I’m an incoming freshman and just received my housing contract yesterday. I was hoping for Markley or one of the other dorms on the hill. If not one of those then I was hoping for Bursley. I really did not want Baits, Northwood, or Oxford. I ended up getting a double in the Noble house on Oxford. From what I’ve heard the only good thing about Oxford is that lots of rooms have a private bath and kitchenette but I don’t have either of those. However, my main concerns are getting to classes and the social life. I’m in engineering so first semester I have classes on north campus 3 days a week and classes on central everyday. Will the traveling suck seeing as how Oxford is not very close to central and I still have to take a bus to north? Also, I am worried about making friends and even though Oxford is all freshmen I hear that it is kind of isolated and not very social because it is split up into different houses. Do people leave their doors open? Are hallways tight-knit? Do people have dorm parties? Are RA’s strict? Is the social atmosphere better or worse than Baits? I am considering trying to swap to one of the residence halls on the hill or possibly even Bursley. Would it be a good idea? I’ve kind of been focusing on the bad but is there any good things about Oxford that might make me want to stay there?
I’ve never lived in Oxford, but did live in the big brick apartment complex literally right across the street from Oxford last year (CMB Geddes Hill Apartments). My thoughts:
- Personally I think it's a pretty solid assignment on the whole. I have friends who have lived in Oxford (almost all of whom are very social people), and they all unanimously loved their experience. I can't speak to the specific dorm dynamics, but the sense I got was that their relative isolation from everyone else created a tight, close-knit environment where everyone knew each other and in a sense bonded over that isolation. Furthermore, you're right in a greek life zone, so if that's your thing you're in a good spot (if you're not into greek life, pretty easy to ignore too).
- The Northwood Express/Diag-to-Diag/Oxford shuttle (its name and route changes based on the time of day... don't ask): It is your friend. Use it, and love it. My only experience with any of the buses was through the Oxford shuttle (was fortunate to be on the hill my first two years), but they actually arrive very frequently, enough so that I looked to catch it whenever I could. Yes, you're still way out there and isolated and it does suck, but it beats north campus every day (you don't have to take the shuttle if you're just going to central).
- Having North Campus classes does complicate matters a bit, but FWIW my roommate had most of his classes on North and didn't seem to mind all the transportation he needed to take. He also had a car that he was able to make use of at times, but to me it seems like it would be worth the extra inconvenience of having to take the shuttle up to North to be closer to central. The day-time shuttle routes actually take you nonstop from Oxford to North, which is pretty convenient.
So those are my thoughts from someone who has never lived in Oxford but knows a lot about it. Think it’s worth it for you to stay, but if you really want to be on North I’m sure you won’t have much issue finding a swap partner (would be shocked if you find a swap partner on the Hill, but you never know).
I agree with basically everything ThePeanutMaster said. (I also have never lived in Oxford. I lived in West Quad, East Quad, now off campus.) But in truth Oxford seems like it’s really far out of the way (and yeah, it’s not West/South/East Quad in terms of closeness to the Diag) but it’s really not that far from Central Campus. Maybe a 15-20 minute walk on a bad day? And there are buses of course.
But most importantly…Oxford is right across the street from the Arb (Nichols Arboretum). I wish I lived right across the street from the Arb!! It’s one of my favorite places in Ann Arbor.
Just be happy you’re not living in Fletcher, the actual worst dorm on campus 
Thanks for the replies. I probably will just stick with what I have because I don’t want to go through the hassle of switching and the location of Oxford is still probably better than north. Although I did look at the room swap ads and saw someone in Couzens willing to switch to Oxford, but their room was a single and I don’t really want to isolate myself like that. BTW I’m pretty sure my roommate may be gay. Not that it’s a problem but I’m just worried that we won’t relate and end up not talking to each other. I guess that could happen with any roommate though. I’ve been wondering if people usually become good friends with roommates and hangout because that’s what I was hoping for. Any more information or opinions on my situation or Oxford housing would be much appreciated.
If you want to switch for bursley, message me?
I lived in Oxford last year. I wasn’t too excited about it at first like you, but I ended up really enjoying living there!
- My roommate ended up becoming one of my best friends. But I think in general, many people end up with a casual and friendly relationship with their roommates - not BFFs but not enemies. If you don't end up being really great friends, that's okay. You have almost 30,000 other people on campus :)
- The bus is called the Northwood Express in the morning, Diag-to Diag in the afternoons, and Oxford Shuttle in the nights and weekends. The route changes slightly with the Oxford Shuttle, but you'll catch on pretty quickly. They're pretty consistently on time and can take you right to North Campus. There's a Michigan app everyone should download that shows you where the buses are in real time.
- I actually preferred the buses taking me to central than living on the hill. I'm pretty lazy and it's SO cold in the mornings, so I like that I can walk outside the building and jump on a bus that'll take me to CC Little in less than 10 minutes. I once walked to class from Markley, and it wasn't a very fun ~20 minute walk.
- Social life: depends on what floor you're on. There were floors that were super close and hung out, and others that didn't. That's true for most dorms. On the weekends, my friendsliked to came to Oxford to pregame and chill and go out afterwards. It's in the prime spot to go to parties that are close by (if you're into that). If not, I don't think you'll find the social life lacking.
- Social life definitely better than Baits. As for Bursley, Oxford is the superior option. However, you did say you were an engineer, and there are definitely more engineers on North Campus. If you wanted to be around more engineers or didn't want a longer commute, Bursley may be a better choice. For all your other reasons though (social life, getting to class), Oxford is great.
- Last comments: we have Twigs, our own dining hall right there in Oxford. It's smaller but you can order great Quesadillas and burgers :D. My friends would willingly make the commute to get Quesadillas at Twigs and no other dining hall serves them constantly. When I say I lived in Oxford, people would ask me curiously what it's like to live there. When my friend says he lived in Bursley, people would usually look at him with pity. Maybe that'll help your decision haha.
As for making friends, everyone’s worried about that. Don’t worry, you’ll find your niche! If you don’t find it within your dorm, you’ll meet people through friends, mutual friends, classes, parties, clubs, etc. Hopefully this helps and let me know if you have any questions.
Yeah I’m just going to stay with what I got. Sorry Jimboboy. The responses made me feel a lot better about living in Oxford and I mine as well live on central/hill before I have even more classes on north in later years. Haha now I just wish I had one of the suites with a bathroom and kitchenette. That would be awesome. Oh well.