Can someone please share your impressions of life in the freshman dorms at UAH? Is there a lot of partying, or does it tend to be more quiet? Is there a big difference in the atmosphere/students in the honors (FF) versus regular (CCRH) dorm? Any advice for a girl who is a little shy (until she gets to know people), has conservative values, and likes quite a bit of quietness? Does there tend to be an area of the dorms that would be more quiet? Is there an engineering community in both dorms? Do students get together for study groups much? How is the comfort level, Internet connection, and whatever else you would care to share? Any advice on what to bring that might not be on the usual lists? If there’s already a thread on this, please post the link. Thanks!
My daughter is just finishing her freshman year in FF. While not shy, she doesn’t party in the way we most often mean. She has made several friends and my sense is that life is pretty low key, and generally really happy with the dorm situation. She apparently studies quite a bit, based on both her grades and how much we had to work around her study schedule when we’ve visited her. They would make some midnight burger runs, but she doesn’t drink, nor do most of her friends.
She seems to do a fair number of both group projects and studying, but surely that’s up to the student. My sense of the honors students is that they are generally low key, bright, and both aware and appreciative of the environment at UAH. Living next to Frank Franz wouldn’t make much of a movie.
I’ve heard no complaints about bandwidth or anything other than a dryer that didn’t dry once. The dorms are, IMO, impressive. She’s mentioned how one of the dorms is pretty old (1991?) but still… she’s got a spot in one next year so it can’t be too bad, right?
To be candid, your student sounds like a couple of my daughter’s friends. Our experience isn’t comprehensive, and it may be there are things she’s not telling us, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. What I’m seeing is a serious student, generally with 2-4 friends around, most of whom are engineering or CS, all of whom are studying a lot, and getting really good grades.
Will know more when she’s home next week, but right now we couldn’t be happier for her choice of universities.
GeorgiaMom50: The first thing I would do is encoruage your daughter to take an interest in the Week of Welcome that UAH has and attend some of the events. She will have a chance to see what organizations and groups are on campus, and she just may find something to plug into. My son went the fraternity route and had a built-in group of friends. He also got involved in student government as well as volunteering.
As for the dorms, FF is newer and nicer, but it is a hike to classes and food. CCRH is older – my son lived there as a freshman. He liked that he was right next to the Cafe so he could grab something to eat before or after classes. I know there is an engineering group in CCRH, although my son is not an engineering major. As for partying, there was some, but he never complained about a noise issue.
Thanks, @momreads! D signed up for some clubs that she’s very interested in when we were at Admitted Students Day. She’s looking forward to having lots of people around who she can potentially relate well to. I just know she needs a lot of chill time and is used to a quiet home, and living in the dorms will be a huge transition. She is very glad that she’ll have a separate bedroom!
Thanks, @50N40W! D will be in CCRH. She would qualify for honors, but she just feels like the added pressure and stress are not something she needs, so she did not apply. Also, she already has several classes completed through dual enrollment and won’t want to repeat them for the sake of honors (English Comp). She’ll need to maintain a 3.0 to keep her Charger Excellence scholarship, anyway, and I’m sure that will take plenty of studying, since her major is Chemical Engineering.
We toured both FF and CCRH. Even though CCRH is the older dorm, it was still way up there compared to many college dorms we’ve seen!! It will be handy that it’s connected to the Charger Cafe, and a lot of her classes will be in the Shelby Center, which is fairly close to CCRH. The four-separate-bedroom suite situation is ideal! I guess I was just hoping that all the quieter, more serious students won’t be in FF and the partiers in CCRH!
Our overall impression of the atmosphere at UAH is that it is just the right fit. D has felt very comfortable there on our two visits so far. I’m glad that your daughter’s experience has been good!
Feel free to give me more feedback if you hear any! :0) I feel like having as much information as possible just helps us to be better prepared in our minds.