Dorms

<p>Hi all - I'm not sure how much say DS will get in his freshman dorm assignment, but does anyone have any advice?</p>

<p>I have heard that many of the freshman are assigned to triples, yucch. I guess the kids deal with it as best as they can and move to doubles in their soph year. :(</p>

<p>My daughter (just finished her junior year) was just assigned a dorm room. WPI had a good “yield” her freshman year with more women than ever before. She was assigned to a triple. It was tight but manageable. I believe the women were more likely to assigned a triple as they weren’t as short on dorm space for the men.</p>

<p>WPI has (or is just about to) finish some additional dorm space so they may make the triples back into doubles. They sent out info trying to encourage students to stay or move back on campus.</p>

<p>My daughter and two of her friends got an apartment together their sophomore year. They just signed the lease for their senior year in the same apartment. It is about 10 minutes walk off campus. They enjoy living there. The neighborhood is OK; not great but not bad either (as is most of the area around WPI). A lot of students live in their immediate vicinity. There is a shuttle that provides a “safe ride” home if she is going back to her apartment later and by herself.</p>

<p>Triples are pretty common for freshmen, but the dorms get much better after that! It will be interesting to see if they modify any of the existing dorms to change triples to doubles. But I haven’t heard anyone say they are going to do that. You could ask them…</p>

<p>I didn’t (and wouldn’t expect to) get any info that they were changing triples to doubles. However, it was my understanding that the triple (Morgan Hall) my daughter was in was originally a spacious double. Combine that with the literature we have received trying to encourage students to stay or move back onto campus and it seems like WPI may have surplus housing for the next few years. Just an observation not any real facts. If so, I would think the first thing WPI would do would be to convert those triples back to doubles.</p>

<p>My daughter just finished her freshman year in a triple in Morgan. Not ideal living space for 3 young women, but they made it work. Most freshmen are placed in Morgan, Daniels, or Riley - all of which house only freshmen. Morgan and Daniels are all triples whereas Riley has triples, doubles, and some large quads (the school website says it has some singles too). All of these dorms are pretty popular with freshmen because they are right on the quad an convenient to just about everything. Some Freshmen also live in Institute Hall and Stoddard. I believe that both of these dorms have students from different classes as opposed to all freshmen. They are a little further away, but at WPI nothing is really all that far.</p>

<p>Unless the room selection form has changed, it is very general and asks just a couple of questions about your habits and whether you would prefer to live on a co-ed floor or a single sex floor. Last year there was no place to list your choice of dorm or room size. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, I have no real advice other than to go with the flow and know that none of the dorms are all that spectacular or all that terrible. Pretty typical fare for freshman housing. Better than some schools and not as nice as others. My D had a fabulous freshman year and can’t wait to go back. Best of luck to your son!</p>

<p>I know that there are many issues influencing dorm space. One is that WPI has been consistently overenrolled for maybe 5 or 6 years now (even after they adjusted the admissions down!). </p>

<p>I think the new upperclassman dorm they are finishing (or have finished) will alleviate some tightness, but I could see them not converting the triples back - although, I wish they would because I also think that they are unreasonably tight. </p>

<p>It’s good to know that the dorm form my son filled out is the right one (and the only one). I think he thought one would be emailed to him, but it was on the web. It’ll be an adventure and it’s not forever!! He’ll have three highschool friends over at NEU. They might have more space. hah.</p>

<p>We’re excited and looking forward to the fall (except of course I’ll miss the little bugger.)</p>

<p>If his friends at Northeastern are in the honors college, then they definitely will have more space!! But honestly, despite space issues, my daughter couldn’t have picked a school that was a better fit for her. </p>

<p>I do think that WPI is making progress toward trying to encourage more students to stay on campus. The new dorms for upperclassmen are reportedly very nice. I haven’t heard anything one way or the other, but I don’t foresee the freshmen triples becoming doubles any time soon.</p>

<p>My son will be living in the new dorm, Faraday Hall, this fall. It sounds like it will be really nice. Will let you know when he moves in. It is still under construction but they are moving along very quickly!</p>