Have found other ways to procrastinate these last few months, so I haven’t spent as much time on this site. No longer! With room and house assignments on their way in the not-so-distant future, your friendly neighborhood O-aides are getting ready to corrupt the youth and terrify their parents.
This time of year usually brings a bunch of questions about the process of moving in and settling into life at UChicago, and it seems easiest to have them all in one place to answer. So…ask away!
i*
Welcome back, Dun.
Whom are we parents going to turn to for insider scoop after you graduate next June 
?
BTW, saw your namesake yesterday at the Reg. He still looks very healthy biking with a whole stack of books in his basket 
@DunBoyer! Welcome back. What’s the word from Housing on whether students will get their choices this year? Was the Vue53 invite solely limited to singles in BJ or wider-spread?
No word from Housing that I know of. That’s above O-Aides’ pay grade. Of course, we don’t get pay, so a lot of things are above our pay grade. Judging by the Vue e-mails, we overenrolled again, so I’d bet on a few people getting their third choice of dorms.
I can only speak to singles in BJ from personal experience (got the e-mail, nice try Housing). Someone I know posted about their suitemate ditching them for Vue53, so it’s not just singles. Not sure what building they live in, though.
I am scratching my head: what is so attractive about Vue53? It is a long walk from the Main Quad. 53rd can be noisy. I am not a fan of their exposed concrete interior. The only good point I can think of is that it is close to Harold’s
^ Single room with more space, A/C, kitchen, probably nicer and more private bathrooms, and it’s close to the Target, CVS and various busses/trains. In-building fitness center. Those reluctant to move off campus - or who have parents reluctant to let them move off campus - due to concerns about “safety and security” would have nothing to worry about.
Yeah, there’s a reason the University had to offer people $1,500 to move there…
Vue 53 combines a bunch of the downsides of off-campus apartments (further from campus, maintenance/chores, no house culture) with some extra downsides (it’s a self-selecting group of people who ditched their house for granite countertops) at a higher cost than just moving off campus for real. So the niche it serves is people who A. don’t care about house culture/staying with their friends in the house, but B. opted for the higher cost of on-campus housing anyway, and C. will trade on-campus housing in their current house for a situation that’s basically moving off campus. There’s some overlap between A and B (maybe people really like the convenience of the meal plan/not doing chores/not dealing with landlords/etc.), but the overlap of B and C is almost nonexistent.
Deeply weird living situation, antiethical to everything the University claims to believe about “house culture” (not being a cynic for once, I think that vision generally makes for a happier and more positive student experience and get the sense Housing is running Vue through gritted teeth). Most Vue residents opted into that specific arrangement, so that’s fine. I feel really sorry for the RAs/RH though.
@DunBoyer - what would you suggest as an alternative to the Vue53 solution?
Easy answer is to keep one of the satellite dorms open until the new dorm’s ready. If Admissions knew they were going to overenroll the classes of 2021 through 2023, that seems like it would’ve been good for Housing to know.
Another option would be to enroll as many students as we have housing for, but the College has decided to increase enrollment for other reasons.
Housing is taking such a beating on the Vue53 leases, it might actually be cheaper to offer some current residents cash for keys: instead of spending $1,500 per student (and lord knows how much above and beyond the college’s room rates on a Vue53 suite), just offer $3,000 or $4,000 to any student who’ll move off campus, no strings attached.
There isn’t really an ideal solution now that the satellites were closed. The University put Housing in a very tough spot.
Dr. Freud has noticed that you used “antiethical” in place of “antithetical” above, @DunBoyer. Hmmm. Your unconscious must be telling you that the ethical dimension is very often antithetical to stated policy. Very interesting. Or is this just the autocorrect gremlin having his usual fun?
“Easy answer is to keep one of the satellite dorms open until the new dorm’s ready. If Admissions knew they were going to overenroll the classes of 2021 through 2023, that seems like it would’ve been good for Housing to know.”
The satellites probably had way more developed house culture than the new dorms so it’s a shame to have lost that. But I’ve been wondering whether that’s been the recent plan to begin with. I mean, all the new houses at North are named after the current trustees and Dean Boyer, right? It’s like they are starting from scratch and erasing everything between 1930 and 2010. Just an impression but it leaves me worried about the few remaining older houses.
“Another option would be to enroll as many students as we have housing for, but the College has decided to increase enrollment for other reasons.”
The unlucky RH/RA who is assigned to Vue53, on the other hand, is presumably compensated in some way and agrees to an uncertain housing decision in exchange for taking the job? Not sure how that works.
“Housing is taking such a beating on the Vue53 leases, it might actually be cheaper to offer some current residents cash for keys: instead of spending $1,500 per student (and lord knows how much above and beyond the college’s room rates on a Vue53 suite), just offer $3,000 or $4,000 to any student who’ll move off campus, no strings attached.”
“There isn’t really an ideal solution now that the satellites were closed. The University put Housing in a very tough spot.”
“…so I’d bet on a few people getting their third choice of dorms.”
Assuming they actually applied for housing! My S may be scared to get out of bed today, LOL!
“Easy answer is to keep one of the satellite dorms open until the new dorm’s ready. If Admissions knew they were going to overenroll the classes of 2021 through 2023, that seems like it would’ve been good for Housing to know.”
I drove by Breckinridge Hall just yesterday. It looked empty and ignored. I am still puzzled why Residence Life does not spend a minimal amount of money to renovate it and put it up as a new temporary dorm. Yes, it would be even further from Main Quad than I-House but heck, Breckinridge had been a dorm for decades and tons of students were fine with it.
Right now, Vue53 resembles the current vision for a dorm more than does Breckinridge. Hoping they leave BJ and Snitch alone.
@momo2x2018 - no word yet. My DS just had wisdom teeth out and is in bed with ice packs and gauze. Not sure when we’ll find out about his housing, tbh.
You got me, I can’t spell.
Looks like Dorm assignments are out!
Maybe there was some of that in the original decision to consolidate housing closer to campus. The impression we got from Housing when Vue53 was first rolled out in the summer of 2017 was one of last-minute panic.
The College’s process really isn’t rocket science. Nondorf goes off and does his thing, gives Housing a number in June, and they have to find that many beds by September. There’s every indication (publicly and off the record) that Housing was blindsided by the size of the class of 21, and Vue53 was a very expensive last-minute fix that they’ll drop the nanosecond Woodlawn opens.
@JBStillFlying - Well, at least it’s not a tent on the Quad! He’s in IHouse, single! Tell me that’s good 
Questions:
How far is the nearest food?
Will a single afford the same ‘bonding’ opportunities or is is preferable to have personal space?
Is IHouse mainly grad students?
Etc…
@momo2x2018 Congrats on I-House - a significant step up from a tent (indoor plumbing!) What house was your son assigned to? My DD is in Booth.
Food - It’s a 14 minute walk to Cathey Dining Commons according to Google maps, which seems about right. Kids can also go to other dining halls, say for lunch, that are close to their pre-lunch class.
Bonding - Each house within the dorm has its own little lounge where kids hang out, play video games, watch movies etc. which provides a “bonding space”. The houses also schedule activities such as going out to eat, apple-picking, game nights, you name it. In addition, houses compete in sports which are open to all. My non-athlete daughter was on her house’s midnight soccer, bowling and broomball teams Overall, it may be a little harder to have those “spur of the moment” interactions bco all the singles. But there will be lots of 1st years in the dorm looking to make friends and lots of opportunities to do so.
Grad students - I House used to be grad housing, but now it is 100% undergrads.
@momo2x2018: I share the opinion of a few others that singles are really the best housing situation, because you always have the option to socialize - just leave your door open so people can pop in as they pass by! - while you aren’t forced to socialize when you need to sleep or study. D had a single for two years by choice. S19 just got his assignment and it’s a single as requested so he’s happy.
As I mentioned before, I House has more established houses than the newer dorms. This is a definite plus. The negative will be the longer trek over to Cathey which is where your house table is located. However, Cathey is known to have the best food so that’s a plus (or perhaps less of a negative). Last year they did set up some sort of breakfast situation in I-House for the undergrads but I don’t know the details. The students are welcome to eat at any of the dining halls or use some of their dollars for Hutchins Commons at the Reynolds Club (Notheast corner of the quad so across from the Reg). All dining halls have regular eating areas as well as house tables.
There are no grad students in I-House. The university kicked them all out a few years ago to make room for the expanded college size until Woodlawn could be up and running. It is 100% undergrad and living there will reflect that fact. (When I was a grad student, it was the opposite; but in those days, the number of undergrads was about a third of the size of the College today). My best guess is that your RA’s and house heads will have lots of great advice on stuff like dining and will have plans in place to make it a great time to socialize. I’ve heard that houses will often meet to walk or catch the shuttle to Cathay so that everyone dines together.
I-House also has great transportation options into the downtown area. You are right next to the 59th street Metra as well as the #6 bus, among other options. There are definite advantages to living in that part of HP.
Edit to add: Walking to campus is no big deal. Did it everyday from I-House. And I appreciated living a few blocks away from all that intense brainpower emanating from the quad!