Housing Help! Sellery/Witte or Chadbourne!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
1

I’m an incoming freshman this fall and I have to fill out my housing application quickly before May 7th! I for sure want to live in the SE dorms but I’m absolutely torn between Sellery/Witte and Chadbourne. I keep getting mixed reviews about both of them. I like to party and go out but I definitely want to study hard, I plan on doing something in engineering. Comment right away for suggestions or feel free to read my super long reasoning between the two.

I’ve heard Sellery/Witte are the party dorms and are really loud. However I’ve done my research and know that that isn’t really and issue. People are still considerate about being quiet Sundays-Wednesday’s and have a huge party atmosphere Thursdays and the weekend. I like these 2 dorms because i feel like it captures the freshmen experience at Madison. Everyone who lives in these dorms seem to have a lot of pride in it and have enjoyed it. My only concern is that I haven’t been the best student academically and I’m afraid that living in these 2 dorms will not help academically and be distracting. Also there are a lot of Greeks that live in these 2 dorms and I’m not very fond of the greek system, although I won’t object to being friends with people in srats/frats.

I like Chadbourne because it seems like it’s the middle ground. It’s in SE but it’s more quiet and better academically also because it’s a learning community. The floors seem to be a lot closer because of all the activities they have going on. Also the whole being in the center of the campus is a plus and having a dining hall connected. My main concern with Chad is that I heard it’s known to have weird people in it. It seems like the “Lakeshore” dorm in SE. Do people in Chad still enjoy partying every weekend? A lot of people who choose Chad in the freshmen FB group seem a little strange too…(sorry for being judgmental)

Size of the dorms doesn’t really concern me. It’s more of the quality and experience that comes out of it. I know especially at UW-Madison where you live your freshmen year really effects the friends you make and people you’ll hang out with.

2

Unless you rank a learning community first, you may not get your first, second, third or even 10th ranked choice.

if you are female, you could rank WISE learning community first and get Sellery.

Chadbourne is very popular, I doubt it’s full of weird kids who don’t party.

3

I have a roommate picked out already and we listed chadbourne as a learning community first so I can gaurantee that we’ll be able to get that. If I put down Sellery/witte first instead I know I’ll be able to get that too just because it’s 99% freshmen and fits so many.

I know there will be people in chadbourne who will party. But I’ve heard that you have to go and find those people in Chad. I know it’s a good dorm academically and I should choose it but I’m also concerned about the social aspect of it.

4

I would stick with your learning community at Chadbourne as a first choice, and try Sellery or Witte as a second. As above, there is no way to tell which dorm selection down the list you will end up with. I wouldn’t be overly concerned that Chadbourne doesn’t have enough activity; its central location and perks make it an ideal balance, and the learning communities in Sellery and Witte will also offer some nice advantages.

5

Only pay the extra for a learning community if that is what you want.