<p>Does Pierce usually fill up quickly?<br>
I'm applying a few other schools and if i get into one, or by way of some miracle more than one, i will have a tough choice to make that might take be a few weeks of April. </p>
<p>Besides S-H, do people usually one of their top two choices?</p>
<p>Pierce doesn't fill up very quickly. I've never heard of someone putting Pierce as their first choice and not getting it.</p>
<p>I would say that Snell-Hitchcock, Max, and BJ fill up the fastest, but then again I don't know for sure.</p>
<p>Pierce seems to only be above the Shoreland, which is what all the off the wait list people got my year.</p>
<p>i've heard that bj isn't as popular as it used to be, so it doesn't fill up so fast anymore.</p>
<p>My EA D chose Shoreland after overnights there and at BJ. She has zero regrets.</p>
<p>Does Max really fill up quickly? I assumed that it wouldn't due to its size. </p>
<p>Also, I have read Unalove's guide and found it extremely useful, but can anyone give me some pros and cons of Pierce and Max? They both seem to be social and fun, but i cant seem to make up my mind.</p>
<p>its between max and pierce for me too</p>
<p>BJ and Max P are my top two choices.</p>
<p>Max has nicer and larger rooms than Pierce, though some people say the building has a sterile feel. Pierce is closer to the gym and a block or so farther from the academic quads. Pierce has a dining hall in the building, but Max students eat at Bartlett, which is normally thought to have the best food. Pierce has a lot of first years and few upperclassmen, which you may see as a pro or a con. If you're planning on staying in housing more than a year, you may feel more comfortable in Max where there are quite a few second years as well as some third and forth years. Pierce has community bathrooms, but they're cleaned for you (in Max you clean your own). Pierce feels more like a typical college dorm with so-so food, small rooms, shared bathrooms, but lots of bonding and social interaction. Max students are very social as well, but they're more apt in my experience to go out (to the frats, often) to socialize, whereas Pierce students tend to stick in their houses. </p>
<p>BJ is much quieter than Max. I believe Unalove lives there, so she can give you more information.</p>
<p>Max is popular since it's social, on campus, new, and, uhm, colorful. It's also huge. So, I guess it fills up moderately quickly? Can I say that?</p>
<p>Are all transfers placed in the same residence? Is it difficult, socially, for transfers to assimilate with the rest of their graduating class?</p>
<p>Transfers are (usually) placed in Stony Island, I think. Stony is apartment-style and a little bit on its own (though it's right near venerable Hyde Park haunts like Istria, Powells, and the Pepperland).</p>
<p>As a transfer student, I think you're going to need a tad more initiative to meet people on campus, as every incoming first-year has their house and their housemates, something you won't have. My impression is that transfer students find a niche for themselves very quickly.</p>
<p>Campus is big enough that I'm always meeting new people and small enough that I see familiar faces ("Hey, didn't we meet at a party last weekend?"). As a transfer student, you won't have a big stamp on your forehead announcing that, you'll just be a new person to somebody else.</p>
<p>unalove, do students remain within their house for all four years?</p>
<p>Caillebotte, if you don't mind me answering, students normally do not stay within their hour all four years. </p>
<p>Most students end up moving off campus. In most dorms it is rare for fourth year students who are not RAs to still be in housing, though I do some of them. The exceptions are: students on almost full financial aid (since their housing is paid for), RAs, a few students who really, really love housing, and for some reason a large proportion of Snell-Hitchcock (who I'm guessing really, really love their housing). Many students move to an off-campus apartment after their first year, most others move off-campus after second year, and a few more more off campus after third year. Living in a Hyde Park apartment is usually much cheaper, and it also allows students to get off a meal plan and cook their own food. I think U of C students in general tend to be quite independent, and they like to move off campus and live on their own, away from RAs, RHs, first years (for fourth years, there is a pretty large gap in age and experience), housing rules, a meal plan, and whatever else. </p>
<p>Having said that, the majority of students remaining on campus remain in their house during those years. There are, of course, exceptions: RAs are not allowed to RA in the house they're originally from, some students get kicked out of their house for disciplinary issues and live in another house (this happens mid-year), some students leave for roommate issues (these switches are often mid-year), and some students switch houses to live with a friend in a different house. It's also super easy to stay in your house for the next year, and it's sort of difficult to switch houses--unless you're "pulled in" by your next-year's roommate who lives in that house, you need to enter a lottery to switch to a different house or dorm.</p>
<p>As a grace note to what corranged wrote, I'll add that a number of my daughter's friends who stayed on campus their second year moved from their original houses into The Shoreland, and my (her) impression was that it was fairly easy to do that. It's what she would have done if she hadn't found an apartment she liked and people to share it with. But, of course, The Shoreland will not exist as a dorm in 15 months.</p>
<p>Also, there seem to be a couple of dorms/houses that only hold non-first-years. The students in those dorms have to come from somewhere. One of them had a lot of transfer students this year (who complained about it here quite a bit), but that was apparently an anomaly caused by over-enrollment of first-years, not regular practice.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, Stony Island and Blackstone are normally only for upperclassmen, though this past year some first years were placed in Blackstone. They're not hugely popular. I can think of one or two students in those dorms, but that's it. They're both apartment-style, I believe, and a shuttle ride from campus. Most students choose to actually get an apartment in Hyde Park rather than pay more for U of C apartment-style housing. Transfers are also placed in these dorms, I think.</p>
<p>what would you (any of you) say is the best dorm for privacy but also a social life? (e.g. parties, meeting people)</p>
<p>Max P is a surprisingly good dorm for people who want to withdraw from time to time. You still have a roommate, but I think the way the suites are set up, you can feel like you're going home and staying there for a while.</p>
<p>Every time I've been to Max P, it seems like I meet a lot of people in its hallways, but at the same time, it's not super-noisy.</p>
<p>The dorms with singles, BJ, Broadview, Maclean, Snell, Breck, might be worth checking out... they might be a little too withdrawn. My friend in BJ complains that BJ doesn't have the party life of Shoreland, a dorm he considers ideal for meeting people and socializing.</p>
<p>bumping this thread. So which dorms are best for partying and socializing. From what I've gathered, Shoreland is best? What are good 2nd choices</p>
<p>question: does max fill up quickly? i havent enrolled yet and i would really like to be there</p>