<p>Towers have many more freshman there, simply by virtue of being larger. Cate will also be a bit different next year, as a sorority house (Alpha Gamma Delta, in case you care) burned down last year, so the girls will be living in one of the buildings of Cate while it’s being rebuilt. This will change the makeup of Cate a little bit, but since they’re contained to their own building, not overwhelmingly so. I know people who enjoyed the community style dorms, but I was very satisfied with my choice of living in the towers.</p>
<p>Woolscarves-Thanks for the reply! In other words, would you say that the towers have a much higher percentage of freshman there than the community-style dorms and the community-style dorms have more of mix of freshmen, sophomores and upperclassmen? </p>
<p>I don’t know if you live in the room where 4 people share a bathroom. If so, does it work out good?</p>
<p>The floors in the towers are exclusively freshman, except for the floors designated specifically for upperclassmen (there’s one or two of them) and exchange students. I really don’t know how the community-style dorms work, but I’d hazard a guess at saying they probably have slightly more sophomores and upperclassmen. The majority of non-freshman live off campus though.</p>
<p>I did live a suite with four people to a bathroom. It worked out well, especially for me since I had either work or class very early in the morning. There will always be some level of inconvenience, but it definitely worked out well for me and most people had no complaints. </p>
<p>The majority of freshman really enjoy staying in Walker. Community bathrooms in Boren and Headington are cleaned, yes, but there is no privacy. There are four of you that share a toilet, shower/tub, and two sinks in Walker. Is that really too much to clean for 4 people? I don’t think so. The towers are near everything. Headington, Boren Hall are further away from everything, and most are not happy once they realize it’s quite a jaunt everywhere they go. FYI…there are National Merit and Honors floors in the Towers as well, so you’re paying to be secluded, and not really getting much more amenities. Statistically, Walker Tower is rated the best Freshman place to live on campus at OU. </p>
<p>If you are involved in a Sorority or Fraternity, you won’t be in the dorm much anyway, so it’s a bit of wasted money in my opinion. Walker has a lot of diversity. Quiet floor, National Merit, Honors, Global, etc…can’t go wrong there, and the rooms aren’t bad size really…just as big as Air Force Base dorms.</p>
<p>To answer the one question about moving out of the dorms after freshman year, yes. A lot move into the Fraternities and Sororities, some move back home. Staying in any dorm is really overpriced after freshman year.</p>
<p>Drinking…the never ending topic of discussion. Drinking is everywhere. Just because it’s college doesn’t mean your kid is going to drink. They were probably already drinking behind your back already. Get a grip. Reminder…OU does not need to be a wet campus. Most juniors don’t live on campus and and most juniors don’t turn 21 until the end of that year, so why have a wet campus. Bottom line…under 21…illegal for you! OU rules are strict. So are the hazing rules and they stand behind them. Google drinking mishaps at OU and do the real research. You’ll pull up a few things, but read between the lines. A young man, enrolled at OU died in his hometown at a party…not in Oklahoma, and not on campus. He hadn’t even started here yet, so that isn’t OU. There is one true alcohol related underage incident…tragic. Drinking is everywhere, not just at college. I do have to say though that I am pretty impressed with OU, they do pretty good. They actually care. One word of advice if you want it…if you have a son or daughter who you are very strict with, they will spread their wings and go hog wild no matter where they go because they are excited to have their freedom. Lay off a little…give them a bit of freedoms before college.</p>
<p>Bottom line…OU is a great college that cares about their students and their well being. The students love living in Walker and hanging out with as many of their friends all the time. The are in close proximity of everything around them and walking distance to anything and everything…especially the gym and the cafeteria. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Walker, Adams, and Couch have the most freshman, and Walker is the preferred freshman dorm. Cate is more run down and Boren is further from main stream. You should have been able to tour the towers for sure. That’s where you’ll want to be. If you go to the housing website and look at the size of the rooms, you will see where you get the most for your money. Once you get accepted, the sooner you pay you enrollment commitment, you will be at the top of the list to get your first choice of housing. You will get 11 options of room styles and dorms. Once you see all the fees…you may not care. It’s one year. Walker is great. National merit, honors, quiet, global, all are in this dorm. All 12 floors.</p>
<p>Thanks for all that info. OK! We won’t get out to look at Oklahomma until after New year’s, my son will be a NMF, sounds like he may be better off in Walker than honors dorm. Do you know if they guarantee choices for NMF kids?</p>
<p>Is the basic Freshman Meal Plan usually the best one? How does the Meal Point system work?</p>
<p>ZBD, housing choices are not guaranteed for NMS, but my daughter got her first choice which was Walker 10, the NM floor. However, she did get her housing request in early. I think they may have opened up another NM floor in one of the dorms due to demand. </p>
<p>HeliMom, all of the Freshman Meal Plans cost the same. The difference is in the number of all-you-can-eat meals that are available in a more limited number of locations. The lower the number of meals, the more points you have which are equivalent to dollars. They can be used most anywhere on campus and you can get just a sandwich or cup of coffee.We got the minimum number of meals for D, which is 6. I knew she wouldn’t eat a big meal except at maybe dinner or on a weekend. She stocks breakfast food and snacks from the grocery store in her dorm room. She also likes to eat off campus with friends and there are a lot of fun restaurants nearby. I think some weeks she has not used all of her meals and it sounds as if she needs to start using more points before the end of the semester. However, if I had a teenage male with a large appetite, I would consider a different plan.</p>
<p>Thank you, @ohmom. What is the deadline for housing requests if a student wants the Honors Dorm or the NMS floor in Walker?</p>
<p>Just reporting on my D’s experience so far regarding freshman housing, in case it is helpful to others.</p>
<p>She is in David L Boren Hall, the honors dorm, which was her first choice. We submitted the housing request in mid-January, I believe. She was not a NMF, so the NM floor in Walker was not an option for her. Interestingly, her potluck Boren roommate is NMF, so not all of them are in Walker.</p>
<p>Although my D is not a huge fan of residence hall life in general, she has repeatedly said she is really glad she lives in Boren rather than the Towers. Her impression is that Boren has a quieter, less-partying atmosphere, nice study areas, and the residents tend to be others who focus on academics and respect their hallmates’ study time. But they also DO have fun, and she has made some great friends. </p>
<p>The living quarters are small but adequate, with the shared bathroom down the hall serving a short wing of 8 rooms/16 students, or fewer. That set-up has not been a problem. The bathrooms are cleaned daily, which is nice. </p>
<p>Boren is located in the first block south of Lindsay Street, and diagonally across Lindsay/Asp from the football stadium (which is handy for lining up early on game days to try to get a front-row seat in the student section!) So it is actually a bit closer than the Towers to the campus proper. And it has easy access to multiple dining locations and the rec center.</p>
<p>The best advice I can give to any incoming student is to explore ALL the residence hall options, and think about what feels like the best “fit”. It’s not the same for everyone!</p>
<p>@tikimom thank you so much for your help. I am looking at the virtual tours of OU’s residence halls. Is this what the Honors Dorm rooms look like?
<a href=“Dining”>Dining;
Also, I have heard the OU dorms (not sure which ones) require the purchase of a dehumidifier. Did you find this to be the case when your daughter moved into the Honors Dorm?
Again, thank you so much.</p>
<p>HeliMom … I don’t think there is a deadline but the sooner your D puts in the housing request, the more likely she is to get her first choice. She will have to rank order all the choices (about 11, I think). I think I recall something about circumstances where the housing deposit may be refundable, or partly refundable, if the student does not attend OU, but I’m not positive.
The honors dorm rooms are a little smaller than the towers and have the community style bathrooms which are cleaned daily. In the towers, 4 students share a bathroom that they have to clean. The cleaning has been more of an issue than my D expected. I think it is really hard to know which is going to be a better fit for any person. Both the towers and the honors dorm have their advocates.
My D was not required to purchase a dehumidifier but with the steam from 4 girls taking showers, D and her roommate definitely wanted one. I bought a small room humidifier from Amazon. I haven’t heard praise of it but I haven’t heard more complaints either. </p>
<p>@HeliMom74 -
My D has not needed a dehumidifier in the honors dorm. She confirms that dehumidifiers are necessary in the towers because of the ensuite bathrooms.<br>
And yes, that virtual tour pretty much captures the honors dorm rooms, although the ones I’ve seen have shelving on 2 walls, not just the one wall. Maybe the room with a brick wall is an end room, not sure, but most do not have brick walls.</p>
Does anyone know which dorm fills up the first (more demanding)? Towers vs. Boren for the incoming freshman in a shared room?
We’ve just completed putting down our deposit and making our selections as far as preferences. We got an email back that said we’d be notified of his housing assignment. So there’s no selecting at all once you’ve submitted your initial application? That’s not a big deal for us because we’d be OK with traditional but I know that some universities still let you have a few choices right there at the end before it’s final. Also, does anyone know when students are notified of housing assignments?
Last year my D rec’d her housing assignment and roommate assignment around the very end of June / first of July. She didn’t have any further choices to make after the initial application.
Would anyone be willing to tell me about the differences of each of the Towers?
When we took the tour, I believe they said the buildings are alike, but the difference is in what facilities are located in the first floor of the building. Couch seems to have a big food court, and walker seems to have Excetera convenience store, according to the website.
OU trip report part #1
There are a lot of cows between Austin and Norman OK (and not much else!) We had D drive the entire way so she could get a feel for long distance driving. She was surprised that it was harder than she thought and really did need to make some stops just to walk around.
We are staying at the Fairfield Inn. I’m pleased. It’s inexpensive, well appointed (free wifi, microwave, fridge, free breakfast) and it’s close to OU. Just across the parking lot is a restaurant called Charleston’s, if you like shrimp at all you MUST try their Shrimp Cargot. It’s amazing!!! We had our Valentine’s diner there and really enjoyed it.
Today we met with Whenhen and she gave us an amazing tour! Thank You!! It was so cool to have a real student give us a tour! Thanks to Thikimom’s D we also got to the real deal tour of the honors dorm! I am so in love with the architecture at OU! I’m huge Frank Loyd Wright fan! I was almost drooling at the student union! I just can wait to see the campus in the spring when everything is in bloom!
Tomorrow we have have our official tour and I’m so blown away by the appointments OU’s Scholars department was able to set up for her!
8:45 a.m. Arrive, National Scholars Programs
9:00 a.m. Campus Tour
11:15 a.m. Honors College, Dr. Vicki Schaeffer, Director of Honors College Recruitment
12:00 p.m. Lunch with National Scholars Programs Staff at Couch Restaurants
1:30 p.m. College of Engineering, Theresa Marks, Assistant Dean
2:00 p.m. College of Engineering Tour, Mina Moradi, DLC Recruiter
2:45 p.m. Music Minor and Lesson, Visiting Assistant Professor
4:00 p.m. German – Minor, Dr. Karin Schutjer, Associate Professor8
8:15 a.m. National Scholars Programs, Annaly Beck, Associate Director
9:00 a.m. National Weather Center Tour, Kate Lynn Walsh, current Meteorology Junior
10:00 a.m. Meteorology, Dr. David Parsons, Director and Professor
We also found that their is a great yarn store in Norman that even offers classes (this may be the thing pushes her over the top for OU!)
Over all we as parents are really excited about OU!!
-juliew