a den on each floor as well as a kitchen. If people in the den are too loud, there is a silent study room. Basically, its the best of both worlds: you get the social as well as academic benefits.</p>
<p>There are not many upperclassmen in the dorms because most upperclassmen live off-campus.</p>
<p>I would suggest for a freshman to live in Sellery or Witte. These two dorms are huge and could theoretically hold almost half the entire freshman class together, so if you put them as your first two choices you’re bound to get one of them. Witte is about a block further from classes but other than that they’re exactly the same. The rooms are small and you have the cinderblock walls and small closets you’d expect from a college dorm, but I think they both deliver (for most students) the full UW-Madison experience. Yes they are party dorms but people study hard during the week so they can party on the weekends and there are always quiet study spots to be found.</p>
<p>Ogg and Smith are nice and others who have lived in them will know more than I do about them, but I think there are slightly less freshmen (although freshmen will still be in the vast majority) and they’re a good deal more expensive. I personally feel that there’s a unique freshman experience that can’t be beat in Sellery or Witte…assuming you do like to party, lol. </p>
<p>If you don’t like to party, Sellery/Witte are fine (really, honestly better than you’d think, people do study quite a lot here and it’s not messy or anything) but I think there’s something special about stuffing 2,000 freshman in two high-rise dorm buildings that is ideal for anyone looking for the “typical UW-Madison freshman party experience.”</p>
<p>All dorms open to freshmen are required to have at least 50% freshmen. The most popular dorms will have more returning residents, but still mainly freshmen. The returning students will get their pick of the rooms next month. Ogg and Smith cost more than the standard dorms- be sure the extra charge is in your budget.</p>
<p>All this was really helpful. Thanks to everyone who posted.
Does anyone know how much more expensive ogg and smith would be compared to selllery or witte? That seems to be a frequently discussed downside.</p>
<p>And another question: If I know who I’m rooming with how do I arrange for us to be together?</p>
<p>All rates are posted on the UW housing site. You should contact them to request a room together.</p>
<p>Both of you need to request each other on the dorm selection info you give online(?) (changes in slow/email ways even since son applied so not sure of details).</p>
<p>As Barrons indicated, rates and features are all listed on the website in a nice table comparison. From memory, Ogg is around 20% more than Witte & Sellery.</p>
<p>I’m going to be living in Ogg next year. I’m pretty sure its about 7k for the year</p>
<p>From the Housing website:</p>
<p>Base Double Room Rate $5172
Operational Costs $1607
Ogg Surcharge $948
Total $7727</p>
<p>plus food charges (you pay for what you eat)</p>
<p>Probably ~$10k all in</p>
<p>It may be unlikely that you and your friend will be placed in the same dorm/dorm room. One of the few ways you can almost guarantee this is to both select the same Learning Community as your first choice. For the Learning Communities (Note, there is an extra fee), you have access to Rooms-Online and get to pick your exact room within the LC, provided you return the deposit in time. For example, if you pick Chadbourne Residential College as your LC (Chad is across the street from the business school), you will each be able to log - in, and choose the same room number provided it shows 2 openings in that room.</p>
<p>You could try call the Housing office (608-262-2522) and ask questions, specifically ask about the chances of both choosing, for example, Ogg (no Learning Community, hence no Rooms Online) and getting assigned to the same room.</p>
<p>Students can choose to be roommmates if both request each other, and both should rank the same dorms the same way. You might get the worst lottery choice of both students- not the first/best. You do not need to choose a Learning Community to do this.</p>
<p>@wisc75</p>
<p>Could yoy clarify your post: “You might get the worst lottery choice of both students- not the first/best”? </p>
<p>That is the opposite of what Housing told me and how other schools handle it. At Wisconsin and other schools, it was positioned as they do take the first/best lottery position if 2 students indicate each other as roommates, and their dorm selections are identical.</p>
<p>Does your post come from experience, or info on the website? I will follow-up with Housing again if there’s something concrete that contradicts what they told me.</p>
<p>I think this is what WIS75 is saying:</p>
<p>‘Joe’ and ‘Tom’ rank their dorm choices identically and enter each other’s student ID number on the form to be matched as roommates.</p>
<p>‘Joe’ is lucky and the lottery would give him his first choice, Ogg.</p>
<p>‘Tom’ is placed in his last choice, Sellery.</p>
<p>They can both live in Sellery as roommates. They will not have the option of both living in Ogg as roommates.</p>
<p>Joe has to decide if he likes Ogg better with a rando or Tom/Sellery better.</p>
<p>Not what I meant re post # 17. I was wrong apparently. Given the above two posts it may be they both get the top choice of the one whose lottery number caomes up first. As always, when in doubt check with Res Halls or UW, whichever is in charge of the area you have questions about.</p>
<p>@Madison85</p>
<p>Housing told a group of us during a tour about a month ago the opposite of what you’re describing. In your example, they said that if 2 students list each other as roommates, and both list the same dorms in same priority sequence, the first drawn name of the 2 people “pulls” the second person “up” to the first person.</p>
<p>So kind of the same point, if you or anyone else has experience or can reference something on the web or in writing that indicates the Housing person was wrong, please share it. </p>
<p>I don’t care about who is right or wrong, just trying to understand the upside/downsides in dorm selection of finding a roommmate in advance.</p>
<p>That didn’t happen with my son - he got Ogg, his friend got Sellery. Son had a choice of Ogg with a rando or Witte with his friend as his roommate. But - this is a variation on the standard situation as it happened 2 years ago and friend was a freshman while son was a sophomore.</p>