Sonnycap said:
Too funny since none of them have lived in any of the dorms yet!
It’s a traditional dorm. Small rooms. One advantage is that one of the few food areas on campus is right there. Another advantage is that he’s close to both the football stadium, Coleman Colieseum, the baseball stadium and the softball stadium. Yet another advantage for a male student is that with Tutwiler and sorority row, there are LOTS of female students around! 
@sonnycap <<< we actually went inside the mary burke east dorm and viewed the traditional double room. >>>
Can you clarify? Did someone in Housing open up an empty dorm room for you to see? If not, how were you able to see inside a dorm?
Like Southlander, I also laughed when I saw the comment from other incoming frosh. What do they know? lol
Those may have been kids heading to the newest dorm Presidential or Ridgecrest South, so they’re going to consider anything else as “the worst”
^^ mom2ck - Mary Burke East keeps a standard traditional room available to show people who are visiting campus. We saw it last summer when we went to BamaBound. We just asked at the front desk and they took us up. (Yes, much of Burke had summer camp students in it when we were there.)
That is very strange that the so-called model room would have been dirty… That’s why I’m wondering if that’s the room OP saw.
^^ Good point. I thought maybe the OP was talking about the dorm in general. (It did not look “dirty” when we visited’ maybe old and kind of “dingy”, but not dirty.")
Our son lived in Burke East last year as a freshman. The negatives were that it is older and the rooms are smaller and double occupancy. But I can honestly say my son did not care AT ALL about the furnishings or decor. The positives are that one of the best dining halls on campus is INSIDE the building. It’s second only to Bryant per my son and no need to walk outside in the cold or rain. There is a convenience store INSIDE the building. Lots of $4.50 snacks after 10:00 pm for my son. It is convenient to the classroom buildings Shelby, Nott, Gallalee, and Lloyd. Also, the cost last year was $1600 cheaper per semester than the newer single rooms which resulted in a $3200 savings for the first year for us. The newer suite style dorms are essentially apartments without ranges or dishwashers. I’m glad that my son had the Burke old-style dorm experience if only for freshman year. Burke is the same style of dorms we toured at other selective universities. My son is moving to a 2 BR, 2 BA apartment for sophomore year so he will have both experiences during his college years and I know he will remember freshman year at Burke fondly.
My son also purposely picked Burke for this coming year. Dorms are more about who is on your floor than the actual dorm/room itself. I know Alabama really showcases their suite style dorms but some people will find them isolating compared to a regular dorm room. A student from our high school who goes to Alabama found this to be true and my friend’s son picked similar housing at MSU this year and said the same thing.
This dorm seems to have tons of positives esp. with dining inside the building.
thanks for your note, there were transfer students, summer students and incoming freshman at the orientation and yes the summer students were living at burke.
my son as well will not be living at Burke East next year either. when we moved in this Fall, we were disappointed. Someone had punched a hole in the closet door and they glued on a piece of board to cover it and the floor tiles were ripped up, with no new tile.
@sonnycap Just curious, did you or your son ever take photos and ask for maintenance to fix those issues? If you did, were the issues resolved? I am thinking that an RA didn’t report those items at move out or the paperwork wasn’t submitted.