Dorm Choice - all frosh vs mixed grades?

<p>Thank you everyone for your valuable insights! I'm not sure there's one right answer, it may depend on the student and the school. Once my son decides which school to attend, I will show him this thread to read, and consider which choice would be best for him when filling out housing forms.</p>

<p>My dorm to was mixed and even had one grad student residing in one of the 2 singles on the floor. The upperclassmen were definitely a positive influence on us newbies. One junior even helped be decide on my engineering major as I was waffling between ME and CE. He helped me make a wise choice.</p>

<p>The upperclassmen also made lasting memories which I fondly recall on occasion. The varsity baseball player letting me catch his curve ball in the Stradley parking lot. The chem major who had his bicycle set up as a centrifuge. Future NFL'er Mike Currrent lifting up a bunk with a couple of us on it with his neck and maintaining quiet in the study lounge. Giving us scheduling advice(ie as early as possible), prof recommendations, roach coach advice, etc.</p>

<p>But it was principally just observing most of them balancing work and play. And returning from the first quarter break it was only freshmen who did not return.</p>

<p>My school only has mixed dorms. There is a strong House system with a lot of House pride, bonding, activities, and all the rest. Your House is your social network. You even eat with them at a House table in the dining hall. I really love having mixed years. There is tons of informal advising about everything: classes, making up a schedule, professors, getting requirements completed, finding research, getting a job, the best way to get into the city, etc. It's also nice because you're with fourth years who are nearing graduation and finishing up writing their BA/thesis and looking forward, third years preparing for LSATs or internships or applications for grad school, and all the rest. It's useful to keep in mind what's coming up, and you also start to learn about all of these things by hanging out with people who are going through them. There is also a lot of informal academic advising from students who have taken a particular class. Who says you can only be friends with your year, anyway? My best friends are first years, but I have friends who are second, third, and fourth years. There's no real reason why freshman should only be friends with freshman, and it's a lot more difficult to be friends with upperclassmen if you're not living with them. I feel having all years adds depth and interest to dorm life.</p>

<p>i loved my frosh only dorm, the RAs were there for whatever mentoring, and as a building we really bonded. It helped that the building was very very small (~40 people, with 2 RAs). I haven't really met anyone through living on the same hall either of my other two years, my sophomore year when there were freshman on my hall and my junior year when theres been seniors. People already had their groups of friends, and not as much hanging out occurred as people have become busier with school work and ecs.</p>

<p>I Agree with post #23. My daughter's at Rice, and all the kids are in one of ten residential colleges (sort of like the houses mentioned above) which has a college master living in the attached house, and several profs or grad students living in the college, along with all mixed ages. It helps develop community and helps pass the knowledge and culture down to the younger students.</p>

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I haven't really met anyone through living on the same hall either of my other two years, my sophomore year when there were freshman on my hall and my junior year when theres been seniors.

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<p>Not really a ringing endorsement of your school!</p>

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Not really a ringing endorsement of your school!

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<p>Why do you say this? For upperclassmen with established academic and social lives, meeting new people may not be a priority. Such upperclassmen might resent being coerced into dorm-based social activities just to provide social opportunities for the freshmen. They have other things to do with their time.</p>

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all the kids are in one of ten residential colleges (sort of like the houses mentioned above) which has a college master living in the attached house, and several profs or grad students living in the college, along with all mixed ages.

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Yes, it is very similar to my school, the University of Chicago. We have a lot of houses on campus, ranging from about 30-100 students depending on the dorm. Each house has resident advisors who are upperclassmen or younger grad students and a resident head who is a senior grad students or new professor living with their family in an apartment in the House. Every dorm (so a collection of houses) has resident masters who are senior professors living in a nice apartment in the dorm.

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Such upperclassmen might resent being coerced into dorm-based social activities just to provide social opportunities for the freshmen.

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In an effective, multi-year housing system, the upperclassmen should not see dorm socialization as something they are coerced into doing.</p>

<p>At DD's school only frosh live in the dorms, then it's off campus living for everyone. My D skipped the dorms went straight into an apartment close to campus with a Senior and a Sophomore, and she automatically plugged into their social circle. While she doesn't regret it (she never liked the idea of sharing a room) she is now having to say goodbye to many of her friends as they graduate. It's not a huge deal since she seems to make new friends easily. But if mixed living is the norm every other year I would think all frosh the first year would be the way to go. It's nice being with a bunch of other 'newbies', especially those first few months.</p>

<p>My 2 cents:</p>

<p>My school has 2 Freshmen only dorms, and the rest are mixed (normally with sophmores and a few juniors...most juniors and senors are in program houses or junior/senior housing). I live in one of the Freshmen only dorms, my boyfriend the other, so they are basically the only thing I've experianced in terms of dorm life.</p>

<p>I like the all freshmen feel. As others have said, it's nice to have other people around who are in the same boat as you. There is a real feeling of camraderie. </p>

<p>That said, I also joined one of the co-ed greek societies on campus, and through that have gotten the mentoring of people from all stages of their undergrad careers, and that has been VERY important and helpful, and completely made up for any lack of such advising I may have gotten from upperclassmen living in my dorms. </p>

<p>So, my point is, I suppose, all freshmen dorms can be really fun, but if you live in them, you hould make sure to seek out upperclassmen some other way, to get their advise.</p>

<p>
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For upperclassmen with established academic and social lives, meeting new people may not be a priority. Such upperclassmen might resent being coerced into dorm-based social activities just to provide social opportunities for the freshmen. They have other things to do with their time.

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<p>Like I say, not really a ringing endorsement of the school.</p>

<p>It probably wouldn't kill the upperclassmen to give a little something back to the community...or at least be friendly to those around them.</p>

<p>I have no idea what school ec1234 attends.</p>

<p>My son's experience in the all first year dorm (in fact all freshmen complex) was overwhelmingly positive. This college is known for its entry system whereby a group -- about 20 to 24 -- firstyears live together under the tutelage of two highly trained junior advisors. They join a social group from day one: for meals, parties, events. The JA's (again, I have to stress they are rigorously trained to deal with a myriad of situations, both social and academic) are there for support, advice and soft shoulders. It was a wonderful experience and for my son led to what look to be lifelong friendships.</p>

<p>Of course he was able to form friendships among older students as well -- in classes, in EC's, at the various support organizations. There are no shortage of advice facilities and willing mentors. </p>

<p>Things have changed over the years. My son's college and I would suspect many others are aware of the downsides of all freshmen living arrangements but they are also aware of the many pluses of the first year entry system. Recently when they overhauled the residence program, they considered changing the freshman situation, but decided that this was one tradition that they wanted to hold on to. They have instead worked on strengthening the support systems and training for the people who are on the spot. I know. My son was a JA and went through the training, went through the demands of responsibility.</p>

<p>"In my first year at #1 LAC, I never saw or met anyone in my living situation who was filling out a fellowship application, was trying to figure out whether to go to grad or professional school, had just come back from a summer internship, had been in a study abroad program, had to deal with the financial aid office because of changed family circumstances, was on academic or disciplinary probation and having to deal with it, had been cut from a sports team, had changed majors in the middle, had dealt with a particularly ornery professor successfully, had already figured out how to deal with a particular dietary restriction, had left school and come back, was in recovery from a substance abuse problem begun at school, or was writing a thesis."</p>

<p>Too bad you missed all this. As a first-year assigned to a frosh-only entry, my Eph got to know students from EVERY class -- people who were dealing with most of these situations. Those who are proactive and independent (among other traits) always seem to find a way.</p>

<p>I doubt, very, very sincerely doubt, that your Eph had signficant and ongoing informal conversations with students from every class about any of these issues. (I too got to know students from every class, which has no bearing on what I wrote: "I never saw or met anyone in my living situation who....")</p>

<p>Yes, there are mentors and advisors, etc., etc. to be found elsewhere. That has absolutely no bearing on what I wrote. As for the change in the residential system, this is the fourth major overhaul in 28 years; this time they spent $5.4 million on it because they were quite aware that the old one wasn't working well, and I do hope it works.</p>

<p>And to be fair, this isn't entirely their fault. When they abolished fraternities back in the '60s, they were still stuck with housing stock that consisted primarily of freshman housing and a bunch of fraternity houses. The upperclassmen don't want to live in the old freshman housing situation, so the college is seeking new ways to integrate freshmen into the life of the college without being able to radically alter the housing stock. It's hard to do.</p>

<p>my D was in a dorm freshman year, with mostly freshmen- about 98%
She had a single room and it was sub free.
Didn't have any trouble meeting people
All freshmen have the same required class Hum 110, so dorm study sessions were often held in common room.
It was a very small school, so meeting upperclassmen wasn't a problem, as there were many avenues to do so.
She also utilized her advisor ( faculty) and RA & HA staff as sources of information as other staff on campus and wasn't limited to using other students.</p>

<p>I think for her school, it was probably a good thing that she was with freshmen, if she had been living with juniors studying for their qual or seniors writing their thesis, she may have been scared out of her mind.
But by becoming aware of the amount of work involved for graduation at a slower pace, allowed her to "adjust"</p>

<p>"I doubt, very, very sincerely doubt, that your Eph had signficant and ongoing informal conversations with students from every class about any of these issues."</p>

<p>You can doubt all you want, but the fact is, because of these conversations, my Eph became a TA in second semester freshman year, was hired by a prof to do summer research (after freshman year) with co-authorship, had already begun weighing options for junior year study abroad, etc., etc. </p>

<p>You may not want to acknowledge it, but it happens more often than not.</p>

<p>I think I'm more prepared to accept the view of the college president that the social system wasn't working adequately (and that he was willing to put "his" money where his mouth is), that first years had to be dispersed to wider areas of the campus, and that new systems had to be created to integrate them more fully into the academic and residential life of the college as a whole.</p>

<p>And I do hope it works. (I'm helping, in my own little way, to pay for it.)</p>

<p>"that first years had to be dispersed to wider areas of the campus"</p>

<p>Nowhere did President Schapiro say that the first-year entry system is changing. The JA system (non-paid, three times as many applicants as places) is working -- and working well.</p>

<p>Even though it was a million years ago, I loved my all freshman, all-girl dorm. Our upperclassmen RA's were great for advice when needed (which was often). They really earned their free room & board.</p>

<p>Corranged sez:

[quote]
My school only has mixed dorms. There is a strong House system with a lot of House pride, bonding, activities, and all the rest. Your House is your social network. You even eat with them at a House table in the dining hall. I really love having mixed years. There is tons of informal advising about everything: classes, making up a schedule, professors, getting requirements completed, finding research, getting a job, the best way to get into the city, etc. It's also nice because you're with fourth years who are nearing graduation and finishing up writing their BA/thesis and looking forward, third years preparing for LSATs or internships or applications for grad school, and all the rest.

[/quote]
Yeppers. D is in a "House" system well and having watched it unfold in action, I'm very enthusiastic about the experience. Lots of immediate friendships across the various years, multiple sources of advice, etc. Much better than a frosh dorm with a couple of RA's, imho.</p>