<p>Our son just received word that he will be a member of Martel. Does anyone have any interesting information, beyond the Martel website, about this college? THANKS</p>
<p>I think they have more singles than many of the older colleges, and nice suite arrangements, with little singles around a common room and shared bathroom. (Although, freshman will likely be in doubles around shared commons).</p>
<p>All but a few lucky freshman will be in doubles. After that, almost everyone will have a single. Martel has the nicest facilities of any college, although Weiss comes close. Also, Martel is the best college ever. I'm not sure what sort of interesting information you want. I'm going to be a Martel O-Week advisor, so if you have any specific questions, feel free to pm me, although I can't guarantee that I will answer everything, as some information should wait until O-Week. Other than that, I hope your son is excited. I know I am.</p>
<p>Martel is not a college.</p>
<p>What wit! What originality!</p>
<p>Does Martel inspire universal envy, or does it have a particular rival?</p>
<p>Universal Pity =)</p>
<p>All of the colleges have their strengths and traditions. Martel just hasn't had time to develop any yet, so it just loooks pretty haha</p>
<p>DonR: I wouldn't say Martel inspires universal envy. Most students on campus know that it has the newest and nicest facilities, but everyone is perfectly happy where they are. If Martel does have a rival, it's probably Jones, its next-door neighbor. The reason for this rivalry is primarily their proximity and Jones' (probably understandable) irritation at Martel, as it was built on what used to be Jones' parking lot.</p>
<p>Another point of interest is that Martel's cafeteria is the North Servery, a cafeteria that serves all three north colleges (Jones, Brown, and Martel). This is the biggest servery on campus which means that these three colleges have the most variety and options for food.</p>
<p>All of Martel's rooms are suites for either 4 or 6 students. Freshman year, your roommates are potluck, but everyone in your suite will be the same gender. All of the floors, however, are co-ed. In the 6-person suites, the common room and bathroom facilities will be bigger to compensate.</p>
<p>Martel has a public kitchen on every floor (microwave, oven, stove, fridge, cabinet space) that everyone may use. There's a computer lab on the 3rd floor and study rooms all over the place. There are 3 classrooms downstairs that may be used for study when class is not in session. Martel has a small library and a private dining room above the Commons (Martel's eating area). There is an area called the Rotunda with lots of couches where everyone can relax. There's also a TV room with a big screen TV as well as a game room with a billiards table, a blackboard wall, fussball table, and Martel Kombat (an XBox inside an old arcade machine with lots of old games downloaded onto it).</p>
<p>Martel, like every college, has its own laundry facilities. You never have to feed it quarters; instead you just pay a flat amount for use of the laundry room your freshman year and you can use it as often as you want.</p>
<p>Martel is a great college with lots of spirit and a great personality. Hope your son has a great O-Week and I'll see him at Dis-O.</p>
<p>Marieowl: Thanks, I guess I have to learn to use these smiley faces when I try to joke, such as universal envy. It's hard to teach an old dog like me new tricks :-)
I am curious about your statement that for freshmen roomates are potluck. Does Martel use roomate surveys that Rice sent out?</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm bad about reading people when I can't hear their tone of voice or see their face. By potluck, I mean that new students do not get to choose their roommates. Martel's O-Week Coordinators very carefully put students together in suites based on the roommate surveys. So don't worry -- it's not completely random.</p>
<p>And in general -all- of the college's coordinators are excellent at making those roommate choices, even despite the very little information they get from those sheets, and the martel coordinators are great this year!</p>