Bryan, Gilchrist, Mason, Snyder, Case, or Holmes?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Michigan State University
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<p>The Honors College have floors on each of these halls. I have to rank my top 3 when I accept my Honors College invitation, which is probably too late for receiving my housing preference since May 1 is pretty soon. Anyways, does anyone have any suggestions? </p>

<p>My thoughts:
I like Case the best. It just seems like a cool place to be, especially with the James Madison College there.</p>

<p>I like Gilchrist, Mason, and Snyder the next best. I like their old feeling but I want to know, are they too old? As in, are the buildings in good shape or are they somewhat uncomfortable/inconvenient to live in?</p>

<p>I like Bryan and Holmes the worst. I stayed over night in Bryan and have checked out the entire Brody neighborhood and it just doesn't seem appealing. Of course, there's the Brody caf which makes up for it. But still, I don't think I want to live here. As for Holmes, it looks HUGE! Also, pretty lame.</p>

<p>I actually have no idea if my comments are correct. They've been accumulated after some online research and some talk with friends that attend MSU. Personally, I have only been to Bryan and the Brody neighborhood. Things I am looking for: food, and more food. Aside from Bryan, who has the best cafeteria? Also, are some of the above halls for upperclassmen?</p>

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<p>Snyder is certainly the most progressive. Mason and Snyder are old, but they’re certainly not unstable, and the rooms are small but enough to live in comfortably. I like Sny-Phi quite a bit, especially since the cafeteria is the second best on campus (after Brody, of course). There’s also the auditorium downstairs, where there’s all kinds of cultural stuff going on (often affiliated with RCAH), and they bring in lots of speakers. Mason has a cafeteria, but I don’t know what they actually do with it. I don’t know anyone who eats there.</p>

<p>Case is a bit more conservative. JMC kids tend to be more conservative, and they also often have a “work hard, party hard” mentality. Many athletes also live in Case, and South Neighborhood is convenient for engineering students. The cafeteria is pretty bad, but it’s being renovated, so it might improve. I personally really don’t like Case, because the food isn’t great and I don’t like the atmosphere at all.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about Bryan and Gilchrist, but both are rather remote, so unless you get a bike or a bus pass, you’ll have to walk a lot. From what I’ve heard, the food at Gilchrist isn’t very good. I live in Holmes and am part of LBC. Holmes is fairly convenient if you have a lot of science classes, as those tend to be nearby. The food is decent, but Hubbard is about five minutes away and has better food. Holmes is about the same size as Case, actually - it’s the standard size for East and South Neighborhood dorms. It’s also rather conveniently located near the CATA bus station and has two routes going past it. There’s also the Wharton Center (which is also close to Sny-Phi). Holmes is not as exciting as Sny-Phi, but there’s always stuff going on, and the people tend to be kind and respectful.</p>

<p>No halls are exclusively for upperclassmen. Food preferences may vary based on personal taste, but I would say Brody>Sny-Phi>Holmes>Case. I’ve never eaten at the rest.</p>

<p>Personally, I would pick Sny-Phi, assuming you’re not in the sciences. If you’re a member of one of the residential colleges, though, you might want to at least spend a year in that college’s base.</p>

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<p>I’m going into engineering. I’m really considering Snyder now (I’ve looked up some pictures of the caf - WOW! I didn’t know MSU had two state of the art cafeterias!). I feel like even though it’s not as close as Case is to engineering, it’s a lot closer than Bryan, Gilchrist, or Mason. I would say it’s about the same for Holmes. </p>

<p>Also, even though you weren’t offended by my comment that Holmes was lame I wanted to clarify that the BUILDING looks lame. Hopefully no readers out there took that the wrong way.</p>

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<p>Case is a pretty good place to be, imo (I lived there my first 2 years of college. The caf is going to be partially closed next year though (i think for spring semester) because they are remodeling it to be like snyder-phillips and brody cafes. Case hall has the advantage over the other dorms of being the closest to the engineering hall. Also, it has the freshman engineering experience in wonders nearby where you’ll find some sweet engineering stuff going on (not sure what it is exactly…but it is legit I’ve heard…special labs or something). </p>

<p>In terms of dorms that are old - Sny-Phi (I live there now) is actually newly remodeled so most things look really nice. It has some progressive RCAH kids but there are a ton of engineering kids on the honors floor too…I know the RA who is going to be on the guy’s honors floor in Philliips next year, he is a pretty awesome person so I’d definitely go with Sny-Phi. Mason-Abbot is dank and dark and old and generally unsocial as a dorm with mostly upperclassmen, I don’t like it at all…I’d keep away from Mason if I were you. also, mason doesn’t have a functioning cafeteria - it has been converted to a lounge space, so people in mason-abbot eat in Sny-Phi. Sny-Phi has a good mix of upperclassmen/freshmen, same does case. Gilchrist is more upperclassmen, although there are some freshmen too. Gilchrist hall is in a relatively quiet neighborhood, the food is in yakeley or landon nearby (they are okay…brody is really close by though so you could just walk there). The dorms are old-style, but they are pretty and quaint. </p>

<p>Generally in terms of ranking I’d go Case > Sny-Phi > Gilchrist of the ones you listed. Obviously, I’m biased based off where I have lived. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with Bryan or Holmes. Holmes is just going to have a lot of pre-med students and be kind of out of the way of a lot of things. Same goes with brody…although if you want to have a true “freshman experience” brody is a pretty good place to be.</p>