<p>I just applied EA to Case... it is one of my top three.
I have not visited yet... but how is the campus set up? how are the residential halls?</p>
<p>Residential Halls are typical. Upper class housing is very nice. The campus is beautiful. University circle is great. It is really a nice campus for a city campus. Check out the link below.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.case.edu/webdev/mplan/%5B/url%5D">http://www.case.edu/webdev/mplan/</a></p>
<p>As I recall the campus is split by a very large, busy road. The humanities part is one side, and the other stuff (including the medical center) is all on the other.</p>
<p>We only saw one group of dorms, and I can't remember which ones they were, but they were sort of 1970's buildings, on stilts. When you enetered there was a large lounge (sort of beat) and then you headed up some stairs to the rooms. The room we saw was a normal size for a dorm.</p>
<p>There seemed to be a busy little bus system that went around the campus. </p>
<p>The campus has a rather "graduate student" feel to it. I don't know how else to describe that - I just felt like a higher proportion of the students there seemed older than other schools I've been to.</p>
<p>Overall, it was not one of the most beautiful campuses we've seen, but not one of the worst my any means.</p>
<p>I remember there was an interesting mix of old and new buildings (aside from the dorms, which were rather generic-looking.)</p>
<p>Severance Hall is practically on campus, and students can sometimes get free symphony tickets via a lottery system.</p>
<p>There are roughly 6000 grad & prof students, and 3600 undergraduate students.</p>
<p>Severance Hall is in the heart of the campus, next to the main library and the student union.</p>
<p>The campus is not an isolated bubble of academia. The real world is always right around you. The campus is the result of the combination of a number of smaller schools over the years, mainly Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University in 1967. But there have been a lot of new buildings added in the subsequent years. The resulting campus layout is long (a good 30 minutes to walk end to end) and embedded among city streets, parks, Little Italy, a rail line, and very large medical facilities.</p>
<p>Some have commented that it resembles UPenn's campus. There are similarities to UChicago, being near a great lake, similar architecture in some cases, and near classic buildings like museums, the concert hall, and a garden/park area. There is no consistent architectural theme to the campus, but like downtown Cleveland, there are a number of impressive federal-looking stone buildings. There are buildings of every style and decade including a modern Gehry design (management) that looks nicer than MIT's Gehry building IMO. Imagine a 4-story high mangled aluminum soda can. ;) The interior Case quad reminds me in size and scale of Brown - although it is not colonial; plenty of green space and trees.</p>
<p>The main library (Smith) is only 10 years old and as good as any I've seen, and the new apartments (only 2 years old), called the Village, are equivalent to living in a 4-star hotel. Everyone in the Village has a double bed in a private bedroom. There are standard dorms for FR & SO, some are renovated and really nice, others are OK, and some are in need of renovation IMO.</p>
<p>There are 2 rapid transit stations on campus. There is a direct run to the airport and downtown - no need to change lines.</p>
<p>There are shuttle buses running from end to end of the campus and to nearby shopping areas. There needs to be an awareness of potential for crime when walking or using the rapid. Students usually walk together at night; the school provides escort services also.</p>
<p>Not being from Ohio, we originally went there with extremely low expectations based on publications and web comments. But in reality, the campus and pedestrian vicinty stand up to 95% of any schools I've seen anywhere for variety and for things to do.</p>
<p>You should definitely visit. It is more important to get a feel for the student body for yourself than anything.</p>