<p>I lived in Foster House at one point. </p>
<p>I am not bothered too much by a lack of AC at Northwestern. During a unusually hot year, it can make it harder to sleep and study in the room. But even then, there simply aren’t that many school weeks where the temperatures will get so high. Maybe a few weeks in late September and early October, and then a few weeks in Late May and early June. Remember, for most of NU’s history, North campus residents toughed out the year without AC. To help make up for no AC, bring a fan. It can make a big difference.</p>
<p>I recommend that incoming freshman try and get into a social dorm, preferably one with lots of freshman. Why? Because a freshman’s dorm – in particular, floor – goes a long way in determining how many friends he has, and who they are. Freshman move in, meet their floor mates, and form a floor community. Some of the friendships will endure for the next four years at Northwestern, and some even longer than that.</p>
<p>If a freshman does not get involved with on-campus activities, greek life, etc, then it is especially important to live in a social dorm full of freshman, because that may be the only source of friends he has.</p>
<p>With all of this said, I would generally recommend, for North campus, to get into Elder, Slivka, Sargent, and Ayers. All of those dorms are going to be social and full of other freshman looking for friends. Bobb-McCullock works out for some freshman, especially rowdy ones, who go onto join greek life, but other freshman don’t like the noise, the vandalism, the puke, and – generally speaking – the immaturity and disrespectfulness of the residents. Another problem with Bobb-McCulloch is that almost half of the population are sophomores who have little or no interest in going out of their way to make friends with their freshman neighbors.</p>
<p>I think a freshman could enjoy his time in Foster House. There’s people to make friends with. About half of Foster House is freshman, so there will be other freshman. Plus it can be cool to make friends with Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors. There’s a nice lobby where people hang out and socialize. The House was remodeled two years ago, so the furnishing is relatively nice. For engineers, the House has an awesome location, as it is only a five minute or less walk to get to a classroom in McCormick. </p>
<p>Potential problems are: the upperclassmen, the other half of the house’s population, may have no interest in making friends with freshman. And the guys tend to be… uh, a bit reserved and anti-social. And not particularly friendly people. And if you live next to a couple of ****** bag upperclassmen who lived together on purpose, it can really suck, but that’s just an “if.” And there aren’t any girls, which makes meeting girls harder, because the dorm is a popular place for doing that.</p>
<p>If you’re a social recluse who’s just looking for a place to study, then Foster House will do the trick. If you’re a bit off-beat and want to make friends with other off-beats, then… Foster House would be good too… If, however, you’re an average NU incoming freshman with normal social skills and habits, and to have an easy time of making friends, both male or female, then try Elder, Slivka, Sargent, or Ayers. With the last three of those being particularly well-suited for Engineers.</p>