<p>I received my housing materials today and was looking for some help. I'm sorry for the redundancy, I know there have been millions of threads about this topic, but I'm finding it too difficult to sort through them and figure out what's what; there are too many dorms to keep track of.</p>
<p>Basically, I'm trying to figure out which residence halls would fit me best:</p>
<p>-I want to be somewhere with a close-knit community, where everyone socializes a lot
-I would prefer a large dorm (not sure if this contradicts the above)
-Wouldn't hurt to have a newer or newly renovated building
-I can be a party person and I definitely like to blast music, but also appreciate lower noise levels when I'm trying to sleep
-I'm undecided on a major, so something centrally located near academic buildings would be good</p>
<p>Not sure if any of that information helps at all -- if not, just suggest some of the best dorms overall, please. Thanks!!</p>
<p>Chadbourne fits what you’re saying a lot. I live there now. It’s a little less party than you might like, but if you find the right people you’ll do fine. I go out all the time, but it was a matter of finding the people who also do - many do not. It’s very nice, all the floors are very close-knit, it’s nice and new and has a great location. Also quiet hours are pretty strictly enforced, lol.</p>
<p>Aye me too. Those two seem like potential good matches for me just based on the brochure they send, but I’ve barely seen them mentioned on here.</p>
<p>Is Lakeshore really that much farther from everything? I like the idea of the “country” atmosphere and being by the lake, but not the idea of having to walk a lot more…is the walk to classes going to be a lot longer from Lakeshore than from Southeast?</p>
<p>The walk to classes will be less or about the same. It’s getting everywhere else (State Street, the stadium, parties, restaurants/shops) that will be a bit of a hike.</p>
<p>Very true – I guess I’ll always be a house in the suburbs kinda girl.</p>
<p>Just to try to get a sense of the campus, since I’ve never visited and have no idea exactly how big it is, about how far is the walk across campus? What would be the average time it takes to walk to class, from Lakeshore to State Street, from Southeast to State Street? Sorry for all the questions – it’s just hard for me to get any idea of what it’s like without having ever seen it.</p>
<p>Lakeshore to class will be about 10-15 minutes on average, depending what building you’re in. Some buildings will be right next door, some are downtown and will take longer. Ditto for Southeast. You’ll have some classes that take a while to get to and some that are right there. You’ll figure it out.</p>
<p>Class buildings are all mostly in one large area. Southeast and Lakeshore are sort of on either side of the main class building area. So by that logic if you want to go to State Street from Lakeshore you go past all the class buildings whereas if you’re in Southeast they’re right in your backyard. I’ve never gone to State Street from Lakeshore (I’ve only been to Lakeshore once to go to the assignment office) but my estimate would be about 20 minutes. Coming back you’d have to walk up Bascom Hill though and that SUCKS. If you don’t know it’s a huge, huge hill, some say it has the same incline as parts of Everest :P</p>
<p>Another thing is that if you like to party, be aware that if you’re in Lakeshore, you’ll have to walk quite a ways to get to parties and then walk home through the class building area which will be deserted, kind of dark, and really not somewhere you should go alone.
You might not want to walk around downtown/Southeast by yourself at night either but there are lights and cars and people and it’s a lot safer, not to mention things are a lot less spread out. The class area at night is pretty dang creepy. And involves lots of hills. You also may not find too many like-minded partiers in Lakeshore. I always seem to run into people from Lakeshore here in Southeast; however no one I know who lives here has ever been to Lakeshore, lol.</p>
<p>If you’re looking into CALS at all (ag and life sciences), though, Lakeshore would be a lot more convenient for classes. Southeast to those buildings is a bit of a walk. Most of the other schools at UW are more spread around, but CALS just is kind of centralized near Lakeshore.</p>
<p>So it’s all about what you’re looking for :)</p>
<p>Thanks, RoxSox, that was incredibly helpful. You’ve swayed me with the talk of walking back late at night – I don’t think I could handle a long walk through a deserted area, especially during the winter. I doubt I’ll be taking many classes related to life sciences, so it sounds like class-wise it won’t make much difference.</p>
<p>Our D2 was able to login to the link below and select her UW dorm preferences. We mailed in her signed UW housing contract along with the $25 fee in early December. She has not sent in her “yes I will be attending” paperwork yet (still trying to decide between UW and UMTC - Carlson Business School).</p>
<p>After making and saving her selections, she got a confirmation email listing her choices with the message below:</p>
<p>Thank you for submitting your residence hall preferences for Academic Year 2011-12 with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of University Housing. Below is what we have on record. You can come back at anytime before May 1, 2011 to change your preferences.</p>
<p>The walk isn’t THAT bad. Maybe like 20 minutes, and as a freshman you’ll have classes in other buildings as well. However, if you lived in Lakeshore it would be dramatically closer - like 5-10 minutes. I would go for an area you enjoy living in as opposed to merely convenience - don’t pick Lakeshore just because it’s close if you don’t want to live there. You’ll spend a lot more time in/near your dorm than in class and if you want to party at all it’s kind of a hassle. I’d go for Southeast if that’s where you want to live. But I’m a tad biased because I live there If it helps, Chadbourne and Barnard would be the closest Southeast dorms, but they’re only about a block or two closer than all the others.</p>
<p>They allow 15 minutes between classes to allow time to get from one end of campus to the other (hence the odd start/end times that stay with you forever after you graduate)- I once had a class situation like that 2 or 3 times a week one semester only. You can’t tell where your classes will be by the subject- sometimes lectures and discussions are held in buildings other than the departmental one. Most freshmen willl be taking many L&S classes to get requirements/prerequisites out of the way so it doesn’t really matter what your proposed major is.</p>
<p>For a sense of distances from each dorm go to the UW Res Halls site. Check on a dorm you are interested in, then click on the distances from… places chart. Choose the dorm area you want to LIVE in- city/suburbs for your relaxation time. I definitely wanted to be close to the lake and be able to walk the path instantly, others want the proximity to State St and don’t mind the urban atmosphere outside their door. UW students are lucky to have such a variety of living spaces- all equally maintained, all with equal pros and cons (which is which is dependent on the individual).</p>
<p>You can go through the dorm materials on the Res Halls site and check photos, including lofting guides. Also consider using Google et al- street search and arial views for views of each area. </p>
<p>Always remember that college is not a popularity contest. No more “in crowds” or needing to fit in. It doesn’t matter what others think is cool, go with what YOU like. You will find that likeminded people also made the same choices. You may also find friends in your classes who live at the opposite end of campus- be thankful for cell phones to reach them without needing to stop by.</p>
If it helps, Chadbourne and Barnard would be the closest Southeast dorms, but they’re only about a block or two closer than all the others.</p>