Thank you @browniesundae (Shorey House) and @JBStillFlying
Suddenly, this is becoming quite exciting! I think I read somewhere that I-House had been closed for renovations over the summer (?) I’d love to see pics of the interiors… Soon enough!
@momo2x2018 There are some pix on the housing site: https://housing.uchicago.edu/residence-halls/international-house/
They did major renovations on it last summer - scaffolding all over the place till right before the start of the school year. I recall the first floor being absolutely charming and it was a popular spot for receptions once upon a time.
I’m pleased to hear that Shorey House continues. It used to be a House in Pierce Tower, and at that time it was known as the most intellectual of all the Houses. It was the House of the phenomenal Leon Botstein (the boy wonder future President of Bard College and Director of the American Symphony Orchestra). They were always inviting noted U of C profs over for Sunday evening gab sessions. I walked across campus from BJ one wintry evening to join a group getting pearls of wisdom from the mouth of Paul Tillich. The House itself was named for Paul Shorey, an old Chicago Prof who at one time (the early 20th century) was a big authority on Plato. I always wondered whether they assigned a certain type of hardcore intellectual kid to that House for that reason. Does that tradition continue, I wonder?
I-House gets dissed a lot, but it must have something going for it; when Geoff Stone was on a rampage to demolish it back a couple of decades ago there was an outcry from the many former residents who had loved it. The plan was shelved and renovations were carried out.
^ True! I recall the Save I-House! campaign (my name must still have been on their mailing list). The university wanted to turn it into b-school housing and the hue and cry was enormous. I selected I-House having stayed there for my April Overnight (yes, we had them in grad school too) and because I loved the International House at Cal Berkeley. Was ready to bolt out of there at the end of the academic year because I didn’t care for group showers LOL. Hopefully they’ve updated the bathrooms since that time (over 30 years ago so probably).
@momo2x2018 First of all: congrats! My friends in I-House describe it as a really tight-knit community, and most talk fondly of the time they’ve spent there.
While I hate to quote David Br**ks, something he wrote put it pretty well (and made it to the campus meme page, because he writes like the sound of a Brahmin accent).
As an alum of this fine institution, I’m sure Brooks is contractually obligated to cite us as an example, but he’s on to something. And everything above is doubly true of the houses with some history and an established house culture. I-House leans in that direction, and with luck your kid will experience all the best of that culture.
Second all of this. In my experience, most dorm rooms (single or double) are a bit small for a decent-sized group to socialize - especially if people are doing other stuff at the same time (movies, games, pretending to work, etc.). So the best interactions happen in the house lounge and at the house table. Especially in dorms with a lot of singles, people really lean into these common spaces for meaningful and enjoyable social interaction.
Hahahahahahahaha
Did first-years get their housing assignments via the new my.housing portal? Fourth-years got an e-mail about our room assignments being confirmed, and this looks like it was programmed on a potato. Works fine, but programmed on a potato. Think the server is powered by a hamster wheel as well
Wait - so the housing assignment doesn’t show up in My.UChicago anymore? Or can you access my.housing from my.UChicago?
My daughter said she found out her housing info through a website called star rez or something like that. She didn’t even look on her UChicago portal, so I don’t know if the information is also there or not.
She also said the site was down for a bit this morning when housing was announced, resulting in some first years waiting for about 20 minutes or so until the site was up and running again.
Hi, I have two questions for current students or parents of current students: 1) in your experience, does Housing do a good job of matching roommates? and 2) does South have particularly good houses, and if so which ones? Thanks!
Not great, not terrible. In my three years here, my house has had one truly great set of roommates (lived together in the same room for four years, got along famously despite wildly different backgrounds and political/social views that neither was shy about), a few strange pairings, and two roommates who just did not get along (one ultimately moved when another room in the house opened up). The vast majority of roommates get along fine for a year, and then move into singles or share a double/suite/off-campus apartment with friends they made here (returning students can pick their room and roommate(s)).
If you used housing’s algorithm for 50% of roommate pairings and randomized the other half, I’m sure Housing’s approach would lead to happier roommates and fewer issues on average, but I doubt the difference would be huge.
Really impossible to say. First-years typically make up just under half of residents, so house culture can change a lot from year to year. So you might get a bumper crop of UChicago quirky kids, a glut of normies, an inexplicably high number of linguistics majors, half the oboe players on campus, three of Chicago’s top ten jerks, a bunch of DnD enthusiasts, 3-4 people with chaotic personalities that shape the entire house’s culture…you name it
Students matriculating this fall and beyond are required to stay in Housing for two years instead of one, so this dynamic could change in 2020-2021. Having about as many second-years as first-years in Housing for the first time will probably lead to more consistency in house culture as resident turnover drops. We’ll see.
Housing information on my.UChicago hasn’t been updated since March (so it lists last year’s room assignments). We got an e-mail with a link to the new portal, which they call myHousing (and, like @lilchaz said, have hosted on a service called StarRez). That has up-to-date information.
I drove by I-House today and there were scaffolding being set up. It looks like another remodeling job is beginning.
On the other hand, there is nothing going on around BJ except a chain link fence by the front gate entrance. Maybe Residence Life is trying to fix the walkway rather than something inside BJ itself. @DunBoyer are you aware of any major remodelling going on at BJ?
Yeah, Housing is adding a real wheelchair ramp. The existing ramp was a makeshift thing grafted onto the steps, with a grade of 30 degrees or so. I’ve nearly broken my neck walking down that thing in the winter, so I can only imagine what it’s like trying to push yourself up in a wheelchair.
When renovations are done, it’ll still be a pain getting into the houses (there’s only so much you can do with a 90-year-old building) but the new ramp and a redesigned front desk area will make the courtyard more accessible to visitors.
I’m glad this is happening, because what we had clearly wasn’t working. We had a family member in a wheelchair there to help their kid move in one year, and it was not pretty. They were very patient and nice about it, but going up a 30-degree ramp, getting out of your wheelchair twice so O-Aides can ferry it over a step, and making your way through a narrow hallway so you can barely squeeze through the door to your kid’s room isn’t much of a welcome.
I’ve been on that ramp - it IS dangerous. My D’s cart almost got away from us at Move-Out this time. Usually they open up the other entrance on the east side of BJ which was significantly nearer to her house, but for some reason that wasn’t opened when she was trying to move. So even though I was parked near the law school, we had to wheel a cart through the entire courtyard and out the front entrance, only to wheel it back toward the law school once on the sidewalk. And getting a cart full of luggage and stuff down that makeshift ramp wasn’t fun. Lots of loiters at the base just hanging and round in front of BJ, waiting to be clocked by a runaway cart.
@browniesundae Thanks for the link to the pics. That bed! It looks like a cheap Barbie knock-off bed, LOL! I think I recall your D lived in I-House last year? If so, did she love it?
It it correct that the showers are communal showers? My S will not like that, at all.
Is there any privacy?
Sorry for so many questions! I don’t find the UC website very informative ie not a lot of pics / no pics of bathrooms / explanations of how dining works etc. 
@momo2x2018 Totally agree UChicago housing site needs some improvement!
The beds are fine - remember to buy twin XL size bedding. The matresses are vinyl encased, but otherwise pretty normal. I bought my D a mattress pad/protector plus a foam mattress topper (you can spend anywhere from $30 to over $100 for these foam toppers, so you may want to shop around!)
Bathrooms are down the hall. Shower stalls are individual. IIRC, there are 2 spaces in each individual stall (with shower curtains in between) - first space is for changing clothes, second space is the shower.
Last year parents complained about how breakfast was so far away, so dining services started providing breakfast in I-House for a meal swipe (honestly, I don’t think my daughter ever got breakfast at I-House.) There is also a cafe in I-House called Tiffin’s that has lunch for Maroon dollars or cash/credit: https://ihouse.uchicago.edu/about/tiffin_cafe/ During the “polar vortex” last year, dining services brought dinner to I-House for the residents.
After saying all that, however, my D ate at Cathey or other dining hall 99% of the time (that’s where the “house table” is, so there’s always someone to eat with).
See my post #18 for other I-House comments. My D was disappointed to be assigned to a single in I-House in August of last year, but she ended up loving it and her house and her RA and UChicago. She’s staying in I-House in a triple with close friends this year! All will be well!
@momo2x2018 Correction: looks like Tiffin Cafe is not open for lunch, but is open for breakfast and then again in the evening.
@browniesundae Thank you! Actually, and fortunately, my S is happy to be assigned a single, so that a hurdle we don’t need to jump! I really dislike those vinyl beds, every time you move, they make a noise; hopefully, a mattress topper will help with that.
Also, It’s good to know that breakfast is now available in I-House; I told my S he has to do less eating out, and more eating in - this will def. help!
Thanks again!!
“It it correct that the showers are communal showers? My S will not like that, at all.
Is there any privacy?”
“Bathrooms are down the hall. Shower stalls are individual. IIRC, there are 2 spaces in each individual stall (with shower curtains in between) - first space is for changing clothes, second space is the shower.”
- This is an upgrade from my day - Thankfully! TBH, the (offensively nicknamed) "gas chamber showers" were the only thing most of us disliked about I-House at the time. Tiffin's a great option; however, you might also want to rent a micro fridge to help with B-fast now and then. Many opt to purchase rather than rent and that's a good option too because it's cheaper. However, just make sure your storage space at I-House or wherever you end up 2nd year includes room for it. The advantage of spending the extra money to rent is that it's there when you arrive and at the end of the year they come and take it away.
"Sorry for so many questions! I don’t find the UC website very informative ie not a lot of pics / no pics of bathrooms / explanations of how dining works etc. "
- This needs fixing. Guessing they will unfold a "new and improved" page once Woodlawn Commons is up and running. If it's any consolation, it's been like that for awhile now. However, you might be able to find some independently-posted stuff from other students just via a google search. Also, your house should have a FB page so you can join that and get some location-specific advice. As an old dorm, I-House isn't going to have uniform room layout between the various wings and towers, and they've mashed rooms together and broken them up over the years, depending on circumstances. So your house will be the best source of advice for how your single and the bathrooms in your section specifically might look.