<p>I'm considering Duke and didn't have a good chance to see any dorms when I visited so I was wondering if anyone could post pictures of any dorms or give any information. (cable, singles/doubles, commons, etc.) Thanks!</p>
<p>The Duke dorm rooms vary sooo much, so it's hard to give you an accurate idea of "dorms" at Duke.</p>
<p>As far as freshman dorms go, there are 14. Each dorm has certain pros and cons of living there, but you don't get to choose so that doesn't matter.</p>
<p>All sophomores live on west on one of 7 quads. Juniors can live on west or on central campus apartments. Seniors can live on west, central, or off campus.</p>
<p>If you want to see pictures of dorm rooms, go here:</p>
<p>Residence</a> Life and Housing Services :: :: Communities</p>
<p>and click on the links under east campus or upperclass quads.</p>
<p>Well, let me tell you a little about my personal experience with dorm rooms.</p>
<p>Freshman year you don't get to pick a dorm. You can do focus/if you're an athlete you're in a specific dorm/if you pick sub-free or performance housing and get assigned to a specific dorm, but for the most part you get randomly assigned a dorm. Your roommate is also randomly assigned based on a short questionaire, or you can pick a roommate. I find all this works REALLY WELL! I lived in Jarvis (Aycock is across the quad, exactly the same). The rooms were huge, and very homey! Regular walls (no cinderblock!), hardwood floors, walk-in closets. Personally, we could have fit a full-size sofa in our room, and had 2 giant walk-in closets! It was incredible! Other rooms were maybe a bit smaller, but most were very similar! All of my best friends came from that dorm, and really it was just a giant house. I LOVED it. Unfortunately, it wasn't air-conditioned, but if you have a medical condition you can request a unit, OR just hang out in the air-conditioned common room!</p>
<p>The main quad dorms are similar...rooms definitely vary, but all non-AC. Wilson is suite style, so you'll be sharing a bathroom with 3 people instead of a hall-style setup. In general, each dorm has its own personality, and everyone ends up loving theirs! The backyard dorms (GA, Southgate, Randolph, Blackwell, Bell Tower) all have AC, with the exception of Southgate and GA. Southgate and GA, IMHO, are similar to the main quad dorms, while Randolph/Blackwell have AC and smaller rooms. Bell Tower is, many think, perfect. Normal size rooms, AC. Problem with the AC dorms is they're kind of set up for less interraction among students, which sucks, but you'll still of course get to know people...AND have AC.</p>
<p>Sophomore year everything is run on a lottery system so you pick the individual room you want. This is where it gets interesting bc no two rooms are alike. I don't want to go into detail because you'll learn what suits you and doesn't suit you quickly...you'll be able to find anything from AC dorms, close-to-frat dorms, sub-free housing, bay windows, dormers, tower dorms. Really really wonder. Plus, with the exception of the WEL and Edens, you look out your window and live in a castle!</p>
<p>Junior year you can move to central campus...Apt. style, and senior year you can go off campus.</p>
<p>I don't have much more to add other than to share loveduke22's sentiments about Jarvis. Jarvis is AWESOME!! I currently live there and his description is dead-on! If you get assigned to The Jarv, you definitely lucked out!</p>
<p>I can also add something about cable/phone services. Here's a helpful link to explain all of Duke OIT (Office of Information Technology) services for dorm rooms:</p>
<p>In addition to what the last 2 posters said, in my opinion the main quad dorms are the best. </p>
<p>You're on the main quad (obviously) so you feel like you're truly in the middle of campus, with the Marketplace and Lilly right there. </p>
<p>Plus, the non-AC works to your advantage because the first couple weeks of class, when everyone's terrified and no one knows anyone, everyone tends to go to the common room (only part of the dorm with AC) and so when like 3/4 of the dorm congregates in the common room, you're bound to make friends. These friendships soon become really strong and usually this will be your group of closest friends for the rest of Duke. Also, after the first couple of weeks, the AC becomes entirely unnecessary as the weather cools down (and so the 3 AC-ed dorms lose their advantage). </p>
<p>Southgate and GA are just so big that you really don't get to know everyone in your dorm (whereas the main quad dorms + Epworth are much smaller - especially Epworth! and so you get to know more or less everyone). </p>
<p>The rooms on the main quad dorms are usually much, much bigger and better than the Randolph/Blackwell rooms (so it comes down to benefit of AC for 2 weeks vs. benefit of a big room for the entire year) and I personally don't like Belltower much. Yeah, gigantic rooms and AC, but you're honestly closer to Whole Foods (the supermarket across the street) than you are to the main quad. Also, from what I've seen people don't interact much other than within their little hallway due to the automatically-closing hallway doors. Numerous people from Belltower have told me that they have no idea who lives 2 floors above them while we main-quad kids literally know nearly every person on every floor - it truly does have a community-feel.</p>
<p>So yeah, biased I might be (I lived on the main quad freshman year and LOVED it), but I would say main quad dorms are the best, definitely. And then you get to sophomore year, you go to the crazy-crowded quads, and you lose about 70% of that community-feel =(</p>
<p>I blocked with 9 other guys sophomore year. Great community-feel :)</p>
<p>How is living in NC with NO AC!!!
im not a fan of heat, but i assumed with all that tution money Duke would have some ac!!</p>
<p>it isn't too bad. the first couple weeks suck, but the common room has ac so it's just at night that you feel it. after that it cools down. i was on the top floor of a non-ac dorm and it was bearable.</p>
<p>if you want a visual, go to you tube and type in "theU.com, Duke, shelter". It gives a video tour of the dorms.</p>
<p>Also, this year there is wireless internet access in the East Campus Dorms.</p>