My daughter is applying for housing at the U of M Twin Cities. She was accepted into Carlson and is a good student. She is social but not into the drinking/party scene. What dorms would you recommend she look at?
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She might consider one of the LLC’s such as Carlson House (where she’ll be with other Carlson students taking a rigorous course load) or the Substance Free or Healthy Foods Houses (which hopefully wouldn’t have too many unhealthy substance-loaded parties LOL!).
If she’s invited to Honors then she’ll automatically have a room reserved in the Honors Residence in Middlebrook. Middlebrook also just tends to be quieter as it houses the arts and some of the language LLC’s. The partiers may not like it as much because it’s not as close to Dinkytown and isn’t located anywhere near the Superblock. Two things in its favor, IMHO. One can always go elsewhere for the parties, and getting to Dinkytown from anywhere on campus is quite easy.
Addendum to ^^ - Middlebrook is also the closest dorm to Carlson - four minute walk from Hanson Hall! That might not be so important at first as they only have you take a couple of business courses your first year. Most of the year is spent on pre-reqs and gen. eds. It’ll become much more of a factor when she starts taking the immersion core (typically 2nd year).
I am in the same boat with my daughter. She paid her dorm deposit and would have chosen the “@home in MN” LLC if it wasn’t in Territorial Hall which gets the highest party rating. Right now she has listed 17th Avenue first, then Frontier followed by Centennial with Territorial last.
Thanks all for the comments. All very helpful and appreciate others input also. @dhart87 the Carlson LLC is also in T-hall so she is struggling with that.
I’d pick Middlebrook (considering Carlson and Honors and majors that tend to want to stay there), then 17th (because it’s nice), then Sanford, superblock last. You can avoid partying in any dorm. Have her try to find a roommate that has the same approach and it will be much easier. Most partying occurs outside of the dorms vs in.
In the end, it will be interesting to see how much impact the placeholder number a student gets with a housing deposit has on dorm outcome. My daughter did decide to put 17th first at this point as she wants to have a dorm on the east bank.
The placeholder is important, 17th is the most popular choice as it is the newest.
Can you still apply for the placeholder, paying the queue fee, before you have an admission decision? We did that for D16 because at the time it was only $25.00. Housing fills up quick at UMN and despite all the shiny new apartment buildings around campus now, the res. hall is probably the best place to be for first year.
BTW, sorry to change the topic a bit but my youngest (8th grade) and I had an event at UMN Wilson Library this past weekend. (West Bank). Bitter cold temps meant that getting to the library from the parking ramps would be uncomfortable, plus I didn’t want to drag around my heavy parka, hat, gloves, etc. So we parked at 19th ave. ramp and took the GOPHER WAY from Carlson to Wilson. It’s a whole other world underneath the campus. UMN is really prepared for the cold weather! I just left my heavy stuff in the car, as did my kid. We were able to park very near the skyway to Carlson and just followed the signs from there. We showed up very comfortably but minimally dressed considering the weather.
Getting to the East Bank requires LR or the UMN busses (or you can always walk over the bridge which will be nippy but not windy). You pick up the busses right outside of Carlson, 19th Ave. ramp, or Blegen, all accessible via the Gopher Way and I think the same stops serve the inter-campus busses as well.
A quick perusal of the maps suggests that most res. halls are very close to a building that connects to the Gopher Way. One or two (Yudof, for example) connects directly. For 17th Ave. you would cross University and pick it up at the Bell Museum. For Middlebrook it looks like you can go over to Ted Mann or to Hanson. Some routes may be restricted in terms of access times so be sure to have that info. before you head out in your Gopher shorts and flip-flops in 0 degree weather!
http://www.pts.umn.edu/walk/gopher-way-%E2%80%94-tunnels-and-skyways
http://www.pts.umn.edu/bus/campus-circulators
http://www.pts.umn.edu/bus/campus-connectors