<p>I see that they house first year Honors College students there, but I've heard it's really less spacious and less maintained than Ellicot. This doesn't make much sense to me. Wouldn't the Honors College students get the more luxurious rooms?</p>
<p>I don’t think “luxurious” is a word you should use when you’re discussing UB housing LOL. There are trade-offs; you need to decide what serves your requirements best. Rooms in Governors are somewhat smaller than Ellicott. But Governors is much closer to the “spine” (complex of academic buildings) and therefore quite convenient to class. And it’s a smaller complex overall, serving fewer resident students.</p>
<p>My Honors College D elected to room in Ellicott her freshman year rather than in Governors, because 1) she wanted a single (and I think her Honors College designation gave her a higher priority for a single) and 2) she wanted a more varied group of students around her. She chose to live in Governors sophomore year and enjoyed the proximity to her classes, but found her shared double room quite cramped. So this year she chose to move back to Ellicott.</p>
<p>If you think about it from UB’s perspective, honors college students don’t pay any more than non-honors college students. So there are no luxurious honors college only dorms.</p>
<p>Both my parents are alumni, and they told me, before I even knew I’d be going here to NOT room in governors. They were basically saying it’s not a very nice complex and they think that Ellicot is a lot nicer. That was in the early 80’s but I don’t know if there have been any major changes since then.</p>
<p>My kid liked the large kitchen areas in Governors, as well as the convenience to the Spine. His room in Governors was really small, but there were other doubles that were larger - luck of the draw. He said he sometimes could go back to his room between classes at Governors, but Ellicott felt a little too far for an easy trip back to the dorm.</p>
<p>Move-ins were never too bad at either Governors or Ellicott (compared to move-in’s for a sibling at Penn State…I still shudder), but they were marginally easier at Governors. </p>
<p>After freshman year, my kid lived in Ellicott for two years in singles (one year as an RA). He liked the wider variety of people that he met at Ellicott, and liked being nearer to the Ellicott dining hall. When a younger sibling was considering UB last year, he told her to choose Ellicott but said that there really wasn’t a huge difference in pros and cons.</p>
<p>Governor’s basically has two room sizes - the A, B, and C rooms, and the D rooms. A, B, and C are the same size. D are across the hall (A, B, and C are on one side of the hallway while D and the bathroom are on the other side) and are oriented differently. They are slightly bigger. However, I prefer the orientation of A, B, and C rooms - they are more natural to set up.</p>
<p>Agreed Governor’s is not luxurious. It is closer to the academic spine as mentioned. Lots of students switch back and forth and are pretty happy with their choices. All in all there are schools with much harder choices to make. If your student is happy with their roommates and neighbors they will be happy anywhere.
For what it’s worth, if I had the choice I’d choose Governor’s, we know great kids who would say opposite.</p>