<p>Hi, anyone have any input on which dorms to request as a freshman male? Also, do you generally get what you've requested? Does school do good job of matching up people with similar interests as roommates?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not a student, but here’s the general consensus that I’ve gotten about the freshmen dorms. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>There’s the Freshmen Quad:
Norton
Lewis
Gund</p>
<p>There’s also McBride & Mather.</p>
<p>Norton & Lewis are single sex by hall (so one half of the first floor is all boys, and the other side is all girls). Gund is single sex by floor. McBride & Mather are random, so you can have the opposite sex living next door.</p>
<p>Gund:
Biggest rooms
3 Lounges
Laundry
5 foot divider in the room for privacy
Tile flooring
No control of AC
No kitchen</p>
<p>Lewis/Norton:
Slightly bigger than McBride/Mather
They’re pretty warm
Vending Machines
Lots of natural light
Awkward closet space
No laundry in dorm
Tile flooring
No control of AC
No kitchen
Lounge (Norton didn’t have one this year, but I believe they will next year)</p>
<p>McBride:
Biggest Freshmen hall
“most social”
Co-Ed
Carpeting
Control of AC
Awkward shaped rooms
Slightly smaller rooms
Laundry
Kitchen
Ceiling light
Close to Gund Commons
No quad</p>
<p>Mather:
Co-Ed
Carpeting
Control of AC
Awkward shaped rooms
Slightly smaller rooms
Laundry
Kitchen
Ceiling light
No quad
Sophomores</p>
<p>Corrections:
Norton and Lewis have linoleum flooring. Sorry, tile just sounds too nice.
Lewis and Norton actually probably have the biggest rooms followed by Gund then McBride and Mather. Mather and McBride are hit or miss on room size owing to a layout that makes no sense.
It’s not that there’s no control of AC on the quad, there’s no AC.
I also think that the social stigma associated with various dorms is somewhat ridiculous. It’s just a function of the people who happen to end up in each for a given year.</p>
<p>If I were an incoming freshman I would put them in the following order:
Gund
Lewis
Norton
McBride
Mather</p>
<p>Corrections
-First, “natural light”… Every room no matter what will have a window (the windows are pretty big too) so even if you have a smaller room, natural light isn’t really a problem.
-Second, all the frosh dorms have vending machines.
-Third, let’s make it clear about A/C and heat. The freshman quad (Lewis, Norton, and Gund) do NOT have A/C. They do have heat. When it gets cold outside, maintenance comes and turns heat on in the building. This heat cannot be changed or turned off until the spring when it gets warm again. They actually don’t end up turning the heat off until April (they won’t turn it off and on so they wait to be sure). There is no A/C of any kind for the quad so bring a fan. Now, McBride and Mather have adjustable A/C and heat that comes in to your room. It is a very simple system that pumps out heat or A/C depending on weather and you just turn a dial. It makes a difference, but I find that the window and a fan is enough.
-Fourth, the “most social” dorm is commonly McBride but that conception most likely stems from the fact that it is a large dorm and there are a lot of different kinds of students who live there. Most people prefer to hang out and spend time in McBride for some reason too. Careful to classify there, especially if you have not lived in any of them yet. They are all social.
-Fifth, the main difference between Lewis/Norton (which are sister dorms by the way so they are mirror images reflected across the quad. McBride and Mather are also sister dorms.) and Gund is the layout of closets, furniture, beds etc. Lewis/Norton have basically everything pushed to the walls so there is a lot of space in the middle of the room. Gund has the divider so there is not a whole lot of walking space. You basically have a small space by the bed to move around but then you turn the corner around the divider to go anywhere else.
Gund:</p>
<hr>
<p>d MCCVDDl
lV BlB W d=door, M=mirror, C=Closet, D=Desk, B=bed, V=vanity, W=window
lD BlB W l=wall
lD<strong>BlB</strong>l</p>
<p>Lewis/Noron
<strong><em>W</em></strong>W____
lVCCDD DDCCVl
lB Bl
lB Bl
lB__<strong><em>d</em></strong>_Bl
Those are kinda basic layouts so you see. Not to scale, but you see what I mean about space. Mcbride/Mather have rectangular rooms for the most part so they’re different, but they also have things on the borders of the rooms so there is space in the middle.
Honestly, there isn’t a bad dorm to be in, it is just about personal preference. I loved McBride.
If I made a list for a new student I would order it:
- McBride
- Lewis
- Norton
- Mather
- Gund
That is just me though.
You’ll most likely get the dorm that you want. You’ll order them 1-5 and most kids get their first or second choice. Also, I think the roommate survey is pretty good. It is long and it goes into more than just habits that you might have so you’ll have a roommate that is compatible on a couple dimensions. I don’t know of anyone who hated their roommate so much that they moved out, but I’m sure it occasionally happens that way. Most people get along just fine and a pretty big chunk end up rooming with the same roommate again.
Hope that was helpful!
KTG</p>
<p>Ok it messed up my perfect wall spacing but you get the idea right?
KTG</p>
<p>kenyontourguide lived in McBride = biased, seriously…try for a dorm on the quad, it’s much nicer, and no matter what you do, put mather last</p>