<p>I know that there was a thread about dorms before but it did not say which were considered the best? Has anyone seen the new dorm?</p>
<p>nope. i don't think it's completely finished yet. supposely it's the new honors dorm.<br>
monroe and sharp are the two major freshman dorm. move-in day is crazy. these two are the nicest dorms, but since they are so big, people always have lots of fun there.</p>
<p>The new dorm will be open for the incoming freshman class. It will be a residential college. Students will have to apply specifically for it.</p>
<p>You can watch the construction.</p>
<p><a href="http://cpreg.tulane.edu/webcam_1.html%5B/url%5D">http://cpreg.tulane.edu/webcam_1.html</a></p>
<p>The new dorm will not be the honors dorm. Butler will remain the honors dorm.</p>
<p>so the difference is basically that a professor lives in the dorm instead of a normal ra?</p>
<p>there are still RAs.</p>
<p>They are not sure what the differences will be. Residential colleges are the higher education hot lick so all the schools think they have to have them now or at least start developing them. I think there is definitely a civilizing affect about having a family with kids about a freshman dorm that might keep some of the 18 year olds gone wild in check. In addition to that if some dorm wide activities can be added then you will get a little more sense of community.</p>
<p>I suspect though that you would really need to keep the residents together for the full four years and end up with a mixed freshman - senior dor and add some common facilities like a dorm dining hall to really get the effect you want. Looks to me like the Tulane effort is sort of a half measure being implemented just so they can say yeah we have that option too.</p>
<p>Patuxent, I agree. I think it is too late in the development of Tulane to use the Rice approach. First of all, there's not enough real estate to expect that housing could be built for 80-90% of the students. Also, there's a Greek system in place and I don't think Tulane's anywhere near phasing them out.</p>
<p>patuxent: apply for it? what do you mean? </p>
<p>tabbyzmom: are you sure it won't be the honors dorm? my brother is assigned to be a RA in the new dorm (residential college) and he told me that they told him it would be the new honors dorm.</p>
<p>I only know what I read on the school website.</p>
<p>And I might add I am not too impressed with Tulan's Housing & Residential Life Department. I think Cowen ought to make enough time in his schedule to fire the lot of them.</p>
<p>So the new dorm won't have a dining hall in it? Do all the other dorms have dining halls inside of them? Seems that that would be a pain, I know most people don't eat in the cafe all the time but if your in a hurry or it's bad weather you would want the closest thing.</p>
<p>The trend with residential dining, at least in California, seems to be allowing residential dining almost anywhere on campus, whether it's the dining hall assigned to a particular residential hall or some other eatery located on campus. Some meal plans even allow for eating at off-campus places.</p>
<p>Stanford
<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/hds/dining/resdinng/mealplans.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/hds/dining/resdinng/mealplans.html</a></p>
<p>San Jose State University
<a href="http://www.spartanshops.com/dining/dc_meal.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.spartanshops.com/dining/dc_meal.php</a></p>
<p>UCLA
<a href="http://www.dining.ucla.edu/housing_site/dining/mealplans.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.dining.ucla.edu/housing_site/dining/mealplans.htm</a></p>
<p>California schools seem to realize that students are often "on the run" may not always be near their residential hall dining facility, and need the flexibility to dine anywhere on campus or sometimes at selected off-campus sites.</p>
<p>Tulane's campus is not large, and the dorms are around Bruff which houses the dining facility. Most just have to cross the street.</p>
<p>Hi chickenlegs, I had e-mailed Dr. Brady, head of honors, and he wrote that Butler would continue to be the honors dorm. This was a month ago. Maybe things have changed-?</p>
<p>Butler will continue to be the honors dorm and will always be as long as it is still standing. However, not all honors students live in Butler, it is made up of those honors kids who requested it and various other regular students who they had to stick somewhere. Therefore the whole honors concept is BS. I am an honors student and I thank god everyday I did NOT do what my parents said and apply for Honors Housing. Instead I applied for regular housing and I am quite happy. Butler is really run down and a nast building. Dr. Brady is a great honors director and is always running interesting programs. I hear he is also available for lunch on a regular basis.</p>
<p>The New Dorm: It is a really nice new and fancy building based on the residential college concept that Cowen is pushing to make us more like an Ivy League school. If you didnt know, Cowen is our president and Tulane will never be like an Ivy(even though it is called the Harvard of the south) as long as kids never go to class drink everynight of the week and dont care about the school. I dont want to sound negative, but that is the majority of the freshman class and it can be very sad and disheartening for hardworking and caring students like myself. Fortunately if you can endure that it will get better as a large majority of those idiots will flunk out. Upper level classes are great because of their small size and the faculty is great if you show interest by just showing up and participating. Yet, Tulane will never lose its party school image. Cowen blames it on the Fraternities but in my opinion they are actually good for the school because they bring groups of people together and give them something to support and believe in(not Tulane Sports). What he should be worrying about is the large groups who bar hop around uptown 7 nights a week. I think a large part of this could be solved through an interview and more essays in the admissions process. This would definitely help to find the more comitted students and intelligent students.</p>
<p>Sorry for preaching but back to residence life.</p>
<p>Bruff is the main dining hall where all freshman eat and is centrally located on campus. Some people love it some hate it. Its really not that bad. There are a few other dining options spreard around campus so you never go hungry.</p>
<p>In closing, if I was a incoming freshman I would request Monroe Hall for housing. It was just renovated last year and all the furniture is brand new. Also because it is 12 stories tall you can have a great view of the city if you are lucky. And I mean a great view. Sharpe is in need of the same face lift that Monore got last year, but it is yet to be scheduled so beware. Good luck on getting into the new dorm, I heard its just for athletes and special folk whos parents buy Dr. Cowen a new building or something.</p>
<p>In closingII, the social scene is non stop, the education is great if you go to class, the only problem is getting students to focus because there are too many distractions for the average student. </p>
<p>PS-Please dont think that the grammar and spelling in my writing is any reflection of Tulane. The English department is quite good and the Freshman writing seminars are great if you do the work. I think I am developing a theme here. Feel free to submit more questions.</p>
<p>Yours truly,</p>
<p>Riding the Green Wave</p>
<p>Tulane Baseball #1</p>
<p>Thanks for your impressions, GoPack. </p>
<p>My son applied for Butler BECAUSE of some of the things you discussed. He assumes he will be surrounded by more like-minded people in the Honors dorm than elsewhere. Is that not true?</p>
<p>He certainly iked the people he met there on the weekend he spent, and he's not one to worry much about the shininess of his furniture. So will Butler not be his best choice, in your opinion?</p>
<p>Bulter will have many students like you son, but there will also be others. Butler has more space than request; therefore other students are placed there that don't want to be there. I believe that the majority of the students will be students that requested Butler, but you will have many students that don't want to be there.</p>
<p>Don't worry, Butler will still be the right dorm for your son; it's better than the other choices.</p>
<p>Thanks, Pokey. (And thanks for ignoring my typos. Odd vice for a writing teacher, I know.) It's certainly not that he's an all-work kind of guy. It's more that he knows he's easily led to play but he plans to do really well! It's a good balance he's looking for, and the people he met made Butler look like the right place to be.</p>
<p>My S also just stayed in Butler two nights and is requesting it. He is Engineering and Honors. Altho Honors college program is not that meaningful for Eng. students,because of their curriculum, he did and does want the Honors dorm for all reasons cited above. He is neither a party animal nor a grind and wants to be with like-minded kids who will be studying. He also cares about his surroundings, and altho Butler is no Ritz, he was not turned off.</p>
<p>Also, confirming the "straight from the horse's mouth" above - we checked with Dr. Brady and Butler is, in fact, the Honors Dorm, not the new dorm. I haven't personally heard that that will never change, but that is how it is for 2005-6 for sure.</p>
<p>Question: Somewhere, I had heard that Butler was being spruced up for next year. From Dr. Brady? I don't remember, maybe I'm wrong. Anybody know anything? Since we were just there, and no sign of construction, I would imagine it would be a cosmetic thing over the summer if it's happening at all.</p>
<p>We were just there for the Honors Weekend, and we didn't hear anything about that. Would be nice. But the room my son stayed in looked pretty much like my dorm room did a hundred years ago at Enormous U. Not so bad.</p>