So it seems most Freshman get housed in North Campus. While it seems inconvenient for kids not studying in colleges on North, I wonder if it is best anyway, just to be with lots of other Freshman?
Most if the kids we talked to who did live there 1st year we’re glad they did. Thoughts?
There are also mostly freshman dorms on Central Campus/Hill, like Markley and MoJo. In most of the other dorms on Central, there are also a sizable number of freshman- I would guess that at least half of the students in most of these dorms are freshmen.
Most of the residential programs are in central campus and hill area. Around 2/3 of the freshmen that are not in residential program would be assigned to North Campus. But for all freshmen as a whole, I think they are more or less evenly distributed between North and Main Campus.
@billcsho. I’m not sure that 2/3 figure is viable anymore. My daughter is a tour guide and they were told them during recent training that since all central campus dorms are open( unlike in past few years) the percent of freshman not in a special program who are assigned to north is a little over half.
She was surprised it’s that many because where we come from and where her friends come from people are definitely gaming the system to avoid north Like the plague.
@HRSMom. I do not believe that it’s " most freshman". If you look at the numbers Umich housing says are housed in each location there is only room for less than 1/3 of freshman to live on North.
@maya54 Good point. They did remove at least some Northwood apartment units from the pool when the central campus increased around 400 beds last year after finishing the renovation.
But do kids like/hate North? Is it bad to have to get the bus down or no biggie?
Riding the buses is not much of an issue, except on weekends, when the buses are less available throughout campus. However, it is worthy to note that the best dining halls are on Central Campus and the newly renovated dorms are mostly/all located on Central Campus. It is not only a location issue, but also an amenity issue. Also, several central/hill dorms have A/C- but I do not think that is the case for most North Campus dorms.
@HRSMom. It depends on the kid and their group of friends / social desires. A kid who wants to be involved in lots of tailgating for games and Greek life parties generally hate North. The bus schedule puts a huge crimp in their social life. It’s also a huge bummer for kids with open periods on the middle of their schedule. Kids on central can go back to their rooms and rest/ relax during those times. It’s much harder for a kid on north.
The whole North Campus dorm thing puts a real damper on the excitement of freshman year. The students are so nervous about being placed there, and the ones who end up being assigned there are anywhere from upset to devastated. In my opinion, the university should keep all freshmen together: ALL freshmen should be assigned to North Campus, or ALL freshmen should be on the hill (I think there are enough rooms in hill dorms to accommodate the entire freshman class). I like the idea of one freshman “neighborhood” with support services on site targeted to freshman needs.
@brantly I doubt that there would be enough room on the Hill for all freshmen. There about 18 residence halls, which have enough beds for around 10,000 students. Each freshmen class is about 6,000 students, around 97% of which live on-campus. Nearly 6,000 freshmen will NOT fit on the Hill. Someone please correct me if I got any of those numbers wrong.
Well, I know that Markley alone holds about 1,200.
The total dorm capacity is less than 10,000 and they are splitted among Central, Hill, and North Campus. None of the area can house ALL the freshmen (6000+), not even 70% of all freshmen (4200+).
The bus ride is not an issue unless you are really picky. CoE freshmen will go between campus a couple times everyday regardless where they live. If they are not crying, why should other students?
@brantly Markley is one of the largest dorms- the Hill cannot hold all freshmen, like @billcsho said.
@billcsho Although I agree with your point about the buses, it cannot be denied that a lot of the Central Campus dorms and dining facilities are nicer than their North Campus counterparts.
OK. I just think it’s a good idea for any college to try to have a freshman neighborhood. It is, IMO, a disadvantage of University of Michigan.
That is true that central and hill have better dinning halls than North campus. The lack of A/C is a valid argument too. I do agree with these.
A freshmen neighborhood does not mean putting all 6000 freshmen together. They would be housed in different dorms anyway. You are not going to meet all 6000 freshmen in any case.
I agree that Michigan’s housing is a huge disadvantage compared to other universities. And it isn’t about dining or air conditioning or about meeting all the other freshman. It’s about having two widly different experiences on two different campuses and leading to a social stratification. Being able to roll out of bed and be in class 10 minutes later and running back to ones room during the day, then being able to get to Stores and restaurants easily at night, being able to get to early morning tail gating being able to leave a party without a bus schedule are all huge pluses for many students. And the most social savvy students ( and their parents) know how to game the system to ensure they end up on Central or the Hill. It’s not a coincidence that almost no one in what is considered a " highly ranked" sorority or fraternity is from North. These are the types of people who know how to play the game. Michigans housing system which has a clearly " worse" location ( in the minds of the VAST majority of students) is an unfortunate one. The only solution I could see is putting all freshman on the hill/ centralfor the sake of more unity and relegating upperclassmen who still want university housing (and couldn’t get the relatively small number of central locations that wouldthen be available) to north I’m sure though that would never work because no one except maybe some engineering or arts students would choose north and the university would likely have empty housing
I think that too much of the Residential Life Initiative’s benefits were concentrated in Central Campus housing. As many posters have said, the quality of residential living between North and Central Campus is very different. The only solution I see is to invest more of the RLI in North Campus housing, and have it done in the near future.
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want …” Mick Jagger 1968
Kids got spoiled these days. When I was in college, I had to take a 15 minutes bus ride on campus to go to the train station then wait 10 minutes for a train to the closest town five miles away for a movie or a meal at restaurant. LOL.