<p>Does anyone have any thoughts about the Granville Towers as a housing option for UNC?</p>
<p>I'm doing it.</p>
<p>It's a really good social atmosphere. If you want to go Greek, it's even better. You get to drive a car your freshman year, parking space included. It's right on Franklin Street. You have a pool. You have a 24-hour cafeteria. There are study lounges for each hall, and a big one for the complex. Free high-speed wireless internet, free cable. Air conditioning in every room. There's housekeeping services. It's on North Campus, so you don't have to go on a pilgrimage to class from South Campus. And it's about 1K more expensive for a double room than for campus housing. I don't know if single rooms are worth it unless you're made of money and really hate rooming with other people. WAY expensive for me!</p>
<p>mradio, there's a few discrepencies in your comment. A couple of weeks ago I stayed overnight at Granville, and found that:</p>
<p>-parking space is not included. $600 extra/yr, I believe.
-cafeteria is not 24 hrs. Hours vary, but often closes at 11 pm.
-hi-speed internet is free, but I don't think it's wireless (yet)
-cable TV is not included (to allow residents to choose own package)</p>
<p>However, the good news that you did not mention is that rates have gone down for this coming year. The rate for a double room is now almost in line with an on-campus dorm!</p>
<p>So, I would recommend it.</p>
<p>Sorry, misread the brochure. I just sent in my application, so I don't know all the details. It says "DineAnytime at The Agora at Granville Towers, breakfast through Dinner", "Individual, high-speed Internet access via Ethernet included", "In-room cable TV available". So much for advertising. It's $7100 per year for a double room. I think I was about right when I said "it's about 1K more expensive for a double room than for campus housing." I also forgot to mention that there are academic floors (extended quiet hours), but I think that would kind of decrease the social benefits.</p>
<p>I'm not as big a fan of Granville myself. I have some friends who live there and they seem very isolated from the rest of campus. Only about 20% freshmen live there, with the rest living in campus housing. And it can be hard to feel comfortable there if you don't feel like the party/frat scene is for you. In addition, if you want to move on campus after living in Granville, you have last priority to do so (even below incoming freshmen). So it really depends on what you are looking for. My friends who aren't the heavy partiers are not too happy for the most part, since it is quite the trek down from there down to South Campus. Oh, and the academic floors are just as social if not more so than other floors, from what I understand.</p>
<p>I will say that the accomodations are much nicer there, so that is a definite plus. All in all, it depends on what you are looking for in your residential experience. It's not my cup of tea but I'm sure it's great for certain people, so it's good that we have that option available.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your input. The reason I asked is because my son was accepted as a tranfer student and received an unsolicited brochure from Granville. Transfer students seem to be at the end of the chain as far as campus housing is concerned.</p>
<p>my tour guide told me it's only 2% of freshmen that live in granville, definitely NOT 20%</p>
<p>It's actually 2% of freshmen who live off campus (neither Granville nor campus housing). Granville does have between 15-20% of freshmen. I am sorry about the misunderstanding on your tour. I am also a tour guide, and that's definitely what it says in our manual. It also makes sense, since 2% of the freshman class would be about 70 students -- Granville can fit far more.</p>
<p>One other thing to remember is that it is very hard to get into the campus housing system after freshman year (I'm not including transfers in this comment because they do try to reserve space for them) and with the new Ramshead opening plus new on campus apartments that are coming online in 2006 more people are opting to live on campus again. Plus, if you have been in campus housing and leave, it has historically been very hard to get back into the system.</p>
<p>Starting out in university housing is not a bad thing. My son said that after the school year started he didn't see much of the the friends he had made who lived in Granville.</p>
<p>They announced an unexpected increase in both requests for south campus housing by returning students and a bigger increase than they had anticipated for upperclassmen wishing to remain on campus because of the Ramshead during this year's housing sign up period. This along with a slightly larger incoming freshman class next year and the closing of Morrison has made space really at a premium.</p>
<p>If I sent in my housing application April 23 and requested South Campus, do I still have a good shot at it?</p>
<p>My brother lived in a dorm but found that most transfers lived in Granville, so he moved there after the first semester. He liked it A LOT more than the dorm since all his transfer friends + a lot of freshmen lived there, as opposed to the dorm he originally was in which wasnt social.</p>
<p>Nykchisox,
As I understand, if you want a South Campus dorm, you'll get one. It's the North Campus dorms that you have to be lucky to get (at least as a freshman).</p>
<p>Where did you guys here 20%? I was recently at the acceptance get together in my city and granville had a booth there....The granville ad said that granville is 80 percent freshman or something really high....so its not like it is all upperclassman.....20% of the freshman class is like 800 or more people. I'll be staying at Granville.</p>
<p>Nykchisox -- The way the housing reads, it sounds to me like all the incoming freshmen that get their housing request in by the May 1 deadline will all be considered as one group. It doesn't sound like they start assigning rooms in any order based on when you submitted your housing request. It does sound like they start with people with medical needs (allergies, etc.), then they do the roommate requests, and then they do all the other incoming freshmen, as long as the request and payment were received by May 1. I didn't stress too much over the housing application because I think the likelihood of getting what you request is going to be quite slim. It also sounds like the South Campus is not going to have quite as much of the huge freshmen presence as it has had in the past. I think freshmen will be more scattered over the whole campus. Closing Morrison is certainly going to have a huge effect.</p>
<p>And, it sounds like those trying to move from off-campus to on-campus are at the bottom of the rung for housing assignments. I can't see how there will be room for many of those wishing to do that. And that includes those deciding to move from Granville into dorms. However, the following year should be much easier with more housing coming online. </p>
<p>If Granville is 80% freshmen, where do those 80% people go after their first year (to make room for 80% of Granville being made up of freshmen the next year)? My sister has several friends that started there four years ago and are graduating seniors this year and they have lived at Granville the entire time. That statistic just doesn't seem right to me. I'm not disputing that Granville may have had that in their brochure (I threw mine away), and maybe a lot of kids move into apartments right after the first year, but the 80% figure seems kind of high to me.</p>
<p>sorry I think it was more like 50</p>
<p>hi my daughter is a transfer from Pomona and she will be in Granville this year. You can email me if you want: <a href="mailto:pbeth1051@aol.com">pbeth1051@aol.com</a> I lived in Granville for my last 2 years of college (long ago :) and it was fine. The location is convenient, they can request transfer/upper class housing, they can go ahead and pay for the parking. It's easy and if they don't like it they can find someone to share an apartment with next year. Granville told me they are usually about 65% full of freshmen, but that still leaves a lot of upperclassmen, and if they are grouped together it should be fine. Has your son decided yet?</p>
<p>beth</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I thing that right now my son my stay where he is, but he is still not 100% sure. He still has three other schools to hear from.</p>
<p>Patsfan, did your son decide to transfer out of Chicago? Was his first year that rough?</p>
<p>Chocoholic,</p>
<p>The first year has been rough but not unlike any other first year at a highly ranked academic college.</p>
<p>He is a lot happier today that he was a few months ago and will probably stay at Chicago, although he has applied to both Duke and Upenn and an acceptance at either of the two may change that.</p>
<p>Was it only academically challenging, or socially too? Sometimes the adjustment period can be a whole year. How much more different can one's life get than going from your High School comfort zone, with family support, to going many miles away, living with strangers, and fending for yourself.</p>