<p>So I just found out that my dorm is Gooch, and from what I'm seeing, its not the best place to be. Am I just paranoid, or is it really that bad? Any advice?</p>
<p>From what I can tell it hasn’t been used as a first-year dorm for awhile so everyone is assuming it’s bad for that reason but it sounds fairly decent. Singles, AC, carpet, kitchens in a couple of the buildings along with laundry, etc.</p>
<p>That said, does anyone know where to find photos of the rooms and how the numbering works in terms of A, B, etc. Thanks!</p>
<p>Are you a first year or upperclass?</p>
<p>FY: there is nothing you can do, at least you are not in hereford
upperclass: try and take over someone else’s contract in a better place? or be thankful you are not in hereford still? lol</p>
<p>I don’t think there are any photos of G/D. They are small rooms though, my friend had one. It was bigger than her McCormack stairwell single but it was still tiny. There were shelves for storage up high though…</p>
<p>I used to live in Gooch. A&B are on the first floor, A being closet to the stairs. The others are on the second floor with the bathroom. </p>
<p>The rooms are very small, and smaller than the official dimensions of 11.5 ft by 7.5 ft because the room doors are set in the corners of each room, so you lose a little bit of usable space, because the corner has been cut off. You do have A/C, though, and the Runk dining food is, IMO, often better than the other dining halls. </p>
<p>The furniture in the rooms were all replaced this summer which should be a huge improvement and I’m told maintenance was to scrub the rooms down hard over the summer. The old furniture in the common rooms were bad. You do have free basic cable in the common room on the first floor. There is also a free small fridge in the common room, but it is too small for 6 people.</p>
<p>Regarding distance, I don’t think the buildings are that far away. Alderman, O-hill, the stadium, and the Aquatic Center are close by. You do have to walk further to class, but it’s not that big a deal.</p>
<p>The biggest drawbacks are the size of the rooms, the bathrooms (can be nasty with six guys) and the fact that they aren’t hallway-style. Supposedly the RAs are to work hard this fall to encourage mingling of the suites.</p>
<p>My daughter will be moving to Gooch/Dillard in the fall to start her first year at UVA. From what we can tell from the diagrams and what everyone has said, the rooms are tiny. We’ve been looking at mini fridges, and the 4.4 cf size from Frigidaire and Kenmore look really nice. They appear to have freezer compartments that are relatively isolated from the fridge section, so they’re less likely to freeze stuff in the fridge. My question is this: Has anyone tried a 4.4 cf fridge in one of these rooms? If not, what size will work well. She wants a microwave on top, too, so we need to do a little hunting before packing. Thanks!!</p>
<p>I’m assuming that one along the lines of the one approved for rental at UVA ([The</a> Melvin Corporation](<a href=“http://www.melvincorp.com/product.php]The”>http://www.melvincorp.com/product.php)) would fit…</p>
<p>I had a 4.4 cf from Sanyo that I bought from Costco for about $100 which I used in Gooch with no problem. While the true freezer worked well, it’s not large enough for a full size frozen pizza. Then again, you’re not supposed to be using anything for cooking but a microwave anyway.</p>
<p>We’re hoping the 4.4cf Frigidaire fits fin as that what I got for my daughter who will be in Gooch. The freezer section was the selling point as from what we could gauge it will hold a couple boxes of Boca Chickn (her favorite late night snack) and Amy’s Mac & Cheez (2nd favorite snack). She’s vegan so we wanted to make sure she could have a few staples when needed. It’s the same width/depth as smaller fridges but just taller so I think it should be fine! Sounds like it too from MechWahoo :)</p>
<p>S was in Gooch last year as a 2nd year and I have pics of the room from move in day. I’ll be happy to e-mail them to anybody interested - just e-mail me. Little fridges & microwaves fit in a big metal shelving unit just fine. Rooms are tiny, but surprisingly well designed and have lots of storage. Everything fit in much better than the 1st year in old dorms. They didn’t love the location (wasn’t their first choice), but survived just fine. I won’t comment on the status of the bathroom with six guys as previously mentioned.</p>
<p>Im going to be at Gooch this upcoming year (incoming freshman). I had my doubts as well, but from what I heard it should be alright.</p>
<p>Hehe, at least you aren’t in Hereford. Im an incoming 3rd year and I regret not finding an apartment complex. I was told that I should live in a dorm so I could get familiar with the campus…</p>
<p>You’ll definitely get familiar with campus!! It’s less intimidating at least? But you’ll proly move off grounds for next year…</p>
<p>Freshmen, don’t be afraid of Gooch from an accommodations standpoint, I saw the suites myself last year. Sure the bedrooms are small, but they’re singles and the whole suite layout seems pretty nice. Those I met who actually lived there mostly complained about the overall building arrangement not being conducive to socializing with other suites. I would assume though that that would be overcome relatively easily. To me it seemed a lttle bit far from Central Grounds but not bad at all to the Engineering School or to Biology/Chemistry/Physics. The nearby Runk dining hall is also very nice.</p>
<p>Umm are the walls drywall or cinderblock? I want to hang a lot of stuff up…also, how would I hang stuff up? Command hooks can only hold so much…haha</p>
<p>They’re all hard thick walls you need special nails for. Or command hooks. You’d be surprised what they can hold when you let them dry the 24 hours they recommend. I could put 3 huge hoodies on each hook and I’d have a cluster of 5 wherever I put them… But nails for curtains (…shhh… fire hazard) are okay.</p>