<p>Can anyone comment on the various on-campus housing options for an incoming freshman? We've read everything available online but we're trying to get opinions about the different residence halls in general, as well as the special interest communities.</p>
<p>Does anyone have comments about the "scholastic floors", and the "global community"? </p>
<p>Is David L Boren Hall available only to students admitted to the Honors College? Or would someone in the "OU Scholars" program qualify?</p>
<p>My son lives in the honors dorm (David Boren Hall). You do not have to be in the Honors College or be a NM Scholar to live there, although a good number of the kids who live there are in the Honors College. The rooms are smaller (think “old school” dorm rooms) and there are community bathrooms. The upside to community bathrooms is that they are cleaned daily. In the Towers, bathroom cleaning is the responsibility of the kids in the room. The honors dorm has a student lounge and my son spends all of his time there, as there is always something going on. From the way he talks, I gather that it is a pretty “tight” community. It’s not unusual for kids who start out in the honors dorm to continue to live there after their freshman year. It is my understanding that most kids in the towers move off campus after the first year. </p>
<p>My son has some friends who live on the National Merit floor in the towers. They seem to like it. I thought the towers had a sterile, “institutional” feel, especially compared to the honors dorm, but different things appeal to different people. </p>
<p>You really have to visit and look at all the different housing options. My son knew right away that the honors dorm was right for him.</p>
<p>Thanks, Soonermom95! I really appreciate your comments. We visited once in the summer and got the generic tour, but hope to get back there to explore a bit more on our own. The honors dorm has a lot of appeal!</p>
<p>I’ve heard very mixed reviews of the NMF floor, although the negative opinions primarily derive from students who wish to party in college. I have no idea why this is, but I’ve heard multiple people cite the overly moralistic attitude as one of the reasons why they weren’t fans of Walker 10. On the other hand, I know quite a few people who appreciated its studious, quieter nature, so YMMV. </p>
<p>I’ve heard mostly positive things about the global community. The primary issues I’ve heard about are the cultural differences, particularly cleaning ( many international grew up with servants), and trouble with English. </p>
<p>Apologies for any typos, I’m typing this from my phone.</p>
<p>All good to know - thanks, Whenhen!
I do imagine the global community would be challenging in the ways you mentioned, and rewarding as well. She wants to study abroad herself at some point, so it might provide an interesting perspective.</p>
<p>Hello all! I made an account on here just to answer some questions!</p>
<p>I lived on the Global Community floor in Couch tower! I highly recommend it, other than the fact it looks great on a resume later in life, you will learn about so many different cultures! We had someone from every continent, and about 15 different countries! Plus, it’s the only floor(s) in the towers with your own card-accessed community kitchen! The kitchen has a stove, oven, refrigerator, ours had a tea kettle (I think someone may have brought that) among other appliances that were really nice! </p>
<p>A really good friend of mine who lived on this floor moved to the Honors floor the next year and I got pretty good exposure to what it’s like there and as Soonermom said, the people you meet there will grow on you like family! The Honors college has earlier “quiet” hours and curfew for freshman, however Sophmore+ in the dorms do not have a curfew, but there are quiet hours of course. </p>
<p>Another dorm area to look at is Cate, which the honors dorms are technically part of, and there are about 20 rooms on a floor (ten on each side of the hall) and 4 floors, 3 of which actually have rooms that people live in. As such the people who live there are even more closely niche’d into a “family”. They also have the community bathrooms(shower rooms), so keep that in mind. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, all of the dorms are great places to live! I can’t speak for the new athletic halls, but from what I have seen they are superb (should be for that price to construct!), and non-athletes can also live there! Quite a few of my friends are also RA’s (Residence Advisors - the people who “manage” the floors and help the students). </p>
<p>Feel free to message me, I am a current student and know a lot of people who still live in the dorms! Also, don’t be shy to call the housing office! They are super awesome nice people and love to help everyone out! - funny story about that, I was so scared to live in the dorms so far away from home, and scheduled a visit just for the dorms and even got to come see the exact room I would be in before I could move in!</p>
<p>cbennett1926 - I appreciate all the info. We started working on the housing app but got sidetracked probably until after the holidays. So all this is very helpful to know before we try to get that finalized!</p>
<p>Could anyone comment on drinking on campus? I know there is a no drinking policy, but is this policy enforced? Also, what about cut-off times for visitors? How strict is it? What do visitors with opposite or same gender siblings visiting from elsewhere do, for example?</p>
<p>Let me preface this by saying that I’m a transfer so I don’t really know how most freshmen drink. However, unless you’re going to the Traditions apartments or fraternity row (I think that’s technically on campus) the on campus party scene is terrible since it’s basically confined to dorm parties/pregames full of cheap liquor. The RAs I know have told me that as long as students don’t make it super obvious they’re drinking in the dorms, they’ll try to ignore it. </p>
<p>As far as the no drinking thing is concerned, yes OU takes it more seriously than most. Fraternities are required to be dry. Though few are actually alcohol free (that’s an understatement), the dry campus policy means that students need to know about frat parties ahead of time. Unlike at my previous school, students can’t simply walk the row looking for the dozen parties going on, since an open party, especially one that is advertised on a Facebook group, would draw the ire of OUPD. </p>
<p>The off campus parties are pretty good, and it’s at these that most OU students drink. These parties can range from very mellow dinner parties to stereotypical crazy college rager with everything in between. </p>
<p>A lot of OU students who live in the dorms have sex, so I doubt the RAs in freshmen floors particularly care if you have an overnight visitor, especially if it’s your sibling and your roommate agreed to the arrangement. I’ve had drunk friends sleep in my dorm before (I have a single in an upperclassman hall) and have never had problems getting them up to my floor or room. </p>
<p>Thanks, whenwhen. Sounds pretty normal. Do you think there would be a major difference in drinking and overnights based on living in Walker 10 (NM floor) or the Honors housing versus other dorms?</p>
<p>I don’t know about the overnights but I was talking to two of my NMF friends about your other question today. They both agreed that not only is there less drinking in the NMF and Honors dorms, but also there is a certain stigma attached to discussing going out to parties which is largely absent on other floors. Both of these students are binge drinkers, so for them, the lack of discussion regarding where to find a party was a distinct negative, but for someone who doesn’t want to party every weekend, the more sober environment could be a good option. </p>
<p>Thanks @whenhen. Really appreciate the insight of a student who is not only there now, but has another campus for comparison. I went to multiple colleges before I graduated, so sometimes I have a perspective my wife does not get vis-a-vis ‘normal’ campus life! </p>
<p>S1 is definitely going to fit in better with the NMF/Honors groups that way. He barely goes out now. We were fairly strict about dating prior to age 16, but he has plenty of opportuntity now and use his time for studying, playing games/reading, or tutoring others. </p>
<p>My understanding is that parking is expensive and a PITA. What are your thoughts on the need for a vehicle, especially for freshmen?</p>
<p>Lol, after transferring from a private university to OU, the $200 for a year long parking pass doesn’t seem particularly awful. Anyways, while having a car isn’t necessary, it is helpful. I use my car about once or twice a week to get groceries, hang out with friends, or do any number of things where a car is useful. My car has also allowed me to go down to Texas and Tulsa for major related events, which I otherwise would not have been able to access. If your son does come to Oklahoma, I’d highly recommend he take his vehicle with him.</p>
<p>Also parking isn’t a big deal for freshmen who live in the dorms. It does suck for upperclassmen who drive to campus since there are far more commuter parking passes issued than available spots. </p>
<p>LOL - you said ‘his vehicle’. He drives our old beat up truck. D1 will drive that to HS. He is going to have to come up with something. The plan for now is for him to pack ‘light’. Since we are only a few hours away, we can always run things up to him on the weekends for now. More looking at the future to try to determine if we want to have him think about getting a car for 2015…as always, appreciate your insight.</p>
<p>My “fear” in choosing OU is that it seems like most students move off campus after freshman year. Back in my day 
people usually lived on campus till junior or senior year (or went to the on-campus apartments). I’m worried it will mean that students are disconnected from campus and from each other? The Honors House – DS would be a good fit there, but the tour guide made it sound like it would be “iffy” as to space for sophomores and upperclassmen?</p>
<p>I would dig a little deeper. The only schools that do not see this problem are those with limited off-campus housing in the area. Since so many choose to move off campus, that actually would tend to mean MORE opportunities are available for your DS to live on campus. S1 is targeting the NMF floor in the towers, with the Honors House as 2nd choice. He is not the type to live off-campus and I don’t see that changing for the first couple of years any way. </p>
<p>What we heard on his visit was that off-campus is often cheaper and since his scholarship covers housing either way, some kids will move off campus. Ultimately, I think those who live off campus are looking to party more and do not want some of the ‘rules’ that apply on campus. I lived off campus as a Freshman because my older sibling lived near enough to the campus (large state flagship) that I could commute. Cheaper option for our family. I still spent as much time as I could on campus being engaged with my peers. The kids who are not engaged you don’t really want your kid hanging with anyway. :)</p>
<p>@WhatToChoose…my son currently lives in the Honors Dorm. He said there are a good number of upper classmen who live there. I gather from what he’s told me, this isn’t necessarily true of kid who live in the Towers. I think a lot of those students do move off campus. There are campus housing apartments, too. That’s where my son hopes to live next year. </p>
<p>I spoke w/an NM student who said she lived on the NM wing her first yr, on-campus apartments her sophomore year, then an off-campus house her Jr year. </p>
<p>If a student wants to live in the dorms, he or she should not have any problem doing so. I’m a sophomore transfer who applied for housing in late July and moved into the dorms mid-August. Getting a place in Traditions (apartments owned by OU) is slightly more difficult although virtually everyone I know who applied for them got in.</p>
<p>So my son and I visited OU last week and I was impressed with how pretty the OU campus was. We toured one of the towers (don’t remember which one) but I was disappointed that we did not get to see the Community-Style dorms (Cate Center or David L. Boren Hall). Our tour guide made it sound like it was better for a freshman to live in one of the towers. From the website, community-style dorms look a little rundown but I like the fact that they have a cheaper rate and have less drinking/partying going on. Does anyone know which dorm (towers vs. cate vs. Boren) has the most freshmen there?</p>