<p>So I'm aware of the commons system at Middlebury, but I've also heard people refer to specific buildings (e.g., Battell, Hadley). Could someone explain what buildings comprise each commons?</p>
<p>And can freshman live in singles? Can you make requests about which building you want to live in? And can any of you post pictures of a typical dorm room? I'm having trouble finding them on the internet.</p>
<p>Thanks a bunch can't wait to be a Midd kid!</p>
<p>yeah I am wondering all of this as well.</p>
<p>Hey so I just got back from a trip to Midd and you definitely can have singles a student showed me his friend’s dorms (although I am not sure if this specific student was a freshman) and one of them had a single-person dorm. I wouldnt want that though, it was really really small and he looked kinda detached from the rest of the hall. Anyway, there are specific buildings that are good freshman dorms and others that are bad. I cant remember which ones were the preferable ones. I do know that some random seniors and freshmen get put into Atwater which is kinda far from everything else, but its a newer building compared to alot of the others.
There halls i remember are Stewart, Atwater, Proctor, and McCullough i think. Voter is where the Chinese department is I am sure of that :p.
Anyway the dorms are really quite small, even the nicer freshman ones, but there is a much better sense of camaraderie with multi-person dorms and it seems like more fun than a single provided you have a good roommate. There are light colored wood frames for the beds and some basic dressers in the dorms, oh and small desks I think. They are really nothing special, but still great if you make the best of them.
Hope my interpretation of Midd helps!
Hopefully I will see you on campus in Autumn!</p>
<p>There are 5 Commons, each with their own Dean and administrative staff, activities, counsel etc. Each of the Commons is comprised of student residence halls (dorms). Dorm arrangements vary widely, singles for first years exist, but there aren’t a lot. Your Commons designation, which accepted first years receive along with their housing assignments in August, remains the same until you graduate. You will live in a dorm associated with that Commons for at least your first 2 years. Different commons have different facilities. For example, Atwater and Ross have dining rooms (available to all student regardless of commons designation). This is a convenience, especially during colder months. That said, no dorm is far from a dining room (Proctor being the most central). For that matter, although the campus is incredibly spacious, nothing you need* is ever very far away. Not all of your friends will necessarily be Commons or dorm mates, although your first friends probably will be.</p>
<p>*except if you need a drink, but that absurd law applies everywhere in the US!</p>
<p>[The</a> Commons System & Residential Life | Middlebury](<a href=“Residential Life | Middlebury”>Residential Life | Middlebury)</p>
<p>[Middlebury</a> Resource Guide 2011-2012](<a href=“Middlebury Resource Guide 2011-2012 by Sarah McGowen - Issuu”>Middlebury Resource Guide 2011-2012 by Sarah McGowen - Issuu)</p>
<p>My Feb son was in Ross-had a nice double and really, relatively sumptuous accommodations from college freshman standpoint-could walk to the dining hall in his jammies and “felt like he was living in a luxury hotel”
Second son Cook Commons was in Battell, also known as “the projects” with generic dorm rooms, a terrible ratio of showers:students, and no laundry in the dorm.
He usually enjoyed being in the thick of the action.
Now son A has a single in a very nice dorm, and son B a spacious double in another nice dorm…Really, as college dorms go, they’re quite pleasant.
You are assigned a roommate your first year,and they match you on the basis of neatness and when you like to go to bed. The son on a team was asked if he wanted to room with another athlete on the team, he said no because he wanted to meet some other people. He was put in with another athlete from a different team, same season-theory being you will have similar hours. Subsequent years there is a lottery for rooms.</p>
<p>Do you guys know how preferring ‘chem free’ would work at Midd? I dont really know how it would work with the whole freshmen seminar correlating to dorm, so does this option even exist?</p>
<p>I don’t think the freshmen seminars correlate to dorm assignment, but rather to commons assignment (several dorms make up a commons). There are probably chem free halls in different dorms.</p>
<p>Theoretically, all the dorms are chem-free…Not a really big drug scene, the majority of the partying is done with good ole etoh.</p>
<p>Freshmen don’t always get assigned roommates. In fact, when I visited in October I stayed with a first-year who was fully expecting a roommate but was surprised with a single. She took me to three other first-year rooms on her floor in Hadley (Ross Commons), and two of them were singles. Their rooms were not isolated but rather intermixed on the floor with multi-person rooms, eliminating any feeling of being separated. But there are surely cases where singles can be a downfall, especially for a first-year. Hope that helps :-)</p>
<p>Both S roommates freshman year were in their freshman seminar.</p>