So I applied for CU housing in the second housing window during late March and got put at Will Vill (the off-campus housing), which wasn’t even on my list of my top six choices. Is there a good chance I could get into a main campus dorm during the housing change periods/off a waitlist or am I basically stuck there? Has anyone had any luck getting their housing assignment changed?
I’m considering no longer attending CU over this so it’s a pretty big deal to me. Thanks in advance for any help!
For certain do NOT worry about Williams Village, its easy to walk, about ten minutes. Its barely off campus. Freshman housing at every US university across the country is exactly the same, a bed, a desk and a closet. You will NOT spend much time in your room, so do not worry about it. Williams Village was renovated and very nice. You will meet a lot of other freshman there. Its good exercise to walk, but there are busses and you can buy a bike. The campus is relatively large so wherever you live, you will be getting a lot of exercise in our sunshine ! Also, its nice to be off campus during football games. The kids near the stadium are not so happy unless you love football, I would say Williams Village is somewhat quieter. Check out Carellis of Boulder with your parents, right next to Williams Village:
https://carellis.com
The newest dining hall with the best food options is in Williams Village, see
this link:
https://www.colorado.edu/coloradan/2017/03/01/place-eat-and-stay-while
The Williams Village is a very good place to live since its been renovated.
The football game noise is further away. You feel more grown up.
And almost all freshman move off campus anyway in year, two so your time on campus
is nine months for most students, unless you choose an RAP where students may
stay in year two, you will be off campus before you know it anyway. It goes by quickly!
This map shows that there are now three CU campus areas in the city of Boulder. The main campus with the football stadium, a research campus to the east and the Williams Village residential campus to the south. They are all walking distance to each other. You may be working on the Research campus to the east anyway, so you may take a quick bus or take a nice walk over there. The south residential campus is very nice! Its not too far to walk at all.
Many big state universities like U of Michigan are way more spread out with students living THREE MILES from
their classes. This is way way more compact and there are no fences around our campus so its
not like you feel very far away if you do live in the south campus. Its all very close in, a few blocks.
Agree on Will Vill. Was, maybe still is, the last choice for everyone. They have made some big improvements. Food over there is a lot better. Can compete with main campus now. Workout facility is nice too. Green spaces are less congested for doing things with friends. Parking better if you have a car.
Daughter has lived in Bear Creek for three years. Not being on Main Campus has been a non-issue. The buses run so often, you can get there before some even on main campus walking. Depends on where you are going on main.
There is an advantage to being off the quad. Center of partying. Police should have a substation in the quad. You can visit parties, but then go home. I imagine studying in the quad is challenging at best. And agree, with others. Will Vill one year. You will probably even move next door to Bear Creek. That place is the bomb!
Thank you for this comforting information! My daughter is transferring from Purdue to CU and can’t even get in to Bear Creek! Our fingers are crossed that there will be an opening.
This has not been my child’s experience. Living in Williams Village is a disadvantage. Lower retention and predicted GPA for student living in Williams Village. University tracks these numbers. Statistics for Williams Village is below the overall average for all students. See this link for the Excel spreadsheet.
https://www.colorado.edu/oda/institutional-research/student-data/campus-life
File name: Freshman retention and graduation rates by residence hall (Excel)
And not all the dorms are renovated. In my child’s dorm, the common area is old and dated, looks like it’s from the 70’s. Her room is dark, hardly gets any sunlight because the room is set back and window blocked by tree branches, one single yellow light bulb for her room. Really just depressing. I asked for a change to better wattage bulb for better lighting, and 2 months into school year, still hasn’t been done. Just not been a good experience.
And campus service has been poor; the mailroom (run by UPS Store) sent back a package I Fedex-ed to her without making any effort to contact her or me because I didn’t have her PO box number; didn’t even bother to call our phone numbers which were on the label. My child went to the mailroom three times and begged them to help locate her package, and they would not help her without the tracking number (we lost the tracking slip). I had to get a new prescription from her doctor and ship her meds to her godfather in Denver, who drove an hour to deliver her the package.
It’s been endless disappointments.
The only upside is that she likes most of her classes and professors.