<p>i don't drink (no drugs or cigarettes either...) but don't know if I want to go substance free...is there a lot of substance abuse in normal dorms? do the sub-free kids get nicer (or worse) accomodations? are the kids fairly NORMAL? are these dorms quieter? are they still fairly social?</p>
<p>Also...qs about the East Wheelock thing...do other dorms not have advising and activities like that? Are these dorms nicer? how's the location? I want a single....what should i do to increase my chances of getting one? do most ppl that apply to ewc get in or is it super-competitive? is it all freshman or a mix?</p>
<p>Any anecdotes of past freshman would also help...what would you do/where would you want to live if you could do it over again?</p>
<p>Whoa whoa, one question at a time here. Ok, the general difference between substance-free and substanced housing is really more of an understanding between everyone living in the sub-free housing to not throw wild room parties with beer and people spilling out into the hallway at all hours of the night. There's nothing wrong with having people over to your room for drinks. Dartmouth in general has a live and let live philosophy: if you're going to drink, just don't be stupid about it and do it out in the open where the authorities are forced to nail you for your own stupidity. There's no difference between sub-free housing kids and regular housing kids. The location of the dorm on campus has more to do with the noise than sub-free or not - Closer to frat row = louder.</p>
<p>All floors in all dorms have a UnderGraduate Advisor. They're in charge of the floor budgets for programming, so it's really as involved as your floor wants to be to determine how much programming you have. You can use the money to go to the movies as a floor or make milkshakes in your room and invite your floor or whatever else you want. EW tends to have a slightly bigger budget and tends to have more speakers and lecturers come in. East Wheelock dorms are some of the nicest on campus, with large rooms. Walls are kind of thin though. The chance of you having to sleep in the same room as your roommate(s) is very slim, since most of those rooms are two room doubles or 3 room doubles or larger connected suites. EW has all-freshman floors for the top floor of each building. It tends to get competitive sophomore year, since all the bad housing lottery number recipients apply to live there, but generally if you write a decent essay, you have a decent chance of getting in. EW freshmen floors tend to be more quieter, doors closed people, whereas regular freshmen floors tend to be more doors opened, people wander in and just sit down for a chat. But there are exceptions both ways.</p>
<p>I lived in Hinman, it was in the River cluster, so the walk was a huge minus, but they made up for it with larger rooms (I had a three room double). Don't live there, since they knocked it down a few years ago, and it's probably drafty.</p>
<p>Hitchcock was nice, centrally located, and was a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen. Gold coast was also a nice location.</p>