What would you prefer or suggest to your daughter ? Women only or Co-Ed dorm ? What is the reason for your preference ?
Looking forward to see different thoughts.
I don’t have a daughter, just a son. But I suggested to him the male only dorm and he was aghast. My reasoning was he would be less distracted but he is not interested. If I had a daughter, I’d suggest female only for the same reason. Too much sexually charged adolescent drama at college and having a place to go away and escape it nightly wouldn’t be a bad thing. I am not a prude, I just understand how teenagers operate.
I hope you don’t mind me responding as my D is at a different college but we have had this conversation repeatedly ; ).
I pushed hard for a single gender dorm but then she was accepted to honors college which was co-ed, so no option. She was all excited because she thought I was ridiculous to suggest single gender.
Come time to select a dorm for sophomore year, she choose the all women complex. Told me afterwards that it was a pain having boys on the floor and that they were dirty and smelly ; ). She said they barely used some of the lounges because they were gross.
She’s much happier with her environment this year in the women’s dorm and her dorm common areas and bathrooms are spotless.
@Jennibc, @momofsenior1 -Thank you so much for your responses.
It does help to prep for the coming year.
I loved my women’s dorm. It was nice to walk down the hall, not worrying about what I looked like.
My daughter has been looking into it. Even though we’re local to Austin, we figure that for her that not getting in a dorm at UT may be a deal breaker. That seems like a real possibility since it’s so limited. She applied to housing in late Dec so we hope her place in line will get her a spot. She wants the social aspect and convenience even though we’ve heard most students want to be in one of the off-campus high-rises. Although I just went back and looked and since Housing selection doesn’t open until March 1 (https://housing.utexas.edu/future/future-resident-faqs) That’s crazy late. She already selected her dorm at Texas Tech Honors.
We toured around on our own and she liked Kinsolving. That’s close to Engineering but it sounds like most of her FR/SO year classes will be closer to Jester. I’ve heard mixed things about Jester like “it’s the party dorm” but have a niece who lived there last year and said that “if that was so, why wasn’t she invited to more parties, ha!”.
I was going to weigh in on a similar anecdote as @momofsenior1 I told my parents I wouldn’t consider a female only dorm. We had orientation and then the dorm lottery. After living on campus for a week, I was all in on the female only dorm. Much, much nicer and even in that amount of time the difference in cleanliness was obvious. Yes it’s a stereotype and there are many exceptions, but there was enough truth in that stereotype to make me happy with that decision throughout my time in college.
Did you look at Scottish Rite Dorm? It’s the private dorm I lived in. They may be full already, but I’m not sure. I loved that dorm so much I lived there all four years.
I lived at Jester community bath for 2 years myself decades ago. My older sister lived at Dobie, Kinsolving and Blanton (then an all women’s dorm) and said she liked Blanton best. My now UT senior lived at Jester (community bath) his freshman year before moving to a West Campus condo. My now high school senior son says he wants to live in Jester connecting bath if he attends UT. I have a daughter in 7th grade and I would love it if she lived in SRD (Scottish Rite Dorm). I have never been inside but it looked so fancy and nice and I have read that it isn’t as hard to get into these days since most female students don’t want to live in an women’s dorm with such strict rules. If my daughter wanted an on campus dorm, I would probably push for Kinsolving.
I toured SRD last year and they said their demand is way up. They’ve loosened up on the rules the last few years. It’s such a beautiful place to live, and the swimming pool is awesome. There’s also a grand piano in the lobby. The food is wonderful and I believe they still have college guys as waiters.
My mom lived there from 1957-1961 and I lived there from 1980-1984. I always wanted my daughter to stay there, but we moved OOS and she didn’t have the grades to get into UT.
Oh no - demand is way up. My now 7th grade daughter has always wanted to attend A & M like her Dad. But recently she seems interested in UT. Yesterday I showed her photos of SRD on the website. She seemed to like it!
@parentof3kids, she can get on the list early! That’s what I did. You can ask them when it’s possible to get on the list. 
We have a couple of years to go. She would be a freshman 2025-2026. I was surprised how inexpensive that sunroom single is for a private room. Is it due to the 10 by 8 foot size? Was this originally a closet or storeroom? And probably only one available? My high school senior wants to live at Jester with a connecting bath (price $13,481), so SRD regular double at $12,770 + 750 (payable with executed contract) = $13,520. Seems like SRD would be a much nicer option - obviously not available for my son!
My daughter just got into UT Austin as well. Trying to figure out the dorm situation as we are out of state. I too am concerned we applied too late for her to get into the better dorms on campus. How are the private dorms - Castilian or Callaway? My daughter would prefer her own bathroom or share it with one other person Are they nicer? We paid the enrollment and housing application fee last week. We will not get to campus to tour until next month. I am debating about applying and holding Castilian as a backup. Or should we wait? I appreciate any guidance. Thanks!
@parentof3kids , the single sunroom is TINY! It would be like living in a miniature cruise ship cabin without a bathroom. I lived in a double sunroom three years, which was very nice. I really wouldn’t recommend the single, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if those rooms used to be closets.
The double sunrooms were used for sleeping when it was hot outside, pre AC. Girls would bring in cots and open up the windows. Double sunrooms used to be a lot less expensive than a regular double, but now I see they are only $200 cheaper! Interesting.
I was looking at the pricing and wondered why a sunroom would be cheaper. I was thinking the extra windows would be preferable. But then I noticed there is no sink in the room. I see that they are already accepting applications for the 2023-2024 school year! My 7th grader needs 2025-2026!