<p>As for the differences between the sections of Forbes--Main Inn is generally considered the nicest, because you have the nice brick, colonial look to it, you have private bathrooms, the rooms are mostly all doubles, and you're generally close to everything--dining hall, laundry, auditorium, etc. New Wing is usually what goes first in the Room Draw (that's where I am next year--255), because the rooms are incredibly large compared to the rest of Forbes. New Wing is more similar to the Main Inn than the Addition, but the New Wing was built in the 60s/70s, so it has somewhat less 'character', some would say, then the Main Inn--i.e., you don't have the nice wooden doors on each room, you have this red painted thing, etc. But New Wing is (almost) all doubles, carpeted, private bathrooms. I'm not too familiar with the Addition/Annex, as a sub-free Main Inn-er you won't venture over there much, unless you have some friends there. I do know that the rooms are generally smaller, darker, a bit more cramped, and you have hallway bathrooms, not private ones. Also, the architecture is 60s/70s, kind of like Butler, not the nice colonial style of Forbes.</p>
<p>Thanks Voovi! Fantastic information.</p>
<p>Damn! I didn't get subfree even though I put that as #1. How big is the subfree section of Forbes?</p>
<p>The sub free section of Forbes is 6 doubles on the second floor of the Main Inn, and then the whole 2nd floor of the New Wing (Maybe 20 rooms, all doubles).</p>
<p>bubble372, i also put subfree as my #1 choice. i think it is too bad that they can't give sub free housing to anyone who wants it.</p>
<p>There is a general mistake all around: the substance free sections are not rigid, they are set-up in relation to the demand of the new students....</p>
<p>i hope that is true, watsontill; i was under the impression that there was no way i was in subfree since i was not assigned to the particular rooms on the second floor of the main inn or new wing. i am in the first floor of the addition. did they make that subfree as well? i sure hope so.</p>
<p>Official document:</p>
<p>"The aim of "free" housing is to create a social environment where the peer atmosphere discourages irresponsible use of alcohol. It is especially important to provide this option to freshmen, because they are torn between two extremes of alcohol use."</p>
<p>also:</p>
<p>"The Residential Colleges should commit themselves to providing substance-free and facilities-free housing to all undergraduates who commit themselves to the conditions of such an environment."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlzH3Dmm14Y%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlzH3Dmm14Y</a></p>
<p>Actually, that's not true, they always set aside a certain number of rooms for sub-free and that never changes. They have to do that for Room Draw for sophomores, because they can only let sophomores have a certain number of the sub-free rooms because they have to save some for freshman. So, the sub-free rooms have been locked into place since spring, regardless of freshman interest.</p>
<p>Yeah. There are definitely people who are not in sub-free who asked for it (and some who are who didn't, which baffles me). In any case, it's a good exercise in negotiating with your roommate(s) about what you would like your room environment to be like. It's not that big of a deal usually as long as everyone makes it clear what their preferences are. When you first show up at school, you find that everyone's really amicable and wants to compromise. It's later in the year when the problems start ;)</p>
<p>I didn't know that they are going to tear down Forbes addition in the next decade. Also, new arts neighborhood going up with the donation of Lewis' 101 million dollar gift for the arts. apparently, they are also going to build a new retail area there as well. i also read in the Daily Princetonian which came today (Welcome class of 2010) that they are going to renovate the dining hall and lobby and lounge areas of Forbes beginning in summer 2007. Hopefully, for me this means that i will get a good lottery time for sophomore year just for living in the addition for one year!! "Yes, anne, forbes certainly has its selling points, including the golf course setting and view and of course the close proximity to the 'wa. but while rooms in the main inn are as nice as any on campus for underclassmen, the other half of the rooms leave much to be desired. new wing rooms, despite carpeting and bathrooms, are highly overrated. the doors are shoddy, the lighting is lousy, and, well, a one-room double is still a one-room double, however large it is. and i needn't say much about the annex and addition, with their cinderblock walls and scrubby courtyard. then, of course, for all rooms in forbes, there is the relative isolation. but i expect things to improve greatly in the next decade or so, when the annex/addition is torn down, the new wing is renovated, and a <em>new</em> new wing is added along the golf course (see attached .pdf on this point). also, development of the new "arts neighborhood" with new academic and retail facilities will improve the university place crossing and better integrate forbes with the rest of the campus. in short, the future is bright for the inn."</p>
<p>Sorry to say, but room draw times are completely, completely random, they don't take into account at all where you lived freshman year. Just curious though, who told you about all those future plans for Forbes? I definitely have not heard even the slightest rumors about any of those plans... It seems like whoever it is has somewhat of a unique perspective, since most Forbesians (and Princetonians, for that matter), as far as I can tell, are pretty bummed and disappointed about this new arts complex because it means knocking down the Wa, which is a huge lifeline for Forbesians and almost everyone on campus.</p>
<p>voov, those are my words, quoted by mel from the following:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=217526%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=217526</a> (post #8)</p>
<p>the statements about forbes's future are not definite plans, but rather "informed projections" on my part. note my words, "i expect ... next decade or so." my basis for each is as follows:</p>
<p>1) that the annex/addition will be torn down. based largely on this quote by former vice president and secretary thomas wright, in the daily princetonian, and quoted already in post #4 here:</p>
<p>"Wright said that to create more residential space, 'someday we will probably pull down the so-called Forbes Annex,' because it is 'not particularly architecturally significant.'" </p>
<p>i expect this "someday" to come sooner rather than later, based on imminent renovations to other parts of forbes (post #32) and the high priority currently assigned to college reorganization.</p>
<p>2) that the new wing will be renovated. this is simply inevitable. <em>all</em> of princeton's dorms are supposed to be renovated within the thirty-year period begun in 1998 by the overhaul of patton hall. so sometime in the next 22 years, it will be the new wing's turn. again, though, i expect its turn to come in the first half of that period, for the reasons previously stated in part two. </p>
<p>3) that a <em>new</em> new wing will be added along the golf course. mel left off the link i provided in my original post to this document:</p>
<p>note that a <em>new</em> new wing is already drawn in north of the main inn and running along the golf course behind the pink house. this apparently has been in the works for some time, since this .pdf doesn't even have the outlines of the new butler buildings yet.</p>
<p>finally, my "unique perspective" is simply that of another princetonian. i certainly don't want the 'wa knocked down, but i trust it will be either preserved or replaced in the development of the arts complex. i'd hate to see the reaction otherwise.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks, just curious!</p>
<p>A double at Forbes Addition (composition):</p>
<p>[URL=<a href="http://imageshack.us%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img115.imageshack.us/img115/9813/12lo3.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL">http://imageshack.us]
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/9813/12lo3.jpg
[/URL</a>]</p>
<p>Do you mean that room is in the new wing or possibly the annex? It does not look like the room I peeked in the window of last week in the addition (A178) on the first floor of the addition. It looked exactly like the room someone posted already (A371) -
<a href="http://barillari.org/photos/forbes1-gal/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://barillari.org/photos/forbes1-gal/index.html</a>
The room had 2 armoire type wardrobe closets (very tall) side by side. It also had 2 desks with bookcases on top like the kind you see in the picture of A371 (A371 does not show the bookcase on top of the desk). There were no beds in Room A178!! In any case, that is all the furniture you get and there are no closets. The room had an ugly dark grayish outdoor type carpet with red tinges of color to match the ugly red doors. The windows were exactly as pictured in A371 except they are off to one side or the other rather than centered. In general, the room was small.
Thus, I have to believe the room you have put up must be either in the New Wing or the Annex unless it is upstairs in the addition which seems unlikely since the other room pictured was A371 which is definitely upstairs in the addition.</p>
<p>I've heard that it's almost essential for residents of Forbes to have a bicycle, and that Kopps is the place to buy one, about $200 a pop. Any Forbes veterans have a contrary view?</p>
<p>Hmmm... how about a photo from the Main Inn?</p>
<p>I think having a bike is really a personal preference in terms of how much you're bothered by having to walk. I'd say it was maybe about half and half in terms of who had one. You really don't need one--in getting to class, Forbes is sometimes closer to academic buildings (Icahn, Fine) then Rocky and Mathey are. Plus, there are many stairways and arches and things around the Princeton campus that aren't too bike-friendly. Also, you won't be able to use a bike at all from November to February, when there's snow on the ground. Additionally, what makes walking through the Princeton campus so pleasant is that you walk and talk with a friend at the same time, something not really possible when you're whizzing by on a bike. Even my friends who did have bikes often didn't use them for weeks or months on end, maybe the few times they had forgot to set an alarm or wanted to get across campus to drop something off really quickly. So in terms of shelling out 200 bucks for a bike, I wouldn't do it unless you really, really need to.</p>