<p>Im a transfer student and I need advice as to which is better Odum or Kenan Community? I really liked the fact that Odum has a kitchen because I like to cook for myself and wish to have lots of privacy but Kenan looks so nice. Plus I grew up in a big family and wish to have as much space for myself as possible. </p>
<p>Or are there any other suggestions? Someone help?</p>
<p>Odum is apartment style, Kenan is corridor style… Odum is south campus (almost as south campus as you can get), while Kenan is north campus (almost as north as you can get), so it’s going to be a very different experience depending what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>When I visited Odum I really didn’t like the cinderblock walls, they made it feel rather impersonal and almost prison like, but they weren’t horrible or anything. The Odum community seems to cater more to graduate and foreign exchange students than your typical UNC student, so there’s a different vibe there as well.</p>
<p>I have no experience with Kenan personally, but most of the north campus dorms are similar in the type of experience you’re going to get. Very close to classes (unless you’re going to the business school), very close to Franklin, more traditional students, easier to make friends because of the hall/corridor style, etc.</p>
<p>If you’re really interested in having a kitchen and cooking for yourself, the apartment style is going to be way better. You’ll have a fridge, a real place to cook, etc, all in your room. You’ll have way more privacy in an apartment style…</p>
<p>But you have to realize that your first semester you’re going to be <em>really</em> busy learning your way around, getting used to the UNC workload, and all the stuff that comes with that. Personally I had no time to cook for myself at all my first semester, though I’m a chem major, so your mileage may very depending on how rigorous your major is.</p>
<p>Personally I’d try to get into Ram Village if you want an apartment style, they’re much nicer… though also much more expensive.</p>
<p>Yes I got into Ram Village but decided to switch. Would you recommend a certain community where I can meet people easily but also have privacy? I mean Im not a party girl but I dont wish to be a hermit either. Whats close to Hamilton Hall or the Wilson Library?</p>
<p>Unfortunately you really give up the privacy for the socialization in the dorms. It really depends on who your roommates are in a dorm as to how well it meets your expectations of privacy unless you manage to snag a single, which is pretty much impossible as they’re typically set aside for people with medical issues and RA’s.</p>
<p>The apartment style gives you your own room, so you only have to worry about sharing the common area with your suitemates, but it is more closed off. I loved living in Ram and I wouldn’t call myself a hermit, you just meet friends more through classes and EC’s than you do on a hall in apartment style.</p>
<p>Kenan is close enough to Hamilton, and that’s pretty close to Wilson (why Wilson?)… probably a 5 min walk to both. Ram is a good 15-20 min walk from either, though if you live in Odum/Ram you’ll probably take the bus to north campus every day anyway.</p>
<p>The Kenan community is fab - and in Kenan, there are kitchens on the first and third floors (the second floor has a study lounge/windowless hole - no idea why!). Odum is FAR! And kind of ghetto. A friend of mine calls it Scrotum Village. Not very mature of her, but funny nevertheless! ; )</p>
<p>You’re really talking about the difference between an older apartment and a recently renovated dorm. With Odum you get an apartment with a bathroom and kitchen all your own, but they are old, they have cinderblock walls and sort of ugly tile floors. With Kenan community you get dorms, you get your room (probably to share with a roommate?) and hall bathrooms and hall kitchens. I lived in Alderman and LOVED it, it is honestly one of the nicest dorms on campus and its a 10 minute walk to most things (closer to Hamilton) versus a longer walk. Buttt Alderman is still a dorm, with Odum you get privacy and a different vibe, it is much more frequently transfers or upperclassmen. </p>
<p>If it were me and I were a transferring underclassman, I’d go Kenan, it’s MUCH closer to things and the dorms are really nice. But, it really comes down to weighing aesthetic qualities versus privacy.</p>