<p>I’m going to be a freshman at UF next year. I just got sent my housing contract information, and I’m really unsure of where exactly I want to live. I have some questions…</p>
<li><p>I kind of want to live in a dorm for the social experience where its easy to meet people, but I’m applying for Honors and am considering living in Hume, which is apartment style instead of dorm style. Does that make meeting people more difficult or is it a lot less social than regular dorms? Or does the Honors program make it easy to make friends?</p></li>
<li><p>Anyone know anything about the East Hall Engineering Community? I’m going to be an engineering major, so… is it any good for a freshman or anyone?</p></li>
<li><p>What are the best dorms for freshman? It seems like only upperclassman live in the Murphee Residence Area dorms. Is this true or is it good for freshman?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Obviously, I’m kinda crazy about picking the right place to live. Any advice will help!</p>
<p>Don't pick Keys, Springs, or Lakeside? Why not? Those are good places, expensive, but good. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Hume is dorm style-ish. You have a roommate and then two suitemates next door within the same block. You have all these rooms down a hallway. I think the layout of Hume is better than the dorms. Since your roommate and suitemates have your own shower, the Hume hallways are co-ed (because girls and guys are not going to use the same common shower). So the layout of Hume makes it easier for you to meet people because you will have a mix of genders on the same hallway. </p></li>
<li><p>My experience with these "programs" they have is that they are pretty useless. East actually used to be the honors dorm until Hume was built. If you are going to live in Hume, trust me, you will be meeting plenty of engineering majors and so it will probably be better for you to stay as an engineer because you will meet many fellow engineering students. </p></li>
<li><p>Yea not a lot of freshman live in Murphee. I recommend you not to live there. I would suggest, in order:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>#1. Hume
#2. Broward Area- you will like it because you can basically roll out of bed into your next class, these dorms are that close to your freshman courses.<br>
#3. Springs or Lakeside- if you can afford it, people talk about the distance and how you won't get the full dorm experience, I disagree. They are not that far and the location is cool- next to Southwest Rec Center for working out, fields for playing pickup games in soccer and football and a close distance to the O-dome and Stadium among other things.
#4. The Trusler, Simpson, Graham, Tolbert, North, East, etc. area. - Pretty good "common" ground. Close by to sporting events, classes, Reitz, GC for meal plan and a lot of people live in this area. </p>
<p>I would never recommend keys, springs, or lakeside to a freshman.</p>
<p>Keys: can't anyways because its for students with more than 30 credits</p>
<p>Springs and Lakeside: Its not about cost when I don't recommend them. They are not designed to have a social atmosphere as the "freshman dorms" are. Springs has all the athletics and they don't want to be making friends with the freshmans. I worked there summer and the hallways felt like a prison. Lakeside is just too far away. You are better living off campus if you want to live at lakeside. Also, not very social, since you can live there and never leave your room since everything is in the room/living area.</p>
<p>lol all of you are forgetting to tell him that if he has not paid the 25 dollar fee and pays it now he wont get the nicest dorms he will probably end up stuck in one of the bad ones anyway. so if you haven't paid the fee yet don't even try to request the good ones that is an easy way to end up in buckman or thomas</p>
<p>well most of the class buildings are generally on the north or east side of the campus. so yea all your classes should be near there. only exceptions would be if you have classes in norman or new physics. i would say it is a good assumption. your also right next to the student Rec (which is the smaller gym) and both the oconnell and the swamp. and across the street u have many choices of where to go to eat. along with the good there is bad. parking is real slim near there and for a fresman on weekdays the closes parking for a car is parking garage five. The reason being that all the parking that students have their is classified red 1 which you can only get that pass if you have 60 credits. Their is two other parking lots near by in those are for faculty from 7:30-4:00 on weekdays. as for weekends you can park in the faculty parking lots as long as find a spot. but then on game days you can't park anywhere near the murphree are becuase all those spots are reserved for bull gators. but i guess if you don't have a car that is not a problem. or if you don't mind taking a long walk a couple times a wekk that is not a problem either.</p>
<p>I don't know a tremendous amount about all the different dorms, but I have a bunch of friends who live in Hume, and social isolation has definitely not been a problem for them, they've made lots of new friends from within the dorm, and while I believe they're planning to get an apartment next year, they all highly recommend Hume for freshmen.</p>
<p>(Just in case you were wondering, I don't go to UF, but I live in Gainesville, and the people I know are those who graduated from my HS last year.)</p>
<p>i think social isolation at dorms is hard at uf except if you choose lakeside. Hume has a high price tag for a dorm why not just stay off campus right of the bat. Plus Hume is probably a waste of a preference pick becuase honors college students get first pick and then other people are taken.</p>
<p>I like them I am just saying some people get bothered by the walk to their car. in my opinion murphree probably has the biggest rooms on campus. Sledd and Flethcher are okay. They have location, location, location and we in Florida know how important this can be.</p>
<p>UbiquityEssence, My reason for the telling the OP to not picking those dorms were catered to to the things that they was looking for. I have been on-campus for 3 years and lived or worked in many of the areas. By far my favorite area has been the murphree area but its not because its social but that its close to my classes, quiet (so I can study), the rooms are big, and you have people that tend to not care about getting drunk every night. The OP wanted a area that was very social, he/she could meet a lot of people, and can still be semi-close to classes. Murphree is not it, except for being close to class. The route I recommend is that someone stay in the freshmen style dorms freshmen year and make their college friends and then transfer to murphree if you stay another year. But if you are coming in with friends from high school and plan on joining some organizations, then stick with the murphree area.</p>
<p>Bizzygator, it's not necessarily true that the OP isn't going to get a good dorm if they haven't turned in the $25 yet. My priority date was March or April and I ended up getting my first choice in both dorm (Hume) and room style (double).</p>
<p>To the OP, I would definitely echo what others have said and choose Hume first. I also agree with whoever said Broward was a good area for freshman, and with staying away from Murphree area for the freshman year (if you stay on campus in later years it's a good place though). </p>
<p>I also really like Graham and the other dorms in the Graham area, it's social, right by the cafeteria and an on-campus food store, and it's right across from Hume so you're close to all the honors events.</p>