Freshman Dorms & General Info

I am going to be attending FSU as a freshman in the fall of 2016. I was wondering which dorms are the most social? Right now my list is Degraff, Deviney, Wildwood, and Gilchrist. Can anyone tell me anything about these dorms or the other dorms? I would love to live in a social dorm. Also any other info on freshman year including tips and experiences would be great! Thank you guys in advance!

Dorms are as social as you make them. Each building’s RAs are required to put on a certain number of events throughout the semester that are intended on getting people to attend and make friends with each other (not to mention, free food!). There’s no “most social” dorm since it’s all up to you to attend events, meet people, and the like.

Degraff is located across Tennessee Street from the main campus. Deviney is brand new. Wildwood is a carbon-copy of Degraff’s design, but next to the football stadium, gym, and band practice field. Gilchrist requires a meal plan and is more centrally located than the others.

The biggest tip I can give is to go out the first week or two that you are on campus and get to know the campus, find events that interest you (Seminole Sensation Week, during move-in, is a great opportunity to find events and groups that interest you), and get a feel for things. I can’t stress enough how much that will help with the transition to college. Get out of your shell.

@Pasbal if we move in early for recruitment week for a sorority, do we miss the move in day experience? I feel like the craziness of move in day is a cool way to meet people in your dorm. Are we missing out on that if we move in early?

I don’t totally agree that with @Pasbal that all dorms are as social as you make them. Some are definitely quieter than others due to housing more studious students like Landis Hall. Word on the street, so to speak is that DeGraff is most social since it is on the strip and just off campus.It is a living learning community though so living there depends on your major for the most part. It also has a green area between buildings for hanging out. Communal dorms by nature are more social, like Smith. However the rest of FSU dorms aren’t communal anymore. Now like Pasbal said, if you put yourself out there instead of spending too much time in your dorm, that makes a difference.

The hands down best way to fulfill your social side is to rush.Then it really won’t matter where you live since you’ll spend so much time at the chapter house. Good luck!

@NorthFLmomof2 Great! Thank you so much!

@NorthFLmomof2, I lived on campus for several years, and have experienced a number of dorms. I also have friends that have been RAs in just about every building on campus.

The experience in a dorm is very much what you make of it. I won’t say it’s 100% because some things aren’t in your control (you never know how your roommate will turn out, whether they are a random match or if they are your best friend,for example. You never know what will break and when it will break, or how late your neighbors party or any of that), but one thing you tend to be able to control is how many friends you make. There will be plenty of events that RAs throw in the buildings for you to attend.

Even though Landis is the Honors dorm, that doesn’t mean that everyone is a shut-in and you aren’t going to make friends. Quite the contrary, everyone being in Honors and having Honors seminars and colloquium and all of that together will make it easier to make friends than almost all other dorms (only the LLCs, in my opinion, would probably be easier, since there are only a small number of people in each LLC).

Living in DeGraff DOES NOT depend on your major at all. LLCs are typically small in number (most are 25 people or so). There are approximately 700 people living in DeGraff, with only a very small number of them in any LLC.

@taylorfalcone, I wouldn’t say that you are missing the “move-in day” experience. If anything, moving in early will help you avoid most of the craziness that is the first day of move-in in August when there are literally hundreds of families lined up at most of the buildings before they open. While you would miss some of the camaraderie that you get automatically by meeting people moving in at the same time, you’ll still have plenty of people moving in early and can still make friends if you want. I wouldn’t worry about it at all, to be quite honest.

When does housing open up again?

January 20th @TotallyTrudy

Thanks so much! @taylorfalcone Midnight I’m assuming?

9 am on the 20th!! @TotallyTrudy

How exactly do you get a priority number for dorms? The FSU Housing website isn’t exactly clear on the process.

I think After you log into the housing portal on the 20th and fill out the contract, the sooner you complete it the better priority number you get.

So do you complete the contract directly on the housing portal? What if the website crashes because of high demand like when we got our admissions decisions on Dec. 9? Will that affect our priority number?

Yes, you get your housing priority number once you complete the contract. The sooner you complete it, the lower your number, which means you’re closer to the front of the line to get an assignment, and you will be more likely to get your first choice.

The housing website is known to have problems when they open it for applications. Your best bet to just keep trying. Whether your number is 1 or not, if you submit the application on the first day, the odds of getting your first choice are very high.

Just to make sure I’m ready for housing to open on Jan. 20th: when you log in right now do you see a place on the myHousing home page that says Fall 2016/Spring 2017 but it doesn’t link to anything yet? Will this be the link I will be clicking on to do the housing deposit? Or am I not in the right spot?

I don’t think my portal has that link? I feel like I’m in the wrong spot

taylorfalcone, what do you see when you log into the housing portal?

Last time I checked it was just a blank screen with a little column of things to the left, none of them had a link to the application. I think I checked friday

@FloridaBound16 where is the link you are talking about?

I don’t see a link yet, I just see the same column as you to the left (My Home, emergency contact, Logout). Then to the top right under myHousing Home I see my name and then Spring 2016 and below that Fall 2016/Spring 2017. I was wondering if that was the area the link will show up…because as of right now there is nothing to click on…Sorry if I confused you.