Hi, I’m trying to decide where to live this fall as a freshman and I need some help/opinions from other students or alumni. I was wondering how hard it would be to be placed in North Halls? Suite styled rooms sound really good to me and I would love to only have to share a bathroom with three other girls instead of an entire floor. If I don’t qualify for a Special Living Option, do I have a chance of getting placed here? Also, what are the pros and cons of living in East? I really like to go out and go to parties but I’m a light sleeper so I definitely don’t wanna be somewhere that’s really loud. I heard that East was the “freshman year experience” though so I don’t know if I would want to miss that.
Thank you!
North Halls are basically only upperclassmen.
I have heard that East is a great place to party, but not a great place to sleep. The other area with a lot of freshmen is Pollock, which is a bit quieter and also has a great dining hall.
I live in South, the quietest of the quiet. 
My son has lived in North since he was a freshman, as do many other freshmen. 3 of the dorms are all SLOs, the 4th is open to anyone and if you’ve already accepted your offer and done your deposit, and requested North as your first choice, your chances are pretty good. Keep in mind that North is quite a bit more expensive than East or Pollock. It is quiet, and centrally located; the dining hall is closed Friday nights but Pollock isn!t far.
East is far away (it’s -8 at my house this morning) from classes, has a crowded, average dining hall, is noisy and did I mention far from everyhing? That whole “freshman experience” thing is dumb – you will be out having your freshman experience regardless of where you sleep and shower. Yes, there are buses, but you have to stand in the queue and wait for one, and an empty one, in the weather. Did I mention it hasn’t been above 15 in two weeks?!
@bodangles and @greenbutton , thanks so much for your input! this thread is really helping me out…just accepted my offer of admission but I’m conflicted as to where to l ive. I am an engineering major…I really like North but I heard that the people there are too secluded and the majors represented are usually music and art and stuff. Not saying it’s a bad thing just want to be informed. do you guys have anything to say about that?
Also, for my second choice i was conflicted between west and south. I know west is super convenient for engineering students and the space is fairly large, it’s just that south is newly renovated so that’s really attractive. Please do comment on which one you recommend as well.
Thanks so much in advance!!!
Yes, North has a lot of music, art, architecture and landscape architecture majors in addition to the assortment of others, it’s closest to their studios. “too secluded” is just silly – this isn’t high school, you don’t spend all day in your room, you spend all day in class, at meals, at the library, at dinner… You are as secluded as you want to be (unless you live in East, in which case, there’s no seclusion to be had)
I wouldn’t worry about the difference between West and South…west is mainly science/engineering upperclassmen, but there’s no harming in hoping to be placed there as a freshman. If they can’t fit you there, they’ll put you someplace else and you’ll live. Housing choices are based on your ranking of what is most important – location, roommate, or SLO. You can always go back in to eHousing and change if you want to.
SLO =?
" special living option" i.e., all math majors, all crunchygranola tree huggers, etc…live in designated areas of certain floors in certain buildings, if requested and there’s room in the SLO.
@greenbutton thanks for all the helpful information! forgive me for my ignorance; I’ve no idea about the difference between life in college & life in school 
So if i get put up in north (2nd choice) is it too far from the college of engineering? thinking about those long, unforgiving winters. however, i would assume that as a first year i won’t have too many classes in the college of engineering (correct me if I’m wrong?).
@Colombiangirl what college are you in? like you i’m looking to avoid the heavy party atmosphere - i think knowing where you’ll be studying will help you make a decision. from what I’ve hear pollock is quite similar to east, i may be wrong though. I hope we can figure this out together!
@itstheruch I’m in the college of liberal arts! I have no idea where I’ll be taking most of my classes, but I’m assuming they’re not gonna be close to the east halls area. I actually like to go to parties, but I’m just not sure I wanna live surrounded by it you know? I’d rather go to the parties than live at the party haha. And yes, I hope so too! Either way, at least we get to go to a great school for the next four years regardless on where we end up rooming!
Live in pollock. I lived in East and it was okay, but theres tons of freshmen in pollock as well, and the food is significantly better…and its marginally closer to some class buildings
^ East Halls look like tin cans piled up… lots of noise and the heating system isn’t the best. It’s like living in the remnants of a bad housing project and I wouldn’t recommend it if you can choose. Pollock is decent and the food is 100 times better. Best of all, you’re about 10 mn away from most classes and from downtown, vs. being so far in East that you’ve got to take the shuttle (and freeze your mittens of while waiting for it).
East is a long way from Engineering but isn’t a long way from everything. It is the closest to Beaver Stadium and Bryce Jordan Center 
It is also close to the most of the Ag buildings and the IM (Intramural) Building. It is also the closest to the IM fields which is great if you love sports and participate in intramural sports. I loved it so much I ended up living there all 4 years and most of my classes were at the opposite side of campus. It isn’t much different than South Halls in relation to the central part of campus. When I was there it also had a nice mix of all grades. We had a large percentage on our floor who stayed 3-4 years.
I spent a lot of time in South Halls and being right next to downtown was very nice.
West had a lot of jocks but is close to Eng.
My son is very happy that he is in Pollack…especially in this cold weather.He is an Engineering major. Food is good and Pollack is much closer to his classes.