<p>(From what I've read/heard), if you take each house individually, it's great for a college dorm, but I think most criticisms arise when you compare it to other houses at Williams which are better. </p>
<p>lol ah well ill enjoy it and hope for a better one next year</p>
<p>Brooks has a good location though; it's closer to the center of campus than most of the row houses and pretty convenient for Greylock, Paresky, the theater and the science quad. I think location and layout often end up being much more important in the end than prettiness or even room size, which are what often determine "desirability".</p>
<p>Brooks is, indeed, a very good location. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if the windows in Mission Park rooms open? I seem to remember that they don't, but I don't know if that changed during the work the college did a few years ago.</p>
<p>Yeah, they do. Slide open.</p>
<p>Thanks, eph.</p>
<p>ATM, the washers and dryers used to be in small rooms along the main ground floor hallway that connects all the Mission houses. The laundry rooms had high windows looking out onto the main hallway, so they didn't feel creepy. I think it's still that way. Anyone know?</p>
<p>It is -- wide, wall-to-wall windows so that you can both look in to see if the machines are "occupied" and look out to see everyone passing by.</p>
<p>(2) Can you hang shelves up with screws or is it a sticky tape only allowed situation and finally (3) do we need to bring risers to raise bed, is it already part of the bed or is just a matter of being superbly enlightened? Merci.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Floors are carpeted in Mission. You might want to bring (or buy when you're here) an area rug anyway, because dorm carpeting tends to be of the industrial/not-so-comfy variety. </p></li>
<li><p>no holes in the wall allowed, though you can get away with tacks usually.</p></li>
<li><p>the mission beds can be adjusted to be a few feet off the ground, no need for other risers.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Are the room doors (not the suite doors -- but that would be interesting, too) in Mission wooden or metal? I'm wondering if they will hold a magnet -- nothing heavy, just fridge-style magnets for photos. While we've at it, if anyone knows the answer for Sage and Williams, that would help someone undoubtedly.</p>
<p>You all have really been helpful. Thank you.</p>
<p>I see that there is a voice mail function for the landline room phones. How well does this work? How do you know you have a message? Do you have to remember to check it? Is there some sort of alert function? I'm guessing there isn't since you have to supply your own phone.</p>
<p>I'm trying to figure out a convenient, efficient way of leaving messages without incurring a lot of cell phone time to check messages. Also, we have a lot of experience elsewhere with cell phones that go out while landline phones still work, so I like landines as backups. </p>
<p>Do the landline phones work if the electricity goes out? I'm thinking of a simple phone that does not need to plug into the electricity for an answering machine.</p>
<p>We have an ailing relative and also experienced the extended telephone outages of 911. While I am far from frantic about how I'll get in touch with my child in an emergency, I'd like to set up a system that works as well as possible. I'd also like to know its limitations, to the extent I can.</p>
<p>Do you have the same landline number the whole time you are living in the Williams dorms, or will it change after the first year?</p>
<p>The voice mail works fine, but fewer and fewer people actually use it now that almost everyone on campus has a cell phone. Does it even cost minutes to check your cell phone messages? Even if it does, it shouldn't be a significant number of minutes each month spent listening to messages.</p>
<p>Every dorm room gets an individual 4-digit extension, and you can call anywhere on campus or in the 413 area code for free (at least this is how it was two years ago, when I last had an on-campus phone). You can tell when you have a voice mail by picking up the phone--it beeps before the dial tone if you have a message. You use a code for long-distance calling, and pay your bill monthly.</p>
<p>In terms of coverage during black outs...it wasn't an issue at any point during my four years on campus. Campus blackouts tend to be really really short; I don't remember one ever lasting for more than half an hour. </p>
<p>Cell phone service is very reliable, and many people don't bother to set up their college voice mail at all. I wouldn't worry too much about it.</p>
<p>Extensions stay tied to the room, not the student, so they change every year.</p>
<p>Frosh quad doors are wooden, not sure about Mission.</p>
<p>Thanks. Wooden doors are nicer and probably even quieter so it's okay if magnets won't work. Anyone know about the Mission doors?</p>