<p>So, what are the relative benefits and drawbacks of the various freshmen housing offered at Elon? My D was thrilled to be accepted ED and we made her housing/acceptance deposit right away (the morning after her acceptance), so she may have a pretty good chance at getting her first choice. Trouble is, what should that be? Love to hear what you and your kids recommend.</p>
<p>D lived in Carolina in girls only; told us if she had to do it again, she would have lived in Danieley (which shocked us given its location…)…</p>
<p>I’m just a mom, but for my money, Colonnades is the bomb…but what do I know…</p>
<p>I’ve posted about our S’s freshman dorm experience in a few other threads, but I’ll post it here too for those that pick up this thread closer to housing registration in 2013. He is a freshman in Virginia, which is co-ed (all floors) and which is connected to West, which is all girls. It is an older dorm in what is called the West Area of campus, right by McEwen dining hall (and the Varsity) on one side, the Alamance building and fountain on the other side, and across the street from the athletic center and library. IMO, it is the best location for a freshman dorm. Each room has a private bath that is shared by an adjoining room (of same-sex kids.) S has found it to be a very social environment. The kids on his floor have a tight bond, and he has made friends from other floors and West too. There is a large (modern) commons room in West, and also a large patio on the side of the building with tables and chairs. One of the things he likes the most is the proximity to “Late-night McEwen” - McEwen Dining Hall is open late (I think 10-1, or 11-2 am) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, and S has found that to be a fun part of his freshman experience. If you want a modern room and some degree of privacy and quiet, this may not be the place for you. If however you are looking for a traditional dorm set-up where you can meet and interact with lots of people and be close to classes, dining and the main part of campus, it’s perfect!</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you. My D visited Colonnades when she visited campus, but is a social person. She has been away at summer programs where she was housed in college dorms (traditional style, with two girls in a room with one bathroom, and another summer, with a suite of two two-bedded bedrooms sharing one bathroom and letting out onto a floor hall) and loved it.</p>
<p>I’m also watching this thread, thanks for starting it NotMamaRose. One of the reasons we applied ED was for first choice of housing, as that can make such a difference in their freshman experience. Rodney and Embracethemess, thanks for your insights. It definitely gives D a place to start thinking. We’re looking forward to the March weekend and to seeing the different options, but it helps so much to have the pros and cons in mind when we actually see them. I’ve got my map out and I’m trying to get as much of a feel for things as we can. Would love to hear thoughts from anyone out there who is willing to share their experiences.</p>
<p>Son is in Colonnades and loves it. It blends features of both hall style and suite style as two double rooms share a bathroom, but their doors open onto a hallway. Each floor has a large common room with tv and a full kitchen. I like that each double room has its own sink. Location is a little further from the academic buildings, but not by that much. Next to Colonnades dining hall and very close to the Khoury business school building. Large parking lot. Dorm rooms are carpeted. Each student gets desk, chair, dresser and bed. Beds can be lofted to an intermediate level so that the dresser and various bins fit underneath, but it’s still very easy to hop on and off.</p>
<p>The rooms we saw in Colonnades on our tour were 4 singles opening up to a common living room, with one shared bath and one main door into the hallway. This was the set-up that we didn’t particularly care for, for freshman - although others love it. What RVM describes above sounds like the same set-up as Virginia, which is great. Not sure if the layouts are different by building or floor in Colonnades, but it would be good to know. You can find floor plans on the Residence Life webpage. Carpet on the floor may or may not be a good thing; rooms in Virginia are not carpeted and S prefers it that way, they just sweep rather than having to use a vacuum (at least he says he sweeps…:))</p>
<p>S is in the colonnades in one of the suites with 4 kids, 2 bathrooms. He has a single room with a DOUBLE bed and spacious closet. absolute spoiled luxury. as for carpet, I bought him a little sweeper vacuum, that I am told he has used. The office has a vacuum for use too. Room is great, common room great, but one of the suite mates is not so great! That would make the difference. The rest of the hall has single rooms-private baths–greater luxury. the kids leave their doors open and sit in the hallway so it is social. common room on hallway is really nice. S loves his room and is ok with his hall. I think his experience would be different if the make up of the hallway were with different people. it was tough at first, but he has made many friends elsewhere.</p>
<p>He wants to stay in colonnades next year, same floor in a single. He is a biz students and 75% of classes are right there. He loves it and feels very much at home.</p>
<p>Virginia Hall is maybe a little worn around the edges compared to Colonnades, but for my not-so-gregarious-at-first son it was important that he be in a very social dorm. He chose Virginia because of the hall-style and the location over the more comfortable and comparably swanky Colonnades. Sloan is a carbon copy of Virginia(although not attached to West) and right next door. Compared to dorms at other schools I think the rooms in Virginia are waaay bigger. They also have a sink in each room. If my son were to do it over again he would pick–Virginia. He misses it this year, but has awesome friends from his floor. The one drawback(at least for boys) was they had to clean their own bathroom!</p>
<p>I heard that 70% of the Freshman will be living in the new Global Neighborhood. Is that as close to classes as West area?</p>
<p>Close to classes? It depends what classes. S had 1 in the biz school and 3 in McMichael.’. Colonnades couldn’t have been more convenient. The global neighborhood is next to Moseley student center so many pass through that area all the time. Global would be convenient for biz, theater, music majors, but if classes are in west area, s would just get going 10 mins. Earlier. Not a big deal.</p>
<p>So it looks?
Freshmen. Global and west area
Sophomores. Daniely and nades
Jrs and SRS. Oaks, station and off campus</p>
<p>Learning centers still in same location</p>
<p>Masondixon - on the 70% statistic. From what I have read, it is not that 70% of freshman will live in the Global Neighborhood, it is that 70% of the available spaces will go to freshmen. I believe it will house 600 students, so roughly 420 freshmen will live there. That might be 1/3 of the freshman class.</p>
<p>samtalya - What do you mean by learning center?
Thanks.</p>
<p>Where do the learning communities fit in with these numbers? A big draw for Son (a junior in high school) is the fact that the new building is globally focused and the foreign language learning communities are going to be located there - he is looking at double majoring in International Relations and French.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification RVM. It looks like 1/2 of the Global Neighborhood will be ready Fall 2013 and the rest the following year. So, I’m guessing lots of construction for next year. Also I dont see much talk about LC living. Are the LCs mostly Freshman?</p>
<p>Here’s a link from last year with LC info:</p>
<p>[Elon</a> University - Residence Life - Housing Selection: Learning Community Information](<a href=“http://www.elon.edu/e-web/students/residence_life/housingselection/learningcommunityinformation.xhtml]Elon”>http://www.elon.edu/e-web/students/residence_life/housingselection/learningcommunityinformation.xhtml)</p>
<p>Some of the locations will change - especially as the international and foreign language LCs relocate to the Global Neighborhood.</p>
<p>The biz learning communities is about 25% freshmen. some learning communities are not full so they put freshmen on the same floor. with the language learning floors moving i would guess this would open up more rooms for sophomores and daniely will still have freshmen. i would think that nades would have very few freshmen unless in a learning community. this past year many sophomores lived in the oaks due to the housing situation, but now that there are the additional 700 spots i would think more sophomores will be in nades. rodney what do you think?</p>
<p>What would be a good location for an incoming sophomore transfer? In some ways transfers are like freshman since they are new to the campus although not new to college life.</p>
<p>What language learning communities do they have? Is there one for Chinese?</p>
<p>Just Spanish, French and Italian are listed, although with the additional dorms being built and the increased focus on all things international, I would expect that to change.</p>