Good morning! My S19 will be attending UT in the fall and was just offered a housing contract which is due later this week. We have been looking at dorm options online - both the on campus and off campus. Apologies in advance for the long list of questions. We are totally inexperienced with this, so would be grateful for any input I can get from this group.
On Campus: He likes the idea of being close to classes and being able to eat anywhere on campus using the meal plan. He qualifies for Honors housing on campus, but does anyone know if those dorms are usually oversubscribed/hard to get into? Do you preference just for Honors quad and then are assigned a dorm? or can you pref for example Andrews, Blanton, Carrothers etc as individual ranked choices? If selecting for honors dorms, is it advisable to also make some non-honors selections as well, and if so which would anyone with experience recommend?
For non-honors, he seems most interested in Jester as he is very social and he also likes that it has multiple food options in the building, and is close to the Gregory Gym/Rec Sports. This is likely to be a bit further away from his classes.
In the on-campus dorms, if you are in a room with an attached bath, does the housekeeping staff clean it or is that the students’ responsibility? I would like him to know going in what is expected.
Off Campus: He likes the certainty of knowing where he’ll live rather than ranking choices and being assigned, also most of these dorms seem to have a gym in the building which he would enjoy. He is concerned though that if his class schedule requires him to be on campus all day, it will be a pain to trek back to the off campus dorm to eat lunch. For me, I think that the upside AND the downside of these dorms is that he will already know a lot of the kids from school, camp, etc. Sometimes that can be good, because they intro you to their friends and vice versa, but can also be limiting to go in with a built in friend group.
I would love to have your feedback on this. If there is anything else we should be consider in making this choice, please advise!
On Campus Housing: You’ll be able to make your 5 selections and select ‘exactly’ which dorms. If you know of someone else going that you wish to room wish you can also select them as a roommate (both must select each other) otherwise you can use the roommate finder option. Honors dorms are in general smaller and many of the students quieter (my daughter said she couldn’t remember any social activities). It’s really more if you have a student who likes that and also wants that location. We are opting for Jester West as our first choice as my son is more social and I know he’ll wish to be near Gregory gym/pool.
If you are in a room with a shared bath - it is the students responsibility to clean and supply their own bathroom. So you (and your group) supply toilet paper, cleaning materials, curtain, etc.
I’m also a huge fan of off-campus but I’d like my son to get to know a bunch of people first prior to selecting who he wishes to spend the next few years rooming with. That’s why we are opting for 1st year on campus. Plus I want him to decide whether he will want west of campus or north of campus as his selection and whats important to him. There are so so many different places off-campus from resort like, to one’s with bad reviews, to apartments, to condos, to free parking or no parking or $$ parking - you have to select carefully and review places online (prices range from $750/month - $1400/month when sharing a place). It’s a big task. If you go that route - UT might offer a meal plan for those who live off-campus and wish to eat on-campus. I know they did this last year. So you have options. Just do a very thorough job reading yelp reviews from students online. Off-campus can be done cheaply or as expensive as you wish.
Answering the off campus part- Off campus dorms and most apartments offer roommate matching so you can go potluck on roommates. For a freshman, I’d go with the dorms because of the meal plans they offer. Some of them are heavy on the Greek population so you can feel a bit left out in that regard. Callaway and Castilian offer the option of signing up for a sack lunch to take to campus with you and ordering a late tray if you miss dinner.
For Honors Dorms, unless it recently changed, you pick Honors Quad. You can’t pick between Carothers, Blanton and Andrews. My LHS got Carothers his first two years. Not sure if it was because he early with his Housing application or not. He on West campus now, and on the commuter meal plan so he eats on campus.
Last year there was a separate day for eligible students to choose the honors dorm rooms. All students (freshmen and returning) were given the same time slot to choose and I know that Carothers/Andrews filled up extremely quickly, as in minutes. My LHS will be living off campus next year.
As a freshman living on campus, I think living on campus the firs year of college is the best choice. Like you said, the fact that you are on campus is a huge benefit- you are relatively close to everything and dont need to worry about doing everything for yourself. Its a much better transition. After the first year, your son should have a really good idea where he wants to live next year and who he wants to live with. Living on campus the first year will allow him to physically visit apartments, such as when visiting someone and will give him a much better idea where to live. Trust me, the pictures online are NOT the same as when you walk in to the building in person.