<p>Sorry this is such a strange question but I just can't stand noise. I have a hard time sleeping/studying with noise. </p>
<p>I live in CA & I can't visit due to financial problems. </p>
<p>Thanks:)</p>
<p>Do you mean the overall campus and surrounding neighborhood? They are very quiet. The campus essentially has zero automobile traffic with most of the access roads just coming to the perimeter of campus and stopping. I guess the loudest things would be the bells that chime the hour and the train running thru campus.</p>
<p>Dorms? They vary. Willets is known to be pretty loud. Woolman is known to be quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Most dorms vote on "quiet hour" at night. My daughter said that people more or less honor the quiet hour time (within reason -- it is 1400 young people who stay up late.)</p>
<p>BTW, wherever you end up, I recommend the Howard Leight Max 33 dB disposable foam earplug. I've tried them all from my motorcycle riding days. These are most comfortable, most effective ear plugs in the world. Great for sleeping.</p>
<p>Howard</a> Leight Max UF Foam Plugs (NRR 33) - Howard Leight (Bilsom)</p>
<p>If you have small ears, they also make the Max Lite:</p>
<p>Howard</a> Leight MaxLite UF Foam Plugs (NRR 30) - Howard Leight (Bilsom)</p>
<p>Hi Kiefer,</p>
<p>The campus all over is generally very quiet. Most people study in some building or other. McCabe Library is the main library on campus. People who are majors in some sort of natural science often study in Cornell Library. People also study in the Science Center Coffee Bar and in Parrish Hall. The most quiet place is probably the upper level of Cornell Library, and it is very quiet, so I don't think you'll have a hard time studying there. Another quiet place is the basement of McCabe. For some reason, Cornell Library is quite noisy, except for the upper level. The rest of McCabe is pretty quiet, except for the main floor. I think you'll find many places where you can study in quiet.</p>
<p>As for dorms, yes, they vary. If you get in, the College will ask you for dorm preferences, and you can say that you want it to be quiet. I live in Mertz, which is fine, but I usually don't study much in my dorm anyway, just because sometimes my roommate talks on the phone, which is disruptive. Being able to sleep in quiet at night is usually a matter of having a roommate who will respect that need. If you request a dorm that's relatively quiet, you should be fine.</p>
<p>For me, I dislike sleeping with any lights on, and it's a problem because my roommate stays up really late and needs to use the computer and the light, so we kind of agreed that when one of us wants to sleep, the other should work outside the room.</p>
<p>Also, interesteddad forgot to mention one very loud sound: the extremely loud alarm that goes off in the borough of Swarthmore when there's some emergency there. It is very noisy, and I just get cranky when it goes off at night when I'm trying to sleep. But you won't hear it if you're in a library, so there's one more reason to study in a library and not in your dorm.</p>
<p>The boro fire horn is located on campus by the steam plant</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters; there are definitely places to study and, in general, relax. :) Parrish (the dorm, on the upper levels of the building, and probably your best bet as a freshman if you note that you prefer quiet spaces on your roommate survey) and Woolman are both pretty quiet. PPR (Palmer-Pittenger-Roberts, a set of houses just off campus) is reasonably quiet because of the way the rooms/suites are situated, but people often block there in groups, so you might not hear a pin drop. I also live in Mertz, which really isn't too bad in terms of noise- on the weekends, it can be slightly noisy, but I really don't mind it at all, since I'm noisy at times as well! (I can't study in the library, though- it's tooooo quiet for me, but most people much prefer the libraries over studying in their room, which is what I do.)</p>
<p>Setting aside quiet areas specifically for sleeping/studying, you wouldn't have too much trouble finding quiet places on campus. Avoid lounges and coffee bars, since they can be loud, and you'll be set!</p>
<p>Definitely don't think that Parrish will always be a quiet dorm--the upperclassmen like it quiet, but the freshmen can be pretty loud. </p>
<p>If you say you like quiet, Housing will do the best they can to accommodate you--which might involve placing you with other quiet people, more than placing you in a particular dorm.</p>