<p>I paid the 50 bux fee in September, and am now confused on how I go about getting a dorms. From what I've read, I need to pay the enrollment deposit first? Would I be right in assuming that's non-refundable? What happens if I wait until April to pay my enrollment deposit? </p>
<p>I want to stay in a dorm that's got a good social life and nice location. I think Jester would fit this. What are your opinions on Jester? Is there any way I can ensure that I get Jester west and not east? What other dorms should I consider? My main concern is that I want to be in a social environment where it's easy to make friends. I don't want a single room.</p>
<p>There's very little chance of you getting a single!!!! You need to pay your enrollment deposit and then they will send you a housing contract. The enrollment deposit is $200 and the housing deposit is $300. Both are refundable if you decide not to attend UT and you request a return of the deposit before May 1st. All this info is on the website if you look. I suggest you verify this information yourself, in case I have made a mistake. :)</p>
<p>So I just paid my enrollment deposit. Will they contact me now with a housing contract? Will I get a really crappy room not at my first choice (Jester) since I've waited so long?</p>
<p>Honestly - just about any of the dorms are better than Jester! The FIGS are a really nice option, too, and all the older dorms have more character, and much nicer feel than jester. Jester is stinky and claustrophobic. Both my kids did summer programs at UT and HATED Jester, and I don't blame them one bit. Windows don't open and it feels cramped and rabbit warren-like. JMHO.</p>
<p>Here's what I emailed the UT housing department - and their answers. Hope this helps...</p>
<p>Q) Is there a chance that son will get shut out of UT
housing if he waits until April 1st to make his
decision and submit his enrollment deposit and housing
contract? He sent his $50 housing application in online on September 1st.</p>
<p>A) If you wait until April 1st to make a decision, you will still be able to live on campus. Last year we were able to house any freshman that wanted to live on campus.</p>
<p>Q) Will he have lower housing choice priority than a
student who applied for housing later in the year,
but committed to attend and signed housing contract
earlier in the year?</p>
<p>A) No, he will have a good priority based on when he applied and not based on when he paid his enrollment deposit.</p>
<p>
[quote=]
Q) Will he have lower housing choice priority than a
student who applied for housing later in the year,
but committed to attend and signed housing contract
earlier in the year?</p>
<p>A) No, he will have a good priority based on when he applied and not based on when he paid his enrollment deposit.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thank you very much for this. I have been really worrying about this lately, since i've had trouble getting my essays the way I want them. I really want a dorm with private bath, and I applied for housing in the morning on Sept. 1...I just haven't gotten my app in yet.</p>
<p>I am currently a student at UT... I live in Jester and it really isn't as bad as everyone makes it sound. I was assigned to Jester- it turned out great! It is very close to everything you need, a great place to make friends, still a good academic environment- it really depends on you what you make out of it! The noise is on mostly every residence hall, Jester is just as clean as any other building, and the rooms are what YOU want them to be- Trust me, is not as awful as many make it seem- I will be a Resident Assistant there next year, I wouldn't have made it my first choice for the job otherwise- It is true that the windows do not open, but the size of the rooms are very nice compared to other rooms on campus. There is a great diversity of students living in Jester as well... you have the very social ones as well as the more calmed/quiet ones...
Any questions... I'll try my best to answer!
Good luck on the process if you haven't received your letters yet !
Hook'em.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. I'm going to visit Jester next week and hopefully come to a decision. Do you or anyone else know if after I pay/submit my housing contract I can still make changes to my housing preferences like building choice and roomates? And what are the alcohol and drug policies like? I couldn't find anything relating to those. Is there a realisitic chance that I might get a connecting bathroom?</p>
<p>With UT housing room assignments are not determined until May and they use the time stamp from the first housing application (the $50 one). It really doesn't matter when you are admitted or when you send in your resident hall contract just that you do that. Submit your housing perferences and according to when you first applied for housing, they will use that to rank you for the dorm you really want.</p>
<p>
[quote Will I get a really crappy room not at my first choice (Jester) since I've waited so long?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>All the rooms at Jester are crappy. </p>
<p>Honestly, for a social environment, the honors dorms are the best (Carothers, Blanton, Andrew, Littlefield). If you have a chance to get into one, TAKE it. Jester has the most people, but I would say it is the least social for that reason. Also, the common areas at Jester are not very pleasant to hang out in. I think one of the smaller dorms actually offers a better chance of getting to know people, since it</p>
<p>I agree about Jester. I spent a week there last summer and if felt like a prison cell to me (though i've never really been in one). Terrible lighting, dark colors, nasty pull-out beds with orange bed sheets that just contrasted too much with the bland walls and furniture. My tiny window looked out into a court yard 7 stories down so when I looked out I saw more windows. As for convinence I thought it was good. It was near the business school and library which was a plus and the all-you-can-eat cafeteria was on the second floor (I assume everyone else has to walk to jester for this). The community baths were clean, and I got used to it after a while mainly because my door was right across from the bathroom door. Finally, if you get a chance to stay some where besides jester I recommend you take it because I guarentee you will be complaining about something eventually. (oh and each room doesn't have its own temp control) Personally, I hope to get into San Jac. because its right across from jester but wasn't built before I was born.</p>
<p>P.S. if you are just applying for housing now, you will probably be put in jester, that's just how the world works.</p>
<p>you will probably be put into jester if you are a freshman, unless you put in a deposit at the very very beginning. i know sophomores that got put into jester that didnt have it as any of their choices.</p>
<p>Yeah I went on tours at Jester and San Jac, and boy was San Jac better. I put in my housing app the earliest possible(45 minutes after it opened, since the server was pretty much blocked due to how many people were trying to sign up at once). Jester is like a world apart from San Jac. It is very crowded, and some of the hall ways do really stink. There are A LOT of people, and from what I could see, it was very crowded( While on the tour, we passed by a media room with about 40 people in it, that looked like it should only be able to hold 15, with a small tv with people crowding around it.</p>
<p>im gonna live in jester. the bathrooms are too small in san jac and the beds seemed smaller too. i dont want to clean my own bathroom either. whenever i saw san jac it just didnt seem worth the extra almost $2000 to live there.</p>
<p>SanJac is nice, but I've heard it's not social. I'm a very social and outgoing person. I definitely see myself as one of the kind of people who will always have their door open and yeah. I like people lol. When I visited SanJac with my friend who is living there now, it seemed too quiet for me. Sure, the dorms are awesome and clean and big and all that good stuff but overall I just didn't like the atmosphere. I also didn't like Jester either. Jester to me is just...overwhelming lol. Plus, the food in Kinsolving is better than Jester I've heard. So if I get into UT I'll most likely be staying in Kinsolving, Littlefield, or Whitis.</p>
<p>foxshox - I also applied around that time. I think my official time stamp was 6:38 or something like that. I figure I have a good chance of getting one of the dorms I want though I hear Kinsolving goes fast for girls.</p>
<p>oxymoron2007- someone told me that the designer for Jester was someone who designs prisons, which is probably why it felt like a prison</p>
<p>libby- i took a tour of kinsolving and they said that it is first reserved for plan II girls and then all the other girls who want it; i think littlefield is also an honors dorm (basically honors kids get first dibs and then everyone else); not sure about whitis</p>
<p>collegenow - if you don't want to live in Jester, I'd suggest that you start Unfortunately since housing depends on when you submitted your housing app, you probably won't get the dorm you want :( Jester is like the default dorm since it's the biggest. </p>
<p>Towers is nice. Dobie is nice too, I've never been to Dobie but I've heard everyone there loves it. I've heard good and bad things about the Castilian.</p>