<p>what ar eyou guys thinking for housing? carman seems to be the most popular but what are your opinions / what do you know?</p>
<p>Im thinking John Jay. Nice privacy yet seemingly social. Less crazy partying so we can presumably study SOME. Oh and... not having to walk in the snow to the dining hall seems nice =)!~</p>
<p>I keep on changing my mind about Carman. Lots of social opportunities, but maybe not enough downtime? I also like Hartley/Wallach, although few people seem to be interested (out of the ones I've talked to).</p>
<p>I didn't get a chance to scope out the dorms when I visited so I'm kind of clueless. The best direction is from a frosh at Columbia who graduated from our school last year and said that carmen is the way to go.</p>
<p>Hi guys. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about housing.</p>
<p>A quick summary may be useful:</p>
<p>GENERAL
- All 5 buildings have beautiful 1st-floor lounges, none of them more extravagant than Furnald's.
- All are right on the south part of the main quad, right in the middle of everything. There is no appreciable difference in quality of location, except maybe for john jay's dining hall access.</p>
<p>CARMAN
Pros:
- More immediately sociable; "doors always open" style means people wander around from room to room in the evenings hanging out
- Semiprivate bathrooms for each suite of 4 people
- Rooms are more spacious, and you have Air Conditioning
- elevators break less often and you have the freight elevator for the really slow times
- you can get on the roof
- Soundproofing is pretty good, and the RA-to-resident ratio is pretty high, i.e. less meddling</p>
<p>Cons:
- You have a roommate. Think about the implications for having a boyfriend or girlfriend. It's workable (and many just deal with it), but it's a hassle.
- Only one kitchen, in the basement
- Floor lounges, while still having free cable, are small-ish. And jackasses steal lounge furniture for their rooms.</p>
<p>JOHN JIZZLE
Pros:
- Single rooms. You have privacy. 100sf may not seem like much, but you'll settle into it and find you really don't need much more than that.
- It's right above the dining hall. You can get 3 meals a day in your pajamas.
- JJ's place, the late-night snack shop, is in the basement.
- Floor lounges are bigger. You could have a super bowl party there, assuming you don't have buddies in hartley/wallach or a frat.
- high RA-to-resident ratio means less meddling</p>
<p>Cons:
- Elevators kinda suck, especially the top floors. People routinely take the stairs even from the 8th or 9th floor just out of frustration.
- No kitchens
- No air conditioning
- entire building is older and the wear'n'tear leaves you with a slightly shabby feeling.
- Floors are not as immediately sociable. If you want to meet your floor and make friends, you will. And you'll keep those friends forever. But there are a lot more people living in john jay who are the types who go study in butler every day and come home at 3AM than there are in carman.
- soundproofing isn't so good.</p>
<p>FURNALD
Pros:
- Recently renovated; has that new-building feel
- Some people will get singles, others will get doubles smaller than those in carman
- Air Conditioning
- Carpeting on the floors
- Reliable elevators serving fewer floors
- Floor lounges have kitchens with them (as well as free cable / couches), so you can actually cook.</p>
<p>Cons:
- The doubles are small-ish
- The building is about half sophomores, who you'll have a harder time meeting and have less in common with.
- Floors are not as sociable as Carman, especially with the number of singles
- Whereas with the others, if you request it as your #1 choice you're almost certain (90%+) to get it, the 'admit rate' for Furnald is a little lower. So you may end up living in another place that you rank lower.
- RA ratio is a little higher</p>
<p>LLC: HARTLEY / WALLACH
Pros:
- great suite lounges that feel like a real living room
- kitchen and bathroom in the suite, meaning you can cook and don't have to traipse down a long corridor in a bathrobe
- about half of the rooms for freshmen are singles
- more of a party atmosphere / sociable, less so than carman
- Good elevator reliability but the things are damn slow.</p>
<p>Cons:
- Bathrooms are co-ed. Which you get used to.
- Plenty of sophomores and even some upperclassmen in the dorm
- Suite common areas end up pretty dirty, because not everyone in the suite are friends
- RA ratio is a little higher
- You have this bullsht about "community programming" events and stuff, since it's supposed to be the "Living Learning Center". Nobody takes it seriously, not even the RAs.</p>
<p>Obviously this is nonscientific but generally aligns with public opinion. Feel free to ask anything else you might have in mind.</p>
<p>-D</p>
1 Like
<p>Thanks for that, Denzera. Now I'm leaning towards Carman. Would you say that Carman is a good choice for someone who 1) wants a roommate, 2) wants to make friends, and 3) wants to get studying done?</p>
<p>I don't mean studying 24/7, but I mean, will I be able to concentrate on my work in my room when I want to in Carman? Because I definitely hear that Carman's big on parties.</p>
<p>
[quote]
- Elevators kinda suck, especially the top floors. People routinely take the stairs even from the 8th or 9th floor just out of frustration.
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</p>
<p>...u kindda forgot to mention that JJ starts at floor 5...so its not as dramatic as u make it seem...the cutoff for taking the elevator before people like me (who lived on 12) started giving u nasty glares was about 9-ish....they say they made the elevators a bit faster but i havent been there often enough recently to really be able to comment. </p>
<p>
[quote]
But there are a lot more people living in john jay who are the types who go study in butler every day and come home at 3AM
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<p>its more like ppl who stay in their rooms, study in their rooms and u only see them when they are going to or coming back from the bathroom or class.</p>
<p>.....</p>
<p>as someone who lived in JJ as a freshman and Furnald as a sophomore i would strongly encourage anyone who is thinking they want a single over a double to choose JJ over Furnald....i really felt sorry for the freshmen that lived on my floor in furnald, you def dont get the same college experience as you would in john jay...there werent any convos til' 7am about random ****, very very few parties and with only like 15 freshmen on your floor instead of 40 you are alot less likely to find ppl you like. The thing i liked about furnald was how clean and nice and new it was and thats y i put it as my first choice for freshman year but looking back i'm very glad i didnt get it.</p>
<p>As for carmen, i had a gf in carmen freshman year....it is def the most social dorm....it is very easy to find a pary there and just find ppl who r willing to socialize....not sure that is really good for studying...i hear that ppl in carmen tend to go to butler alot more when they want to study....also, a word of caution (which i might be incorrect in saying, but) if you are not someone who is naturally extroverted don't think carmen will make you automatically extroverted, I know of a few ppl who switched out of carmen because it just didnt fit their personality.</p>
<p>First of all, I would like to clear up one confusion.</p>
<p>THE NAME OF THE DORM IS CARMAN. WITH AN 'A'. NOT CARMEN. CARMAN.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Now then:
[quote]
Thanks for that, Denzera. Now I'm leaning towards Carman. Would you say that Carman is a good choice for someone who 1) wants a roommate, 2) wants to make friends, and 3) wants to get studying done?</p>
<p>I don't mean studying 24/7, but I mean, will I be able to concentrate on my work in my room when I want to in Carman? Because I definitely hear that Carman's big on parties.
[/quote]
I definitely got plenty of studying done. Carman is 'social', but in columbia terms that means thursday, friday and saturday nights are wild. Everyone studies plenty on sunday - you're kinda looked on as a bit of a waste of space if nobody EVER sees you working hard. Unless my roommate had people over, I could close the door, fire up MS Word, and hack out an essay or crack a book and knock out a problem set, and it would be just fine. And best of all, there were always at least 5 people on my floor who were in any given one of my classes, so we'd always have people we could talk to about the problem set (or who i could roll dice with to see who'd drop off the sets in the morning and let everyone else sleep).</p>
<p>The difference-maker between someone who gets As freshman year and someone who gets Bs is twofold:</p>
<p>1) Finding a place where you KNOW you can be productive. After freshman year, for some reason I found that I could absolutely not get work done in my room. I could do it in my suite's common area, on the kitchen table, but not in my room. To actually read a book for more than an hour at a time, I had to go to the library. You'll learn this about yourself. The sooner, the better.
2) Organization. Forget interruptions from hallmates. The biggest difference freshman year for me was, the first week, picking up one of those weekly planner books from the Columbia bookstore. It was columbia-themed, had a pithy quote at the top of each week, and I wrote down all of my obligations. Some days this went something like:</p>
<p>11am: physics pset due
1-2: karate class
2-4: class
5pm: turn in/finish essay
6-8: dinner event w/Scholars
8-11pm: a cappella rehearsal
midnight: frisbee golf, meet @ butler steps</p>
<p>Some days only had 2 things on it, reminders like "go shop for food" or "do your freaking laundry". But the fact that I got myself into a routine of religiously putting down all obligations and life notes meant that, every morning, I could wake up and see the 'plan for the day' laid out for me. I can't emphasize this enough - that planner, entirely by itself, eliminated a lot of the stress of college for me. Sure, I had to do the work, but the UNCERTAINTY was gone. The chaos wasn't there, because i had everything I needed to worry about right in my planner.</p>
<p>That's the best piece of advice i can give. Other than that, enjoy carman.</p>
<p>
[quote]
After freshman year, for some reason I found that I could absolutely not get work done in my room.
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</p>
<p>Same here, and those who dont come to terms with it tend to do poorly</p>
<p>
[quote]
The biggest difference freshman year for me was, the first week, picking up one of those weekly planner books from the Columbia bookstore.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I had one of those too, but i just wrote HW assignments in it... during sophomore yr however i didnt get past the september page. My advice about organization is to get a PDA or Pocket PC. What's better than having something beep at you 10 or 15 minutes before you have to be anywhere....on numberous occasions it has saved my day...a few times even waking me up when i was a bit too liberal with the snooze button. Freshman yr i had a pretty basic sony clie (which sucked btw) but now i have a dell pocket PC which is great....syncs with outlook and has wireless so i can check my email etc in class without being really obvious about it. </p>
<p>
[quote]
That's the best piece of advice i can give. Other than that, enjoy carman.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i get the feeling denzera is a bit biased toward carmAn...but thats ok, cause i have a JJ bias, i guess it balances out.</p>
<p>i'm not biased at all. it sounded like she was tending towards that decision, that's all.</p>
<p>Frankly, I can see a bunch of reasons why someone would want to be in JJ, most of all the privacy. Very very few colleges out there can get singles for their incoming freshmen - usually you have to pay your dues. Even at Princeton, a lot of upperclassmen have roommates. Shraf, imagine seniors at columbia being told that they're going to have to share a room. Un-possible!</p>
<p>I figured, coming in, that the better opportunities for making friends would be a worthwhile tradeoff, at least for one year. Half the value of a place like Columbia, after all, is the people you meet. Looking back, I think my gf at the time would've appreciated a slightly different decision. Of course, she lived in a room in the barnard quad that had 4 people in it, so it's all relative.</p>
<p>Just wondering, but when does Columbia send all the stuff about housing options and orientation and stuff?</p>
<p>Sometime in April/May.</p>
<p>We have awhile to wait.</p>
<p>Carmen definitely for me :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Carm*e*n definitely for me
[/quote]
<em>explodes</em></p>
<p>I suggest living in Cartman Hall (to all the South Park fans out there).</p>
<p>(current JJ5 resident)</p>
<p>one thing to note about the LLC (Hartley/Wallach): they are both "substance free" dorms. basically if you are found in possession of or associating with those in possession of any kind of alcohol/drugs, you will lose housing for the entire year.</p>
<p>Edit: in possession of inside your dorm that is.</p>
<p>Anyone who's willing to answer:</p>
<p>If you had to choose between the LLC and JJ for freshman year, what would you choose? Are you allowed to put down that you want a single for LLC? or is JJ your straight up best bet for a single?</p>
<p>is JJ more social than people make it out to be?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you had to choose between the LLC and JJ for freshman year, what would you choose? Are you allowed to put down that you want a single for LLC? or is JJ your straight up best bet for a single?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>u can specify single or double in the buildings where both are offered (LLC, Furnald, John Jay). You will have to rank all 7 or 8 posibilities in the order that you would prefer them. If you are just after a single, i think your best bet is JJ. Though furnald is a much nicer building, u will feel cut off from the rest of the freshmen and in the LLC you have to put up with silly ******** and living in a suite with people you dont know can get annoying</p>
<p>
[quote]
is JJ more social than people make it out to be?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>yes....and its pretty much up to you whether or not you want to be social there</p>
<p>your chances of getting an LLC single as a freshman are slim to none though, most likely you will be put in a double with another freshman.</p>
<p>like shraf said, if all you want is a single then go for JJ, unless you get really screwed with a walkthru double, you'll have a single (small small small chance of that tho)</p>
<p>JJ is social as long as you open your door and go meet people. it all depends on you.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you Shraf and Skraylor! :) I really appreciate it.</p>