<p>Hello, I’m currently a Californian high school student who plans on attending Caltech in the future (well, Caltech is my first choice). My reason for this post is because I have a few questions on the housing situations (dont worry, I’m not going to base everything on the housing conditions :p). Below are the questions:</p>
<li><p>Can frosh get a singles room? I know Avery house has some, but is that something only the upperclassmen get to have?</p></li>
<li><p>How many people would you “personally” say live off-campus?</p></li>
<li><p>I heard somewhere that it’s sort of looked down upon to have a singles room. Is this true? Is so, why? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m not anti-social or anything, I just like having some privacy. I guess it’s something that has brushed off since I had to share a room with my older sister for about 12 years.</p>
<p>Thanks to whoever takes the time to answer.:)</p>
<p>I believe Avery doesn't have singles for frosh. There is one house that has two singles for frosh, so if everything were random you would have around a 1% chance of getting a single. </p>
<p>I'd guess that about 200-350 people normally live off-campus. Right now it's probably a bit more since there are fewer on-campus spots. I did this calculation by taking the number of undergrads (about 900) and subtracting 8*80 since each house holds about 80 people and they're usually pretty full. </p>
<p>I did not hear that it's sort of looked down upon to have a singles room. I lived in one when I was a frosh and I'm in one now, so maybe people just didn't want to hurt my feelings or something :)</p>
Yes. For example, the South Hovses (when they reopen) have a very large number of singles, some of which may go to frosh depending on how the particular House chooses rooms. The details vary from House to House. But remember that the availability of types of rooms is NOT a good reason to join or not join a House.</p>
<p>Without going into detail, there are occasionally cases where it's obvious that someone set up their House preferences to try and get a single. If they pull it off, they usually contribute nothing to the House they end up in, and the active members of that House will want to break their kneecaps. Don't be that guy or girl. That might be where the anti-single bias you heard about comes from. I can't imagine where else, because most of the rooms in the South Houses are singles, and that adds up to about half of the on-campus population.</p>