<p>I have a question and know one of you have the answer! S is a freshman and is having trouble with allergies or dryness in his room. Trouble started when the heat was turned on. He is from Florida where the air is usually humid and heaters is rarely used. Do any of you use a humidifier? Is this a good idea, and if so, what works well in a dorm room? I'll be shopping this weekend for something! Thanks!</p>
<p>sophiehorse..we are from central florida and my son 08 had a heck of a time adjusting to heat..yes humidifier helped..cvs in hanover should have one..not to alarm you but my son did get mono..did not miss school ..just felt under the weather for 2 months...which dorm is he in ..my s was in french in river...</p>
<p>Same problem Sophie, another humidity adapted freshman. Isaac - how big a humidifier?</p>
<p>do not know which size but inexpensive at cvs...just remind to change the water..
i have to say the only disappointment with dart these 2 years has been the dorms...hopefully remedied by new dorm clusters for next fall
this year my son on ground floor in mid fayer..when we dropped him off the floor was wet thru the carpets..we were told it will go away when the colder weather came and i believe that happened but what a gross feeling those first few weeks
i truly believe many of the dorms are not healthy
however the grossest thing our kids do is drink beer with ping pong balls that roll around frat floors and handled by a million people..no wonder my son got mono...parents its called beer pong and is the rage on most campuses
cangel where are you from?</p>
<p>Isaac,</p>
<p>Where did your son live last year?</p>
<p>The one thing I must say about EW, they are really great dorms.</p>
<p>Depending on where they land in room draw maybe they will get a crack at living in the new dorms.</p>
<p>I'd actually disagree with you, Sybbie. Size-wise the East Wheelock dorms are okay, but the walls are among the thinnest on campus and the dorms are architecturally dreadful. </p>
<p>At least the McLaughlin Cluster dorms look architecturally decent; Tuck Mall, I'm not so sure.</p>
<p>And Isacc, I've never been a fan of the Fayers either. However, for the most part Topliff, New Hamp, Gold Coast, Butterfield/Russell Sage, Hitchcock, and Mass Row are quite good.</p>
<p>Within the past 2 years, Dartmouth renovated the entire Choates cluster, which houses a quarter of the freshman class. My room is basically brand new, and pretty amazing: giant single, and decent wall thickness too. Sybbie, do you know if the new dorms are going to be all freshman, all upperclassmen, or mixed?</p>
<p>I do not know how the new dorms will be configured I guess as they get closer to completion (with expected opening date of fall 06 ) you will probably know before we know.</p>
<p>Isacc, we live in lower Alabama. My daughter is in the Choates, and her room was renovated this summer. The room and dorm seem reasonably clean, with some new and some recycled furniture. It seemed to us that the girls (it is a double) were short one piece of furniture, but maybe not. Their common room did not have a big TV, and there was some grumbling about that.
DD is under the impressions that as soon as the year is over, if the new dorms are on schedule, they will start tearing down the River, so that there will be no net gain of rooms, and the new dorms will go to freshmen. No way to judge the accuracy of her ideas. Sybbie, how are the TreeHouses? DD thought they could be very fun, other than the washing issue - don't know how that will work in winter.</p>
<p>i wrote to some authority on campus about the question of who gets the new dorms..no reply yet ..may not have sent it to the correct people..i believe now is the time to hear the plan if there is one yet..
i feel my son 08 has had 2 sub par dorms..one (the river) too far and mid-fayer which has no business being a dorm ..it looks like my old public school from 1900 converted to sleeping quarters..only blessing of mid-fayer is location is great...if the tree houses are the ones by the river forget them ..too far and will be too much construction if they take down river dorms..
if i was king of the dorm process..i would keep the freshman in the choates and use the entire fayerweather (mid, north and south) for freshman and the rest mixed wheelock, new clusters etc
the rising seniors deserve the newest!!</p>
<p>my daughter lives in a three room double in hinman in the river cluster. i think it is a great set up and i don't understand why everyone bad mouths the river cluster. my daughter said hinman is scheduled to be taken down at the end of the spring term.</p>
<p>ursdad hi your d was lucky she is in a three room double with i presume a private bedroom ..that is very lucky the worst are the two room triples! these people are squished and no privacy and have to really get along with roommies.....the laundry facilities also poor...the main problem with river is of course location in the brutal winter..it is far from dining, from library, the gym, the frats and town..last years construction of thayer eng school compounded the problem..is this still ongoing...</p>
<p>I doubt they would tear down the River dorms -- Dartmouth has a well-known housing crunch, and unless there's something immediately wrong (i.e. unsafe or unacceptable) with the River dorms, I don't see why they would mind gaining the planned 504 beds. Based on searching through the D archives, I can't find any stories that suggest that any dorms will be demolished.</p>
<p>construction is ongoing at thayer but it is really not a problem for residents of the river cluster,as far as I can tell. three room doubles have a common room and two private bedrooms.i think it is the best combination. you have a roommate and you still have privacy. i don't know if they are tearing down all the dorms in the river cluster but my daughter told me she has been told her class will be the last class to occupy hinman.</p>
<p>ursdad, I agree that the river cluster (river dorms, tree houses and maxwell-channing cox) gets a bad rap as far as living arrangements.</p>
<p>The Treehouses (Birch, Elm, Maple, Oak, and Spruce) houses students in one-room doubles. I have constantly read that the treehouses were the worse dorms on campus and when I went to move in D I expected to see some old dilapidated hut. </p>
<p>While the houses were set up as temporary dorms (they are little pre-fab houses probably not too much different form any of the new constuctions built for private homes). Yes, they don't "fit" in with the rest of the architecture at Dartmouth, but I think that they really do get a bad rap (or some students have just never seen really bad dorms). Looking on line at the inside of some of the greek housing I would definitely choose them over some of greek housing.</p>
<p>They were immaculate, new paint jobs very well maintained so I could not understand what all of the grumbling was about as they look way better than a lot of housing that I have seen on other campuses. They are 2 story houses which accomodate 8 to 10 people per house (also one of the few places in the housing draw, that if you have a group of friends, you can all go in together and get a treehouse). </p>
<p>The first floor layout is a common room that has a tv (small) dvd player, vcr, microwave, dinette table and chairs, sofa and 2 club chairs. Bathroom, 2 shower stall, 2 sinks, 2 commodes. Orl comes daily to clean the bathrooms.</p>
<p>the rest of the floorplan:</p>
<p>The down side is that there is no full kitchen or laundry facility so you must do laundry in the river dorms and the walk can be kind of long in the winter. D has drill at 7:45 and has managed to nail down the bus schedule and takes it across campus. </p>
<p>For the most part they are a pretty cohesive group of people as she has many friends that also live in the treehouses.</p>
<p>My D visited with Sybbie's D before class started - long story - and has similar report about the treehouses - seemed like a pretty good place to live except for the lack of laundry, esp in the winter. I'm with Isacc, I think the seniors sould get the nice rooms, but I really hope they are going to immediately starttearing down dorms, because they definitely need more space. I've also heard that fewer people are going abroad, so that worsens the need for dorm rooms.</p>
<p>Goody Clancy of Boston, designers of several business school buildings including Whittemore Hall, are designing the Tuck Schools new Living and Learning Complex (Vox) to occupy the site of Hinman Hall, in the River Cluster (site plan pdf).</p>
<p>this is from a site callled Dartmo which has history and updates on dartmouths buildings
<a href="http://www.dartmo.com/index.php?s=tuck&submit=Search+News%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmo.com/index.php?s=tuck&submit=Search+News</a></p>
<p>cangel,</p>
<p>D said she does laundry next door at channing cox</p>
<p>Will it be hard to do that in the winter, Sybbie, or is it really close - I guess I had visions of a lawn or a parking lot.</p>