<p>Anybody lived in one? Seems like they're pretty much terrible. I'm starting my sophomore year and just moved in to one in Webster today and it seems small, lonely, and isolated. Yeah, it's probably my own fault for not finding a roommate last year, but I also got a horrible lottery draw and ended up placed here on open assignment. </p>
<p>So is there any hope for a social life from here? I'm probably going to try to get on the room change waitlist depending on how my roommate is, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience with this.</p>
<p>The people I know living in Webster absolutely love it. It offers you the freedom to branch out and live your own way without an RA breathing down your neck, and is a little more representative of “real” life with a landlord. However, you’re still living in a building inhabited by CMU students, so it’s definitely possible to branch out and hang with them. Give it at least a month - you might grow to love it. :)</p>
<p>To be honest, living in Fairfax it seems like there are two types of people who move into the off-campus apartments: people wanting to live like adults/live with their buddies in a group, and people who absolutely couldn’t find a roommate/are loner types. </p>
<p>I’m not saying you’re the latter, but if you -are- someone who generally has trouble connecting with people, then keep in mind that the apartments aren’t going to be a good place for you, and you may become extremely isolated or unhappy. I have known friends and students who became this way after living in the apartments because they were unable to ‘connect’ with campus on their own. You should join some clubs or transfer to a more on-campus location like Morewood where an RA will help foster floor relations. </p>
<p>Even if you are not a loner type, remember that the sort of people who are still doing random housing sophomore year usually tend to be that type of person. (There are exceptions of course - but in my experience, that’s usually the case.) Unfortunately random housing is a difficult pit to get out of, because even if you do a room swap it’s usually the case that the first roommate swapped out because his/her roommate (the one you’d be living with) was weird or hard to live with. My recommendation is that you keep in touch with friends who are living in suites or larger housing accomodations, such as houses on Beeler or block housing in Fairfax, and then allow one of them to pull you in if a vacancy becomes available.</p>
<p>If you are an outgoing person who just didn’t find a roommate for whatever reason, remember that after freshman year regardless of where you are most people living around you aren’t going to really want to meet new people. You will have to reach out and make the effort-- it’s tough, but definitely manageable.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I guess I didn’t really worry too much about making friends for the purpose of living arrangements the next year. I had a lot of pleasant acquaintances who I didn’t or couldn’t get close enough to to room with. My fault I guess. What you say about non-freshmen “not really wanting to meet anybody else” seems a little scary haha. </p>
<p>But it sounds like Webster can certainly work out. Either I will make it work or seek a change.</p>
<p>Haha, that came off a little more strict than I meant it. It’s not that people are opposed to meeting new friends after freshman year - just that they will have formed their social circles and won’t actively be looking to hang out with new people. </p>
<p>However, I haven’t met many people at CMU who were really absolutely set against meeting new kids and hanging out with them. (the ones that -really- are against meeting new people are kids you should probably stay away from anyways, because… uh… they have issues. I’ve only known a couple like this though.) The majority of people are just shy; if you say hi to them or come by their room to talk for a bit, most will open up pretty quickly.</p>