<p>Maybe this needs to be its own thread? What a residential dorm, exactly? All I know is that you have to apply to be in one. What are the different themes? What are the advantages/disadvantages over being in a regular dorm?</p>
<p>How are the dorms anyway? Are they clean or disgusting?</p>
<p>You can probably find this info in one of the bazillion housing threads from years of yore, but the different residential colleges are:</p>
<p>Willard ("multithematic" [no theme], largest of the RC's)
Shepard (multithematic, like a smaller Willard, many music majors)
Chapin (humanities)
Jones (theatre/arts)
Slivka (engineering)
Ayers College of Commerce & Industry (econ/etc.)
East Fairchild/CRC (communications/journalism)
West Fairchild/ISRC (int'l studies)
PARC (public affairs/poli sci)</p>
<p>the other dorms are:
Allison (largest south dorm along with Willard)
North/South Mid-Quads
1835 Hinman (suite style)
Bobb-McCulloch (biggest north dorm)
Foster-Walker Complex ("Plex", singles, not open to freshmen)
Sargent
Elder (all freshmen)
600 Lincoln (smaller all-freshmen dorm)</p>
<p>let me know if I missed any, other NUers.</p>
<p>Can anyone provide insight on the difference between a dorm and a residential house?</p>
<p>You need to fill out a small extended app for a res college, with some short essays. Res colleges often have themes and are considered "living/learning communities" (not really though). They have reps for being more community-oriented and tighter than dorms (sometimes true). </p>
<p>The biggest difference is in res colleges you earn points for doing things, like hosting/attending firesides, doing recycling, sending in pictures, hosting munchies, raising money for DM, etc. At the end of the year, the most points gets first pick for housing in that res college for next year. (If you live in a dorm, you are subject to the housing lottery which gives you a random number to determine when you get to pick your room.) So if you know you are living in the res college for 2 years, you can earn a lot of points and secure yourself a nice room.</p>