<p>Is there a preferred freshman dorm or are they all pretty similar, with little advantages and disadvantages?</p>
<p>Most Freshman live in Morgan, Daniels, or Riley (these are all solely freshmen dorms). Some get placed in Institute or Stoddard which are a mix of years (there may be a couple of others that I am forgetting). </p>
<p>Morgan and Daniels are next to each other on the main quad and virtually identical to one another. Each has pretty much all triples in good sized, but not huge, rooms. The location is great - close to everything. Riley is the oldest dorm on campus and has a variety of room sizes and lots of character. From what I have heard, the quads are huge. Riley is also very conveniently located. </p>
<p>Stoddard and Institute are a little further away from things and having mixed years, it is a little bit of a different experience. </p>
<p>I guess the advantages of living in Morgan, Daniels, or Riley are that they are close to everything and with a dorm full of other freshman, there is always something going on and someone to hang out with. </p>
<p>The advantages to Stoddard and Institute are that they are a little quieter and you will meet lots of students from different years. Although they are a little further from things, the campus isn’t really all that big, so nothing is really all that far.</p>
<p>Once you get your room assignment, look on facebook for groups from your dorm / floor. These have been pretty active in past years and good way to get to know dorm mates before school starts.</p>
<p>Good to know. Thanks!</p>
<p>My daughter was in a triple in Morgan. We saw Riley when we went on our campus tour before she applied. I didn’t seem to see a lot of difference between Morgan, Daniels or Riley. She filled out some kind of questionnaire about dorm preferences (single, double, etc.) but it didn’t include any kind of ranking or preference choice about which dorm you wished to be in. </p>
<p>She has lived off campus (about a 10 minute walk) starting her sophomore year. It was somewhat typical at that time to move off campus after your freshman year. She is a picky eater and also preferred to cook her own meals as many (but not all) of the dorms require you to be on their meal plan. Since then, more dorm space has been added by WPI so I don’t know what the norm is now.</p>
<p>Thanks Puck!</p>
<p>when my son was an incoming freshman, he indicated he wanted a smaller and quieter dorm and was placed in Institute. He liked the fact that it is at the edge of campus, and not up on the quad with the bulk of the freshmen. His floor was all freshmen except the RA, and I think they had other floors that were all freshmen too that year. At the time it was their largest freshman class. Not sure if it is more mixed now…
The new dorm they just opened this year (Faraday) is all suites with full kitchens, it is very nice but a few blocks off campus.
Residential services has their own Facebook page and they are very good about answering questions…</p>
<p>Thanks BTG!</p>