<p>Does anyone know how fresh housing works? is it first come first serve or lottery? Do we have any say and when do we know which house we are in. and roommates and stuff.</p>
<p>If you go to the Hamilton site and look under housing, you will see a link for housing guide for new students and parents. In the past years, Hamilton waits for all freshman to submit their housing forms and then randomly assigns your room and roommates. I think you find out your assignment near the end of July. As far as if you have a say, you can not name a roommate or a particular dorm, but you can say what you would like in a dorm. I don't know if they honor request for the light or dark side, but if you have a preference to one side or the other, I would put that in your information you send in.</p>
<p>Ok, my daughter likes everything about Hamilton except the dorms. I think the dorms are going to become her deciding factor against attending Hamilton. She did a sleep over and was placed in a Dunham quad. While everyone was very nice to her in the room, she just isn't the kind of kid who could flourish in college shaing tight quarters and especially not with 4 girls.</p>
<p>Was this a typical situation a freshman would/could face?</p>
<p>While Hamilton has many quad rooms, there are plenty of doubles for freshman. Have your daughter request the darkside of campus, as most of the double rooms for freshman are there. If I am not mistaken, she can put a double room as her first choice; I believe you rank doubles, triples, or quads on your housing form. My daughter for one wanted a quad as she wanted to live on the light side of campus-Dunham is on the light side.</p>
<p>I have to say that living in a quad is a learning experience, and while my daughter didn't love all her roomates, she was able to learn many skills about living with those different than yourself!!</p>
<p>Do check out the housing info online and see which dorms allow freshman and which dorms have doubles. Your daughter should be able to narrow down which dorms are to her liking and should be able to come up with some way to express that in her housing form.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman who lives in a quad in Dunham right now...while you can't request a specific type of room (or side of campus), you can definitely fill out your housing form with a certain room in mind. I remember saying that I didn't mind having lots of people around, didn't plan on studying in my room, didn't care about guests...social things like that which lean more towards a quad. Less social choice (study in room a lot, need privacy, etc.) lean more towards a double, which would most likely be on the darkside. </p>
<p>Although you can't request it (like all housing) I personally think a split-double in Dunham is the best housing a freshman can get...it's essentially two singles connected on the inside by a door, so you get the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information.</p>
<p>This is coming down to the wire, but it looks like with all things being considered between her top choices, the limited dorm options, especially for freshman at Hamilton will be the deciding factor. </p>
<p>Visiting the school, I thought there were lots of choices, but she doesn't see it quite that way. There are so few split doubles. The rooming situation seems very risky with extremely small and congested rooms, she says. I can appreciate the importance of this decision to her because she will be a student who likes to return to her room to unwind.</p>
<p>More questions!</p>
<p>Are there any active plans in the works for building Senior housing?</p>
<p>What is this we heard from the Dean of Students that the Sophmore Seminars are being scrapped? Replaced by what?</p>
<p>Will Hamilton begin breaking ground this year for a new Arts Building? Community Center? There don't seem to be specific answers from Admissions? Will it be four years of construction?</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Hamilton. She loves the dorms, her friends and the school. I would say that if the housing issue is bothering her than perhaps she doesn't belong at Hamilton...because there are so many other factors that make the school a fabulous place. In any event, my daughter lives in a roomy double on the North Side. She likes the North Side so much that she is living in a suite next year there. She has made friends all over campus and visits regularly. She studies mostly at the bio center. Most sophmores do live in singles, however.<br>
I can't answer your other questions accept to say I have heard that construction on the arts center will begin soon.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Jelomom,</p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "senior housing," as all buildings are at least open to sophomores or older. I haven't heard any rumors or plans to build new dorms. As for construction that's set to happen, the admissions building is slated to move up the hill to an old fraternity house (unsure of time frame), while my friend on Student Assembly said the construction on the new arts center is set to begin during the spring semester of 2009.</p>
<p>The sophomore seminars are not scrapped, they are simply optional now. Many students and professors alike agreed that while the idea was good, the classes often encompassed such broad topics that they didn't really delve deeply into any issues. They are still available for choose registration, though. Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help</p>
<p>By senior housing I was referring to the focus on many campuses to build senior apartments on the campus. Many we have seen have been VERY nice. This is a great option for seniors.</p>
<p>Have you heard more about improving the security system on the campus for the dorms.................key carding? Hamilton has a ways to go in dorm security IMO</p>
<p>Do you know of anyother construction planned?</p>
<p>Thanks much everyone</p>
<p>There are "off campus" apartments that seniors (as well as juniors and sophomores) can live in that are VERY popular. They aren't technically off campus, but are far away so that living there without a car would be a big hassle. I also know 5-6 different groups of seniors that chose not to live on campus, instead opting to rent a house together in Clinton, completely outside of the school.</p>
<p>Again, rumor is the next main things to change on campus will be card-swiping in all dorms and campus-wide wireless internet. Student Assembly claims the wireless should be done in time for the start of classes in the fall...we'll see what happens but it's definitely in the works now.</p>
<p>Finally, construction on Kirner-Johnson (KJ) is going to begin over the summer/next year. They're doing a HUGE renovation to improve mainly the social sciences/economics/history/sociology classrooms and offices. It caused quite a stir in the housing lottery this year, as many of the suite style dorms located near KJ were not chosen, unlike the past, because of noise from construction. Freshman won't have to worry about this, as they are only for upperclassmen.</p>
<p>This link contains detailed info about all construction planned at Hamilton, as well as a preview of what the new KJ should look like. Hope it helps.
<a href="http://www.hamilton.edu/college/physical_plant/Summer%202007%20Planning.pdf%5B/url%5D">www.hamilton.edu/college/physical_plant/Summer%202007%20Planning.pdf</a></p>