<p>Hey everyone. I'm an incoming freshman that is planning to major in Biology and I'm still deciding which residence hall I want as my first pick. It's between Dejope and Leopold. Can anyone give me any insight on these dorms. Is it mostly a freshman dorm or an upperclassman dorm? What are the type of people that live in these dorms?</p>
<p>All dorms available to freshmen are at least 50% freshmen (and most returning residents are sophomores so the dorms will have plenty of people close to you in age and experiences). People like you choose the same dorms that interest you. Everyone has the same interest- being at UW. Otherwise you will find diverse majors and interests no matter which dorm you choose. btw- once you are on campus you will discover the many different Biology majors available to choose from. Your major doesn’t matter in choosing your dorm. You need to check out whatever info you can on the Res Halls website for the nuances that make any difference to you. Both will work well, rank them 1-2 and then other dorms you like in descending order of preference.</p>
<p>Dejope and Leopold are the two “nicer” dorms on the Lakeshore side of campus, but as a product of their design, they do not cultivate community the way some of the “dumpy” dorms do. </p>
<p>With Dejope and Leopold, you will get an interspersed mix of sophomores and freshmen, with very few if any juniors and seniors who aren’t staff members. I personally think this is a major detraction. This year I lived in an all-freshmen dorm and also eventually made friends with some who lived in these nicer dorms with higher ratios of sophomores to freshmen. My integration into the University was a lot better than theirs. There are a few reasons for this.</p>
<p>Freshmen are all in the same boat (for the most part). You’re all afraid, all basically friendless, and all unsure of yourselves. This surprisingly makes making friends very easy. In contrast, in Dejope or Leopold, you might be the one room in a line of eight that is freshmen. My friends and I are living in Dejope next year in a line of probably 8 or nine rooms, and we have some open spots that will be filled by freshmen. We all already know one another, and I can just imagine it would be hard for a freshman to integrate well with us. Most of my friends have jobs in housing (myself included), have busy schedules, and are heavily involved in student orgs. We all know what’s going on with one another – we just don’t have the time to redo freshman welcome week with you.</p>
<p>Another thing about the way the dorms are set up – The older dorms have smaller rooms (which may sound bad), but the rooms are consequently much closer to one another. You’d think this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but the consequences are surprising. In Dejope and Leopold, rooms are staggered and separated by pretty big distances. You have to make an effort to go meet people. In the older dorms, you leave your door open and voila, there’s someone right across the hall from you. My House Fellow has worked in some of these new dorms and in some of the older dorms, and he says that based on that factor alone the older dorms have a tighter knit sense of community.</p>
<p>Caution about preferencing these dorms as 1 and 2 – as they are highly sought after dorms with a lot of sophomores, they tend to fill up quickly. I know people who preferenced them as their 1 and 2 last year, and then all the lakeshore dorms, and then all of the SE dorms who got stuck in Sellery or Witte because because while waiting to see if they’d get a spot in their first few choices, the other Lakeshore dorms filled up, so they were stuck with SE dorms. </p>
<p>Your major shouldn’t have any bearing on where you life. Most buildings are about a 15 minute walk from either side of campus, with some minor exceptions of Humanities and buildings like Animal Sciences. You’ll be taking a lot of intro classes most likely, and you’ll be in the big lecture halls which are a ways away anyway. Don’t let that influence where you life too much. </p>
<p>Moral of the story – You’ll find success anywhere you live, but I’m of the opinion that Dejope and Leopold should be avoided if possible by freshmen. They may be nice physically, but community wise I’m not so sure. Plus, living in a dumpy dorm (if you can even call them that), is all part of the Freshmen experience.</p>
<p>On Wisconsin!</p>
<p>Regarding the listing of dorm preferences. List your favorites first and realize you may not get them. You will not lose out on other preferred dorms, when your list comes up the computer will go through your rankings in order regardless of who ranked them higher but whose list is looked at after yours. Those who got bottom ranked dorms must have been far down on the computer’s randomized list of who gets their picks. </p>
<p>There are no bad dorms- all are maintained the same. Some are newer with more recent ideas of dorm living incorporated- and may cost more for some of the amenities (eg air conditioning). Not all of the older dorms have the smallest rooms- Liz has large rooms, some of the '60’s era dorms may be smaller as well as Adams and Tripp. Look at the dorm specs on the Res Halls website.</p>
<p>You are most likely to get the least favorite rooms in the dorms with the most returning residents. Liz (Waters) for example will have the rooms with the best locations/views taken by returning students. Another reason that while 50% or more may be freshmen (and your less desirable floor may be nearly all freshmen) some floors will be mainly returning students- as stated above.</p>