First Year Dorms

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>Since this comes up a lot, I've cut & paste my response from another thread and put it here. So, here's a description of your first-year dorm options:</p>

<p>Alderman (New) Dorms are first-year only dorms. They're set up in suites w/ 5 bedrooms connected by a common living room. You'll have to share your room w/ a roommate. Suites are divided by gender. If you're a guy, all your suitemates will be guys. The rooms are larger than McCormick Dorm rooms. Most first-years live in either Alderman or McCormick. </p>

<p>McCormick (Old) Dorms are also first-year only dorms, and they're set up w/ bedrooms connected by a common hallway. Usually, the bottom 2 floors are all male and the top 2 floors are all female. McCormick is closer to your classes than Alderman, and you will have a roommate.</p>

<p>Hereford College is the furthest from your classes. It's a residential college, so your dorm will have upperclassman too, not just first-year students, but your roommate will be a first-year. There are doubles and singles, so you might get lucky and have your own room, but the rooms are smaller than at other dorms. A good thing about Hereford is the residents plan a lot of really cool activities. </p>

<p>Brown College is the closest to classes you can get (except if you're in the Engineering School. The closest for E-Schoolers is McCormick). Like Hereford, Brown is a residential college, so your "portals" (that's what Brown College dorms are called) will have upperclassman too. The cool thing about Brown is that you and your roommate (who will also be a first-year) will get 2 adjoining rooms where you can either use one room as the bedroom and the other room as a living room, or you can each have your own bedroom. If you use this last option, keep in mind that since the rooms are adjoining, one of you will have to go through the other's room to get to the bathroom, and one of you will have to go through the other's room to leave. The rooms are a nice size, and one of the rooms has a fireplace though you can't light up logs in it for safety reasons.
The International Residential College (IRC) has a 60% international student ratio while the remaining 40% is comprised of Americans. This residential college will give you immediate experiences with first-years and upperclassman from around the world. The residents plan a lot of international events. The rooms, which are a decent size, are joined by common hallways similar to McCormick Dorms, and you will have a first-year roommate.</p>

2

<p>do you get to pick your room mate?</p>

<p>and do dorms depend on what college you are enrolled? thank you for these description, btw. :D</p>

3

<p>You can pick your roommate if you know of someone that you definitely want to live with. My friend Gabe lived with his best friend from high school during his first year. If you have any questions, click on this link. It has contact info. for the UVa Housing Office:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/housing/aboutus/contact/accommodations.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/housing/aboutus/contact/accommodations.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Regarding where you live, UVa makes an effort to assign you to the dormitory area you requested unless too many other students have also requested that area. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but you might have to fill out a separate application if you want to live in residential colleges like Brown College. To be sure, contact the Housing Office if you want to live at Brown or the other colleges.</p>

<p>BTW, to live in the residential colleges, the foreign language houses, and Mosaic House for your 2nd, 3rd and 4th years, you have to apply to get in and fill out essays (...just when you thought you were done w/ writing admissions essays.) FYI, Brown College tends to attract the creative, artsy crowd. (All hail Smith portal! Down w/ Gildersleeve!) </p>

<p>The foreign language houses (Spanish, French, Russian, German, and the Asian Languages House) require that you speak their respective languages on the premises. Each house plans a plethora of fun, cultural events and activities. BTW, La Casa Bolivar (Spanish House), another place I used to call home, was named after UVa's first Hispanic student in 1826: Fernando Bolivar who was the son of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator of South America.</p>

<p>The Mosaic House (a.k.a. MoHo) is a multi-cultural residence, and its mission is to create a cross-cultural living environment composed of people of various religions, political and economic backgrounds, geographic locations, sexual orientations, races and genders.
<a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=21687&pid=1229%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=21687&pid=1229&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>Something else I forgot to mention is that after your first year, there is a multitude of living options beyond what I've mentioned above. Many upperclassmen live in University-owned apartments like Lambeth and Copeley. Many also live off-grounds renting apartments or houses, or they live at a fraternity or sorority house.</p>

5

<p>i'll make sure to steer clear of the mosaic house. :p</p>

<p>are there masonic areas at all? as in, freemasons.</p>

<p>i am worried about getting a room mate that does weird stuff.</p>

6

<p>I don't think there are any Masonic things on Grounds. I</p>

<p>f you don't like your living situation, you can ask to have your roommate changed or you can move to a different room at the end of each semester.</p>

7

<p>In assigning dorms, are ED students given priority choice over RD?</p>

8

<p>i was hoping to meet some freemasons at UVa...</p>

<p>no illuminati type stuff like at the ivies?</p>

9

<p>Everyone is in the same boat.</p>

10

<p>To live in Brown College your first year or later years, you need to fill out an application form. It's available at their website here: <a href="http://www.brown-college.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brown-college.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>As far as I know (I'm a first-year, so I'm not an expert on the subject, but still) there are no freemason groups/Illuminati type stuff, although we do have several secret societies.</p>

<p>Early decision students are not given priority over regular decision students, at least officially. Some people have noted some interesting coincidences; for example, in one suite of the farthest away of the Alderman dorms, seven of the ten members had initially been wait-listed. The only first-years who are given priority in choosing their dorm are recruited athletes.</p>

<p>All dorms are comprised of students from each of the schools.</p>

<p>Something to consider when choosing between Alderman and McCormick: for whatever reason, McCormick tends to attract the more sorority-fraternity-preppy type kids. The majority of McCormick kids pledge, but only about a quarter of Alderman students do. Also, general knowledge holds that those who live in suite-style dorms get really close to a small group, whereas students in McCormick know a larger number of people but not as well.</p>

<p>One final note on first-year housing: there are a handful of single rooms in McCormick. Additionally, two of the Alderman Road buildings, Woody and Cauthen, are done in hall-style like McCormick dorms. These buildings are newer and have air conditioning, which is a godsend during September and May.</p>

11

<p>"Additionally, two of the Alderman Road buildings, Woody and Cauthen, are done in hall-style like McCormick dorms. These buildings are newer and have air conditioning, which is a godsend during September and May."</p>

<p>Maybe I'm jealous, but a friend of mine who lives in Cauthen says the air conditioner doesn't work at times.</p>

12

<p>To protect its students from sub-standard housing, UVa is paying the City for a building inspector devoted to off-Grounds student housing.</p>

<p><a href="http://readthehook.com/stories/2005/02/03/newsSlumBustersUvaFundsCit.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://readthehook.com/stories/2005/02/03/newsSlumBustersUvaFundsCit.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

13

<p>so, the big question for me, how is the food?</p>

14

<p>Hmm, the food? It's okay. "you won't die I guess" is the best way to put it. There is a VA school heirarchy of worst food (w&m) to best (VT, darn hokies) and UVa is just somewhere in between. </p>

<p>There are three "eat as much as you want with one swipe" dining halls, Newcomb, Runk and O-hill (which many of us refer to as OHell) -- Newcomb tends to be the best though many people think Runk might be better. Newcomb and Ohill are closest to Central Grounds; Runk is out by Hereford and is a bit of a hike for just a meal. New O-Hill is supposed to open soon (maybe after Spring Break? But they promised it would be open by Fall break back in 04... so we'll see if it makes it). A lot of first years eat at O-Hill just because it's close to dorms (Alderman esp, and not far from McCormick) and it's open on the weekends while Newcomb is closed. </p>

<p>The food itself is okay. I think it's about average quality food, not bad not great. It does get a little repetitive. The dining staff is really nice but is getting pretty ingenius at finding ways to re-heat and re-use food. For example... Day 1: Chicken Filets, Day 2: Chicken Filet Sandwiches, Day 3: "Chicken Parmesan" (Chicken Filets with stewed tomatos), Day 4: "Country Fried Chicken" (Chicken Filets with Gravy) mmm. doesn't that sound appetizing? Best advice? Just eat it, you'll be hungry and somehow once you are in college and living on a small fixed budget, eating in a dining hall on the meal plan sounds better than paying for food off grounds. When you come for a tour of the school you could always eat at one of the dining halls, it's a good way to try it out. There's always a decent amount of choice about what to eat and you'll never starve. Plus there's always "Ice Milk" for dessert ::Yum!! So GOOD!::</p>

<p>There are three places to use "plus dollars" which are more like fast food places. The Pav (Below Newcomb) has a pizza place, a deli place, a "home cooking" place, sushi, and Chick-fil-a. Treehouse (which I think they have plans to raze soon) has a Pizza-hut and grill along with a little convenience store in the bottom. The Castle is in the bottom of Bonnycastle dorm in McCormick road dorms and has a grill and a pizza place. You can also use plus dollars to order Domino's Pizza for delivery to your dorm. </p>

<p>And then when the on-grounds options bore you, there's always the corner. Plently of little restuarants to eat all, all pretty good. The White Spot is the home of the "Gus Burger", a hamburger served with a nice fried egg. Jaberwoke is a big favorite. Little Johns is great for a late night food run. And there are many more. Charlottesville has the most restuarants per capita of any other city in the US so you'll always find something to eat. </p>

<p>Overall the food is edible, and better than a lot of schools (A friend from Harvard who visited thought O-Hill was wonderful compared to their place)</p>

<p>The meal plan is mandatory for freshman - this year it was $1500 a semester but you had options on how many meals versus plus dollars you wanted. Nearly everyone with unlimited meals switched their plan second semester. I had 15 first semester and never used them all so I dropped back to 13 meals a week now and still don't use them all. They don't carry over from week to week although unused plus dollars carry over to the next semester but not the next year. </p>

<p>Ack! I've gotten long winded, so I'll come to an end. </p>

<p>There's a lot of great things about UVa so most of use just kinda overlook the food since it's not horrible. </p>

<p>Oh, and about first year dorms, I think I heard the rumor from the housing office that they are trying to "dispel" the "Greek life" McCormick versus the more "diverse" Alderman and that next year you won't have the option of which housing set you want to live in. You'll just choose that you want to live in "First Year Dorms"</p>

<p>And ED and RD students are given the same status. Everyone sends in for housing in June together.</p>

15

<p>It seems that starting in 3 years, the "new" dorms will be the newest dorms again.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP/MGArticle/CDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781111868&path=&tacodalogin=no%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP/MGArticle/CDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781111868&path=&tacodalogin=no&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>Think hard and talk to people before choosing Hereford.</p>

17

<p>"It seems that starting in 3 years, the "new" dorms will be the newest dorms again."
Not really, the article said 12-15 years</p>

18

<p>Uh, read the 3rd paragraph of the article. The project won't be completed for another decade but...(quoting the article)</p>

<p>“From all that I have seen, I suspect we will see buildings ready within the next three years,” said Mark Doherty, UVa’s chief housing officer. Construction, he noted, must begin before the demolition of existing housing so students will have some place to live.</p>

19

<p>Other than the distance, is there any thing that's really bad at Hereford? Or is the distance bad enough?</p>

20

<p>The distance is a big negative. Also, you won't get the first year experience which is so important at UVa. The majority of first years live in old or new dorms-Hereford has a mix of mostly upperclassman and people who send their room deposits in late. It is an option for second years who want to live with a group of friends and stay in the dorms, since housing in old and new dorms is only for first years. The school will try to sell you on Hereford since no one wants to live there by telling you it has air conditioning-decide for yourself, but ask questions first.</p>