housing

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
41

<p>The townhouses are hit or miss. For some of them, the athletes for the basketball, lacrosses, and hockey teams live there. I have a few friends in teh townhouses and if you have really good housemates then it's enjoyable, but some people don't like the people they live with and then the whole thing is a huge nightmare. And I don't think you can request a townhouse, but you'll find out once you get your housing packet later this month.</p>

<p>There are triples in Donlon, Balch, Dickson, and the high rises. Some of them are forced triples, which really suck, and the space is pretty crowded although I think I've seen some pretty large ones. The chances are low of getting a triple.</p>

<p>And girls can dorm with guys, it's just that one crazy lady gave a bunch of money a few decades ago to have Cornell build an all girls dorm. Cornell had to boviously comply since they got a crapload of money. But some girls request the all girls dorm and some just get it because there's room. The rooms are really large, and there are a lot of single so you can get a lot of privacy. All the other dorms are co-ed so I don't think this has anything to do with sexism...</p>

<p>JAM is a low-rise at heart other than that there are a lot of facilities to practice music. There are multiple practice rooms, most people in there like music and you can always hear someone playing or singing or something like that.</p>

42

<p>you can request the townhouses</p>

43

<p>Does anyone have information about the Ecology House?
And how are the bathroom/shower and kitchen facilities at Risley?</p>

44

<p>should i request Risley just to avoid low rise and high rise?</p>

45

<p>Info on bathroom/shower and kitchen facilities at Risley, anyone????????????
Are the rooms really small or pretty average compared to the other dorms??</p>

<p>Any recommendations for alternatives to Risley? Because right now I'm not really interested in any other dorms, and since there's a chance I might not get it, sounds like I need to start looking at the others.</p>

46

<p>is low rise and high rise that bad???</p>

47

<p>hahah no.. not at all. they may not look that glamerous, especially compared to the new dorms, but the high and low rises really arent that bad at all. they can end up being a really cool experience, depending on who ur living with, but thats the case in any dorm i guess. dont be afraid of the high/low rises.. theyre not as bad as some people make them out to be.</p>

48

<p>
[quote]
why wont they let girls dorm with guys? thats so sexist

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you will permit an old alum to provide a bit of history:</p>

<p>Balch was built in the 1920s. At that time, all women students at Cornell were required to live on-campus or in sororities; no off-campus housing was permitted for women, although it was allowed for men. (This sounds sexist and it was, but people of that time didn't look at it that way.) Because of this policy, the number of women who could attend Cornell was limited by the number of spaces in the women's dorms. At that time, the only existing women's dorms were Sage Hall, which is now the home of the Johnson School, and Risley. There was a need for more women's housing. The people who endowed Balch and asked that the building be permanently used as women's housing wanted to make it possible for a larger number of women to attend the university by providing them with a place to live. Their motives were the very opposite of sexism.</p>

<p>Some people actually want to live in Balch. Big rooms. Lots of closet space. Convenient location. Lots of singles. On-site junk food at Carol's Cafe. And the TVs in the lounges are more likely to be tuned to House, M.D. or Lost than some sporting event (for obvious reasons). And (fortunately), nobody is asking the women who live in Balch today to observe the restrictions imposed on women in the 1920s (when, among other things, freshmen had a 9 PM curfew).</p>

49

<p>My mother keeps bugging me to decide where I'll go to college this Fall because she's worried that if I don't decide that I want to go to Cornell that I won't get a single dorm in Balch.</p>

<p>If I turn in my deposit and housing form in late April, do I still have a decent chance of getting a single dorm in Balch?</p>

<p>There's no way my parents would let me stay anywhere else. All-girls Catholic high school----->All-girls dorm in college (Parents are pretty traditional on that front)</p>

50

<p>If I go to Cornell I definitely want to live in Balch. The rooms are really nice and large with many singles (you get a sink!, someone showed me her single and it was as big as some doubles in other dorms), it's close to campus and supposed to be one of the quieter dorms. I'll trade that for boys anyday.</p>

<p>I heard that many girls get put in Balch when they don't want to because there are so many spots (about 400) and many of these rooms are singles. So you will probable get it. Anyway, all housing applications turned in before May 1 are randomized for order in the room match process. Only the people who turn their forms in after May 1 get what's left after everone else has been matched. Also, you can turn a housing form in now even if you are not sure you will attend--it's not a contract that you will matriculate at Cornell.</p>

51

<p>I'm only a junior in high school, but I'm excited about Cornell's housing! Singles, oh la la.</p>

<p>Assuming that I get accepted to Cornell in the distant future and choose to attend...how tricky does the housing situation become after sophomore year? I'm assuming that on campus housing is required as a freshmen & sophomore. Or wait, is it only guaranteed? That's even worse. My mother wants me to live on campus for as long as possible through college - is that realistic at Cornell or is there not enough room for everyone on campus? If I should move off, how difficult to find and/or exorbitantly expensive is housing in Ithaca?</p>

52

<p>Housing is guaranteed for sophomore year, and with the housing initiative set to be complete within the next few years, most likely there will be enough housing for it to be guaranteed through junior year. On-campus housing is not required for any year but it is advised for freshmen to live on campus. Housing was hard for rising sophomores because we were over-enrolled to begin with, and apparently not as many people as expected joined the Greek system. </p>

<p>Cornell took strong precautions with this year's class to ensure that it doesn't happen again, as evidenced by the significantly lower acceptance rate. Thus, you should be able to get housing all four years on-campus if you really want it. However, more people do move off-campus junior or senior year and you should leave open the possibility that you might join the Greek system. </p>

<p>Housing off-campus is quite a bit cheaper than on-campus, especially if you start searching early. I'm pretty sure you're going to want to move off when you're an upperclassman just because most of your friends will be off-campus as well. That is unless Cornell starts to stress that students should live on-campus, which is highly unlikely.</p>

53

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

<p>"Housing off-campus is quite a bit cheaper than on-campus, especially if you start searching early. I'm pretty sure you're going to want to move off when you're an upperclassman just because most of your friends will be off-campus as well. That is unless Cornell starts to stress that students should live on-campus, which is highly unlikely."</p>

<p>I would definitely prefer to live off campus as an upperclassmen, but I spoke with a hotelie on my tour of Cornell and he was saying that it's really hard to find housing and also much more costly than one would imagine, considering the Ithaca location.</p>

<p>If you start looking early enough, is it still difficult to find housing? And what about proximity to campus? Will you need a car if you live off?</p>

54

<p>Hey, I know orginally someone wanted just a recap of what's available to freshmen....I recently toured all the dorms with my prefrosh, so I guess I have some sense of what each one is like:</p>

<p>~Balch: Very nice singles: two closets, sharing a sink with another girl, spacious, Hall-style bathroom, easy access to Carol Tatkon Ctr. & Cafe, closest to bridge to central campus, ALL GIRLS, beware of some small singles in the attic, scattered small doubles/forced triples, basically not all rooms in there are palatial. Girls, you can choose to live here.</p>

<p>~Donlon: Strange curvy hallways, neat library type area on first floor, slow elevators (beware on upper floors), very public hall bathrooms, social "study" lounge in the middle of all the floors (I didn't notice a more quiet study area on each floor), decent sized dorm. Basically your typical dorm with lots of people. </p>

<p>~Dickson: Another HUGE dorm. Some singles are tiny, but some are better. Have "natural" triples (as in rooms designed to be triples, not "forced" triples which are rooms that were doubles and another person was put in there). very EXTREMELY Public Bathrooms. It's like a labyrinth trying to get through there. Only one elevator for the building. Some interesting smells coming from the guys "wing" of the hall. Narrow hallways. </p>

<p>~Mews/Court/Kay/Bauer: I live in Mews so I'm biased. Live in "open suites" Basically every group of 5 people live in a "suite" although all doors open onto a hall, the suite shares a bathroom. Socialness of hall-style dorms, but more private bathrooms. Study lounge on ends of halls and TV lounges in the middle of the halls(at least with Mews, not sure about CKB). Very nice facilities: lounges, laundry, TVs, etc. Brightly-colored walls...I love Mews, it's amazing, but yeah. </p>

<p>~High Rise 5/Jameson: Suite style: each suite is on it's like own "half-floor" I stayed there when I was hosted during Cornell Days. The rooms were pretty nicely sized if I remember correctly. The room I stayed in had brick walls on the inside... I didn't really see the lounges but I think each floor has a lounge (a few suites are on the floor). More private bathrooms. They also have a "sky-lounge" which is like a lounge on top of the buildings. </p>

<p>~Low Rises/HILC/JAM/etc. : Suite style like the highrises, but smaller. I don't think they are anything special from my friends in Low-Rises...</p>

<p>Townhouses: Never seen one, BUT I've heard they're pretty nice. Unfortunately they're pretty far from classes and if you are living with 3 other people and if you don't get along with them, it can be pretty bad (this is from someone I know's personal experience). They're not antisocial and you meet plenty of other people so don't worry about this.</p>

<p>Risley: Arts Program House. The people definately have a reputation...Close to the bridge like Balch. Looks like a Harry Potter castle. Has it's own dining hall. From a friends in Risley: You feel like an outsider if you dont enjoy all of the events/artsy things that happen there, also lots of upperclassmen who don't really care to meet a bunch of new freshmen. BUT some people really like Risley, so you know...</p>

<p>Hope that helped some. You cant choose your dorm, but at least when you get housing assignments you can kinda know where you're living.</p>

55

<p>My S is living in a townhouse this year. There are may be different floor plans for the first floor ... but his has a kitchen to the right as you go in the front door. That would be a <em>full</em> kitchen with full size fridge, oven, stovetop, and sink. No dishwish. Then, there's a living/dining combo. I'm going to guess that L/D combo is 12 x 20. </p>

<p>Upstairs there are two double rooms, and a bathroom with separate toilet. Also a big closet over the stairs for ... whatever. The guys were using it as a linen closet in September. Now? Who knows!</p>

<p>It's a pretty neat place for a college dorm. And in the quad in front of the dorm has a volleyball set up. It looks like it should't be hard to meet people outside of your townhouse and it's close to RPCC and some of the more traditional dorms.</p>

56

<p>I'm thinking of staying Balch. Doubles, singles are abit too expensive for me. Is the doubles really that bad/small?</p>

<p>And what are equipped in each floor? Is there a lounge area and kitchen?</p>

57

<p>Balch is good...sorority girls bring over their hook-ups for the night...it has a guys restroom (but i have heard about many fem-NAZI RAs who write up the girls who let guys go unescorted...a guy in Balch must have a girl with him at all times)</p>

<p>I live in High Rise...and unless you are into the same things as your suitemates (7 people to a suite and 1 restroom D: ) you wont like it. High Rises feel like a prison...any other dorm is better</p>

<p>Donlon is the most social and has all types of people...</p>

<p>Mews and Court dorms I do not interact with...</p>

<p>The best thing you can do is make friends with whoever you live with...if you're not into them...then you better get involved in a frat/club/etc...</p>

58

<p>
[quote]
Am I being too hopeful in thinking that there are dorms where I would just get a single or a double with 1 private bathroom for myself/me and my roommate? Or is it at least 4 people/bathroom in all the dorms?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The Ecology program house has a bathroom for every room, since it was originally built as a hotel. Of course, it's very environmentally themed, so if you're not in to that I wouldn't recommend it.</p>

59

<p>question.</p>

<p>are most dorms suite style?</p>

60

<p>No, there aren't very many truly suite style dorms with a common living room and then bedrooms attached. Instead, you have single and double organized into little alcoves together in mews or CKB, or as in the high and low rises, rooms that are together in a single area. I dunno, sort of hard to describe the layout of the high and low rises with their different levels and stuff. But Dickson, Donlon, and Balch are all hallways.</p>