Honors Housing Choices

<p>S was accepted and offered the Presidential Scholarship and may also be a NMF. This certainly moves Auburn as a possible top choice. We are going to pay the confirmation fee and housing deposit to guarantee on campus housing. We do not plan on visiting until Jan, Feb, or March. This makes choosing housing rather difficult so I am wondering what anyone who did visit thoughts are on the Honors Housing. </p>

<p>S originally thought the Village looked very nice online having own room, kitchen, and shared bathroom with only 1 other person. But after speaking to the housing office he learned that there are only around 300 honors students in the Village.</p>

<p>Also learned that there are around 800 honors students in the Quad. Not to mention the nice outside area between the honors building for hanging out. </p>

<p>Anyone have thoughts on which makes which area the better experience?</p>

<p>My D has been living in the Quad in one of the honors dorms for 1 1/2 years and absolutely LOVES the location. She had the opportunity to move to the Village honors dorm for this year but turned it down. She says she hasn’t had any issues with 4 people sharing one bathroom and actually enjoys having a roommate. She also hangs out alot in the lobby and uses the shared kitchen on the first floor. </p>

<p>I think it would be appealing to lots of kids to have their own room in the village and it wouldn’t surprise me if she gives it a try next year. And 300 kids is plenty when you think about it. After all, your son will also meet kids in classes and any clubs or sports he joins. It just depends on the child and their personality.</p>

<p>Village honors housing is really nice and usually difficult to get into. Having your own room can be a major plus and my son loved it. Getting around on campus is easy and nothing is more than a few minutes away. My son hangs with lots of honors kids but many others as well - from all over campus. The key is to get involved - check out social, service and academic organizations. The Honors Congress also holds events… Finding honors kids will not be a problem.</p>

<p>Eaglereader and Penny do you remember if your kids said anything about their first week as freshman if the students left the doors open in order to meet people as the usually do in traditional dorms?</p>

<p>Village housing can be compared to apartment living…as Penny said it really depends on your students personality. It is easy to close your door and have quiet … And this can be both good and bad. My son met most of his friends through clubs and intramural sports. The best way to meet people is to get involved in things you enjoy…</p>

<p>My D lives in Upper Quad and loves it. It’s right across from RBD Library, close to the Student Center and all of her classes.</p>

<p>My D lived in the honors housing in the Quad last year. Loved it–she was always no more than 5 mins from everything. She lives in the Village sorority housing now and likes the fact she has her own room due to serious roommate issues last year but says she misses the quad–it just soooo convenient. Also most of the kids are freshman in the quad so its very easy to make friends. The lobby in Little was a very social gathering place.</p>

<p>Aubie is one of the largest halls in the village, but it’s the only hall specifically designated for honors. It’s a good choice if you are taking a lot of engineering, design or business classes.
The Quad is central to EVERYTHING – great location – especially if you are in COSAM or have classes in Haley Center. However, I’m surprised there are 800 spaces for honors students – not all the halls are honors – technically only 4, and I was under the impression that these halls housed only around 150-60 kids each. I may be mistaken however. There’s also honors housing on the Hill, but it’s not as centrally located.</p>

<p>I think all of Upper Quad is Honors…Lower Quad is not. I agree that the Quad housing is great for COSAM majors. My D loves being in the middle of campus, although she’s already planning on living in her sorority’s housing next year.</p>

<p>Has anyone watched the video on the auburn.edu site highlighting the new S. Donahue residence hall? WOW … washer and dryer inside the suite, 42" flat screen TV included, queen sized beds (?) … new “wellness kitchen” food service across from hall … very, very nice. Be prepared to pay a lot however; $1,100+ more than the Village for a 4-person suite. 2-person suite is $9,600 a year – ouch.</p>

<p>audellmom
I saw the queen bed when I looked at it and thought is this for graduate students with families? But did not see any mention of that. I also thought it said mounted televisions. Seems very strange for a new dorm…</p>

<p>I am a freshman at Auburn this year and I live in the honors dorm in the Village (Aubie) and I absolutely love it. Yes, it is farther away from everything in the Quad, but I really don’t care. If anything it makes sure that I won’t be getting the “freshman 15”! There is an excellent dining facility literally right across from Aubie and it has some of the best hours of the dining options on campus. From my experience, people don’t really leave the door open during the first week, but I have a slightly different view on this because I ended up on the wing/floor that houses the hall director, one of the heads of the honors college (Paul Harris), and a few other “important people” who have deluxe versions of the suites, therefore my wing/floor combo only has 4 suites with students in it. The other 7 wing/floor combos are all strictly students though. I went completely potluck with my roommate situation since I knew no one coming here and I really lucked out. If we are home we always have our bedroom doors open and often hang out in the common area and watch movies/chat. I will definitely be living in Aubie again next year and will probably be living with atleast one of my current Suitemates. Another pro to the Village became apparent this week. Everyone in the Hill and Quad got an email last week saying even though the temps will be in the 30s at night this week they aren’t turning on the heat yet. Living in the Village, we have control of this at all times. Also, from what we’ve all been told about the South Donahue dorms, it is basically going to be only athletes in them. They are making the price super high and then planning to give housing scholarships to athletes. Hope that answers any questions. As you can tell I am a huge fan of the honors Village housing! Feel free to PM if you have any questions!</p>

<p>The housing scholarship addition to an athletic package makes sense – they’ve been trying to figure out ways to offer better scholarship incentives to football, basketball players. However, NCAA rules now forbid universities from offering strictly “athletic” residence halls (though they can provide athlete-only academic centers adjacent to residence halls), so there will have to be some non-athletes living in the new hall. Auburn has enough headaches with the NCAA – I doubt they will rock the boat by keeping regular students from living in Donahue.</p>