<p>I'm going to be a freshman this fall and I'm stuck lol
I don't know if I should request to stay in a program house or a traditional dorm.
Which would you choose?</p>
<p>Well I was considering a program house in the beginning. However after much thought I decided against it. I am African American but I like hanging out with all kinds of people and I don’t want to isolate myself.
Moreover when I visited the program houses seem a little more shabby and run-down compared to the other dorms.</p>
<p>bump bump bump…</p>
<p>i lived in a program house freshman year and i have to say that it was an awesome time. what’s nice is that there are upperclassmen too in those dorms who befriend you. it was nice not just being around freshmen at the beginning of the year, and you meet a lot more people more quickly, or at least that was my experience.</p>
<p>Traditional dorm. Program houses will yield you with friends who possess similar interests and whatnot. Traditional dorms will provide you with a assembly of friends with different and diverse interests. Diversity is better.</p>
<p>As you can tell from the above responses, the choice between a program house and a residence hall is unique to your individual tastes. Personally, I chose a single in a residence hall because as an entering freshman, I’d prefer not to be committed to a particular niche or a roommate that I might not end up liking. If, on the other hand, you’re already certain about the sub-communities you’d like to be a part of at Cornell, then it could be a meaningful decision to get involved in a program house in your freshman year. Also, if I’m not wrong, you can switch housing in time for spring semester so even if you find that you don’t like the traditional dorms or that you’re really missing out on a program house experience, you’ll only have to put up with it for 15 weeks before making the switch (space permitting, of course).</p>
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<p>this is a common misconception that many people have about program houses - just because a program house attracts people who may have SOME interest in the subject matter that the program house promotes, does NOT mean that ALL of the people who live in those program houses are the same and have the same interests. </p>
<p>i lived in risley during my freshman year and all of my friends, while having some interest in art/drama/music, are extremely diverse. my list of friends from risley include hotelies, psych majors, college scholars, comp lit majors, AEM majors, architects, planners, design students, comm majors, etc. etc. it was just pretty easy to find things to talk about. i mean, come on. everyone has their own taste in art/music/whatever, but at least we all had some strong opinions on those topics. it was a good icebreaker of sorts, and definitely cut down A LOT on the confusion of freshman year. also, most of my best friends now are the first people i hung out with in risley - and i can’t say that many of my friends who lived in the traditional freshmen dorms still keep in touch with a lot of “friends” they made during their first weeks here.</p>
<p>granted, living in program houses do have a tendency to isolate you from other freshmen, but as long as you’re social/outgoing enough, you’ll definitely have friends who live in the typical freshmen dorms. (plus, you don’t have to go through the hassle of having to find freshmen middlemen in the dorm to obtain… certain beverages for certain pre-going out activities - you have a ton of upperclassmen who are totally willing to help you out in that department.)</p>