<p>Before I found out of my acceptance to UW, I thought I was going to be living in the heart of a major city. I was psyched to get into Madison because of the academics but let down because I would be living in a smaller city. What are the best dorms to experience a downtown-esque urban environment? I know that it's the SE dorms, but which halls offer the best city experience?</p>
<p>Best Dorm=Ogg, Smith</p>
<p>Best dorm experience...prabbaly Sellery, WITTE</p>
<p>Do not choose chadbourne..it's so tiny</p>
<p>p.s. i see tht ur from Milwaukee. What h.s. r u at?</p>
<p>How is Chad tiny? Maybe the rooms are smaller but it's like 12 stories high.</p>
<p>Try The Lucky, the new private dorm.</p>
<p>If you want urban experience, live in Towers, which is on State Street. Note, though, that's it's not an official dorm.</p>
<p>For most social dorms, live in Sellery or Witte.</p>
<p>However, you have a huge chance of living in either Sellery or Witte anyway. If I were you, I'd put Smith and Ogg at the top of your prefs with Sellery and Witte right below.</p>
<p>Chadbourne is huge. It's like a high-rise building! Any of the SE dorms are very downtown-ish.</p>
<p>Plus Chadbourne is a residential college and they have tons of activities going on every day. There's also a cafeteria located inside.</p>
<p>Chadbourne is an excellent dorm, provided you don't care about the following:</p>
<p>-Has a nerdy atmosphere
-Every floor is single-gender</p>
<p>Other than that, Chad is a great dorm. It's right smack dab in the center of campus, and as someone mentioned, it's got a cafeteria right on the first floor. Most convenient dorm, hands down.</p>
<p>So for high-rise like buildings, which have views of Madison, Chadbourne and Sellery are the best choices?</p>
<p>Why would you want a view of downtown Madison? Remember, your room may not have the view- you don't get to choose. You can see the capitol from State St... You are not going to be spending your time staring out of your window, hopefully you will be busier doing things, such as studying and enjoying the campus. The private dorms are different, and the Lucky one is expensive. Res Halls has a great variety.</p>
<p>I enjoy windows.</p>
<p>Not everyone who goes to UW is poor either. Obviously many come from families who can afford a bit more--especially of they are paying the cheap instate tuition. A place with a nice view can be great. Helps when "entertaining". Lucky has already pre-leased most of their units.</p>
<p>Well I'm not going with any of the private units because I can't afford them. I just got the housing prefernce email today and this is the feedback I've got so far:
Sellery, Chadbourne, Ogg are what I should go with. </p>
<p>I'm interested in Barnard. The exterior looks fancy. Is it fancy on the inside, though? Also, this may be a stretch, but does anyone here know of UW Madison's involvment in electronic music?</p>
<p>Likewise there are many rich people who prefer Res Halls. Barnard is the oldest dorm on campus- built in 1913. It has the charm and character of an old building, with modern plumbing et al- friends of mine loved it, I wouldn't live there because I prefer modern. Some of the rooms have dormers for the windows. I preferred the lakeshore for its trees and lake but still on a huge city campus. All a matter of personal preference.</p>
<ol>
<li>Statesider and Towers are private dorms and are largely populated by Jewish students so many already know people when they go into those dorms</li>
<li>Lucky is not dorms. The are apartments and will be the most expensive apartments on campus.</li>
<li> You don't want Barnard. I've heard mixed feelings about Chadbourne. I lived in Witte my freshman year and loved it. You would find the same atmosphere in Selery because they're the same kind of building. I think you'll find out that Madison isn't really that big and it's hard to get a good urban feeling even though you're in the heart of "downtown"</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for the info everyone!</p>
<p>My daughter will be living at Lucky101 this fall and it's pretty much the same price as the UW dorms. There's apartments there too and some of those are expensive, but the freshman part of the building is pretty reasonable for everything you get. And they told me they aren't full yet which is why we have to wait until summer to find out who her roommate will be. </p>
<p>The prices are at their website: Lucky</a> 101 : The new alternative to the UW-Madison dorm : Madison, WI.</p>
<p>Also, from what I understand, housing at the UW is pretty much a lottery. It doesn't matter what you request, they just stick you someplace. At least at Lucky101 we know what we're getting for our money!</p>
<p>I did not know they were doing special freshman floors at Lucky. Cool. The Union meal plans are fine for most people or you can learn to cook a little.</p>
<p>When you all say that some dorms are "more social", what exactly does that mean? I'm imagining more partying? (I'm not naive enough to think she won't drink )</p>
<p>Never mind about that last post - I found my answer on another thread.</p>