My D17 was just admitted to UF. Go Gators!
Does anyone know what hall would be more desirable for freshmen?
Also, any buildings or halls in better conditions than others? She is ok with a single or double dorm.
I’d appreciate any info!
Depends on what she wants to be close to, and if she is okay with traditional hall/community bathrooms, or would prefer suite-style.
A lot of freshmen seem to love broward because of the social aspect but it fills up pretty quickly. I am in cypress and love it and have met my best friends on my floor but it isnt too social. I reccomend being on the east side of campus especially if your daughter is rushing.
@Trisherella @20177588 Thank you very much for your comments. She’d love to have a single bedroom and not a floor bathroom. How hard is for a freshman to get a single dorm?
My son Will be in Hume. How hard is it to get a single room there. He’s an odd duck and probably needs a single.
Out of Broward, Rawlings, and Jennings, which dorm is considered the best freshman dorm?
any thoughts or input on the Fitness/Health living learning community/ Lakeside dorm for a Freshman? My D would be majoring in Nutritional sciences, is Lakeside close to where those classes would be? Is it close to the cafeterias? Any input would be welcome!
Do freshman get to have a wish list for dorms?
@delaneymc
My son is a junior at UF and lived in Rawlings his first year. Although the location is great, he was sick the entire first year as were quite a few students that lived there ( parents in the Facebook group complained frequently about these dorms. Constant cough. It is old and seems to have ventilation/ mildew or mold issues. I have heard the same issues exist at Broward. The second year my son lived in Murphree and had a much better experience. These dorms are historic looking and he got a much larger room with his roommate. It was shared hall bathrooms, but that worked okay for him. These dorms are more separated than Rawlings though and don’t have that hall feel. They are more like 4 story houses ( don’t look like this from the outside) with 4-5 rooms on each level. The rooms are singles, double, and triples I believe. The larger room with neat historic features was great. He also had a cough off and on that year. This year he lives in an older home close to campus that is well maintained and has had no health issues whatsoever. The newer dorms and Hume do not seem to have these issues with the air. The ones I hear complained about with air issues are Broward, Jennings, and Rawlings. By the way my son had no known breathing or allergy issues before living in Rawlings, nor did he have a history of being sick. I think he was sensitive to the air there. Just FYI based on one experience 
Oh, and as far as most popular I would say Broward out of those 3.
Lakeside is a bit far. You would need to either catch the bus (which does run regularly) or possibly bike or scooter to classes. Most students take the buses, you just have to figure out the schedule, and plan accordingly to leave early enough. The bus system is very good. Broward is very social and right next door to the dining hall. Rawlings is next to it, great location, bus stop right in front. Jennings is about 5 minute further of a walk to classes, it’s somewhat newer compared to Broward/Rawlings. All are hall/community style.
It would be difficult to get a single in Hume. (not even sure if they have them, but either way i wouldn’t count on it) However Hume DOES have a higher proportion of studious types and/or odd ducks, lol. So he may meet a few kindred souls there. Cypress is suite style, although fairly cramped. I think those rooms are shared though so she’d have at least one direct roommate and a total of 3 suite mates. (might want to double check me on that if she’s considering Cypress) The suite shares a bathroom among the four.
So do they actually get to pick their dorm?
@Trisharella thanks. I’m thinking a single might actually be NOT a great thing for a loner. It would allow him the ability to seclude himself, maybe a roommate will be more useful at dragging him out or if he hates him he’ll spend time out of room to get away from him. Lol
Freshman get to pick their dorm, but if their not in the first round to pick, they probably wont get broward, jennings, or even rawlings. They fill up very fast. As a freshman, I dont reccomend living in lakeside because it is very far and not very social. I also dont think the LLCs are very beneficial but maybe they can be.
When do you pick where you want to live?
It doesn’t seem to be easy to find pictures and basic dorm info like the last time it was renovated or if while traditional, might have sinks in room? The UF housing site wasn’t easy to get details and google searches can easily lead to outdated information about dorms without air conditioning. It seems more difficult to narrow down than FSU housing. Anyone find any good current websites that help describe rooms?
Can anyone speak to East Hall LLC? Son will be an Engineering student and curious about the details there. Not much on the website.
I attended UF from 1987-1991. Went back to see the dorms with my daughter this past Saturday. Unfortunately nothing has changed in over 30 years with respect to the dorms. Son at FSU was in a brand new dorm with bathrooms. UF dorms look like according to my daughter “abandoned insane asylums”. . Murphee area dorms are really pretty outside but not many floors or hallways to hang out. FYI-. East of SW 13th Street near Sorority Row are a lot of College Apt. Very close to campus and you get your own bathroom. They are behind the COllege of education and very easily walking distance to campus. However, Daughter and I feel that its best to get the dorm experience in spite of the community style bathrooms. My parents made us tour the USA in a motor home as a kid so I was used to community bathroom. Think of Orange is the New Black.(yeah fun). My sister lived in Graham area -its near the Reitz union and she loved it bc it felt lik a very like a big common community. I lived in Broward, best friend lived in Yullee hall next door. Again, Murphree is great bc its next to the football stadium and library and the restaurants on W University Avenue. Tolbert Area/East Hall? is right in the middle of the campus. UF is hot hot like Sahara Desert hot so walking is tough during warm times and everyone has a moped. Again, explore Apt. housing nearby bc it is very close and I felt they are all walking distance. I encourage everyone to try to get copy of Campus map. Call UF and have them send it to you!
Here is a PDF version of map https://campusmap.ufl.edu/#/index
How does the Summer B start work? When getting place in line and selecting dorm it’s for Fall/Spring. If happen to get one that is ALSO open in Summer B, do they put you there by default and don’t have to move?
I would also like to know how summer b dorms work. I assume all summer b students have to move after the six weeks.