Freshman Dorms

<p>D just decided today to attend UVa. I must admit, when we were at Days on the Lawn, I could tell UVa started to rise above the other two schools she was considering. In seemed to embody the majority of what she was looking for in a college experience. However, when we toured both McCormick and Alderman housing, the choice became cloudy again. I must say, the dorms at UVa were a significant disappointment from all of the other schools we have visited. New Dorms seemed better, in her eyes, from old dorms. They had more storage, and the suite style was preferable. It's my understanding that this year freshman cannot stipulate their preference; is that true? Also, in the event she is placed in the old dorms, can one of the current female students suggest clever ways they found to store clothing that one normally hangs? (The ONE closet we saw in the sample room that was to be SHARED by two girls was the size of an individual closet for a one girl in most other school's double dorms!) Lastly, when we saw the Alderman sample the shared bathroom was not exactly clean. Are those in new dorms responsible for cleaning their own bathrooms, or is this a service that's provided by the school's housekeeping? If so, how often do they clean?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the suggestion, Hazelorb. I’ll check out the foldable closet; I’ve never heard of such a thing. Do you know the breakdown between new and old dorms? In other words, what percentage of freshman are placed in old and what percentage are placed in new? (She won’t be applying for Brown.)</p>

<p>It would be nice to hear from current students about dorms. We’ve read the provided stuff (even down to room dimensions) but still don’t have a good feel for the ins and outs.</p>

<p>Is it true, for example, that gooch/dillard are a) opening for the first time to freshman b) are air conditioned, suite style but c) were never embraced by upper classmen for some reasons (distance, lighting, security, off the path etc).</p>

<p>I’d love to here more from current students, especially about old dorms and security and on site studying (or must you go to the library to get this done).</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>I think the percentages are even, new dorms might hold slightly more students.</p>

<p>Gooch:

  1. open for the 2nd time to freshman (again you can’t choose to live there) – there were students there this year. They are knocking down and rebuilding the new dorms and so while they do this they took over gooch.
  2. they are suite style, dont know about a/c, but they are all small singles so it is a little different. basically hereford is singles hall style and gooch is singles suite style. they ARE newly renovated though.
  3. deeeefinitely no one ever lived there – there were always TONS of open rooms there until this past year where they filled them to capacity with first years. they are so far away (like hereford), you might as well pay less to live off grounds and have a decent sized room and place to put your car, etc.</p>

<p>if you can study in your room (I always do) then you don’t need to go to the library. otherwise it is a short walk from old dorms and a trek from new dorms (but there are buses).</p>

<p>If Gooch and Herford are mostly singles, and you request a specific roommate on your housing app, does that mean housing won’t place you at either of these dorms?</p>

<p>probably but not guaranteed, hereford definitely has doubles</p>

<p>So, I’m having the most difficult time trying to apply for the best dorm (like everyone else, I’m sure).</p>

<p>I visited Humphreys Dorm when I went for Days on the Lawn, but I’m not sure if that’s part of Brown College or what?? </p>

<p>I kinda want an A/C room, but that means an 10000000000 miles away dorm, right? I have a friend who lived in Hereford her first year, and she has mixed feelings about it, and others I talked to said they didn’t like Hereford. </p>

<p>So which one do you think is the best? or heard of is the best? I haven’t been on the rooming form page, so I don’t even know if you can sign up for a dorm or you can just do specific preferences? </p>

<p>Thanks a lot. :)</p>

<p>Vhn20…from what I’ve heard, this year, you have absolutely no say/preference; the school assigns everyone randomly. They used to allow you to state on the housing app if you prefered old or new, but apparently, things became too self-segregated. (Or at least that’s what we were told.). Also, there are almost no dorms with a/c.</p>

<p>humphreys is part of old dorms (no a/c)
brown college has a/c, but the app readers are good at seeing through who wants to live in brown for the good social fit and who wants to live there for its good location and a/c</p>

<p>Cool beans! Thanks guys. I just did the housing app, and you can only choose preference of

  1. Double Room in First year housing
  2. Single Room in first year housing
  3. Brown College
  4. Hereford
  5. IRC</p>

<p>The Brown app looks pretty … interesting, to say the least. I probably should save time to fill out scholarships rather than that application. Ha.</p>

<p>^^^I was a little confused by the housing application. Isn’t Brown single room?</p>

<p>The different formats are laid out on the housing website.</p>

<p>[Incoming</a> First Year Undergraduates, Housing Division, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/housing/fy.php]Incoming”>http://www.virginia.edu/housing/fy.php)
[Brown</a> Residential College, Housing Division, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/housing/options.php?id=brown&type=fy]Brown”>http://www.virginia.edu/housing/options.php?id=brown&type=fy)
[Brown</a> College on Monroe Hill](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/browncollege/]Brown”>http://www.virginia.edu/browncollege/)</p>

<p>And I just saw that housing has a blog!
[U.Va&lt;/a&gt;. Housing News](<a href=“http://uvahousing.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]U.Va”>http://uvahousing.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>

<p>Brown is not a single room. It is a double with a door in the middle of the room. So while it has many benefits of a single, you still have to go through your roommate’s part of the room to go to the bathroom or leave (depending on whether you are next to the bathroom or the exit door) so it’s not like you really have a single… Check out the plans as previously linked for how this works. I can also PM pictures.</p>

<p>do other people get that error saying "You were not found in our database.
Please try again in a few days as new names are added to the database weekly. " when you click on the housing application?</p>