Residence Halls

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Goodness! Here we are, almost at the middle of April and we still have not made our final decision :frowning: </p>

<p>I have read the descriptions of the residence halls, but I am curious about a few things, and I would love to hear a current student’s opinion on the following questions:</p>

<ul>
<li> Which residence hall is the favorite among MT students and why? </li>
<li> Are there laundry facilities and A/C in every hall? Are they always operational? </li>
<li> Does anyone have information on the freshman Hawk Hall?<br></li>
<li> Are the beds provided extra-long twin size? </li>
<li> Are the mattresses firm, posturepedic type?<br></li>
<li> Which furniture is supplied with the rooms? Do they have microfridge?</li>
<li> How many bathrooms are there in the suites? Are there bathrooms and showers in the hallways as well?</li>
<li> Which is the favorite dining hall?</li>
<li> What means of transportation will be most practical to get from your hall to the new performing arts building?</li>
<li> This is silly, but, what is the popular Tote bag at UHa? :slight_smile: (It seems that every college has one) </li>
</ul>

<p>If anyone has pictures or videos of the interior of the halls and rooms I would really really appreciate it if you could post them here or PM me :-)</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>My son is a Hartt '07 viola performance BM grad, and was there in a double major program academic years Sept '02 through May '07, so info might be a bit dated.</p>

<p>Laundry facilities are in each dorm, quality and operational status vary considerably, as does best time to use.</p>

<p>Hawk Hall just opened this academic year. There used to be a series of photos on the website. I have no idea of that building's layout; I do believe it has central air.</p>

<p>The older freshmen dorms (The Complexes) went through a complete gut and refurbish the summer of '06. I haven't been inside since that redo. "Only B, D, E and F Complexes have air conditioning." per the website.</p>

<p>There are limited AC units in Regents Park and the Village, and are reserved or allocated based on health needs. Park River has central air.</p>

<p>Beds had always been twin extra longs, mattresses are not the greatest. You could check with ResLife if you want/need specific specs. Per son, they were serviceable, and varied from year to year, some better than others.
(Off topic, but he was at Shenandoah for Shenandaoh Performs last year and the bed he had killed his back; it took him a week to recover.)</p>

<p>Standard furniture per student includes bed, desk, dresser. Suites also had a kitchen type table/chairs, but no additional common furniture for the suite. Suites with kitchens had a full size fridge, stove. Standard dorm rooms do not supply mini fridge; it was bring your own or rent one. Same with microwave.</p>

<p>If you're familiar with institutional food service purveyors, UHartford uses Aramark. Food was "ok", nothing special on a par with typical college dining experience. The wife and I had a few meals there, some better than others. I wasn't too happy with the costs of the meal plan, nor the parameters. His particular schedules made access limited on many days, and ended up doing a lot of a la carte eating, sucking up his allocated "dining dollars" fairly quickly. This got better atfer freshman year, when he had a suite with kitchen and microwave. Cost us a bit more to supply food, but offset was less eating/ordering out on our dime.</p>

<p>Bathrooms/showers in the suites were 2 full for the four and six occupancies, 1 full for the two person units. The dorm style housing had hall units only.</p>

<p>The transportation to and from Handel Arts Center will probably be by campus shuttle bus. I imagine a bus schedule will be posted, if not already up on the website.</p>

3

<p>Thanks Violadad for such detailed information. You even touched the issue of meals, I am glad you offered some insight on that. I'll keep searching for info and hope to hear from other posters as well.</p>

4

<p>Another side note, beyond freshman year the housing selection seemed a nice process, at least for son. UHartford's "Room Selection" process begins in March or April for the following year for continuing students, and status is determined by a combination of total credits, financial obligations outstanding, disciplinary record or room infractions, and GPA. As a dual performance major, he always carried a decent credit load, plus had a number of AP credits going in, and was always near 4.0. The details are on the ResLife portion of the website. </p>

<p>This system put him a year ahead for room selections (basically, was a junior as defined by credit load while still a sophomore year-wise, etc.) so it seemed he always had a leg up for the next year. He went from freshman dorm to six man suite, then two years in a two man suite (with same roomie). For his fifth year we opted for an off campus studio, better suited for his last year's needs. Out of pocket additional cost was a bit less than $1000 more than what a 2 man suite and meal plan would have been. He did carry the commuter meal plan his last year, which gave him the access and flexibility he needed.</p>

<p>Another issue- if your student has a car, parking rates had been adjusted for class year, less for upper classmen than freshmen. They may have now gone to a flat rate for all. There are student lots prone to (serious) flooding in extreme weather (maybe 6-8 times during his time there), but notices and alerts are posted well in advance and safe on campus parking alternatives put in place. It's a non issue if one is aware of it. A few ignoring the warnings have had water damage/total losses. Just thought it was worth mentioning.</p>

5

<p>Thank you Violadad. It is always nice to hear the wise advice of a parent with experience. Any other tips are welcome anytime.</p>

6

<p>I'm a freshman MT...well, actually, a sophomore, now! :D</p>

<p>The rooms are great! The Room Selection process was easy, I'm living in a dorm apartment in the Village next semester. The best part about Room Selection is that your number (basically the order in which you choose your rooming) is based on credits and such and MTs take so many classes that we fill all 18.5 credits.</p>

<p>Some of the complexes are being renovated. My room was in B-Comp Reeve which was already renovated 2 summer ago, I think.</p>

7

<p>We are starting to compile all the things that my son will be taking to his freshman dorm room in the fall. I can't believe he is going to fit all this into one small room. We already have 3 full trunks. My question is whether the U of Hartford allows risers and what size trunk will fit under the bed if they do?</p>

<p>Also, do they have storage facilities on site to leave these trunks and other things for the next school year? Is there a storage place near the school that students use and how much do they usually charge over the summer break? I can't imagine hauling all this stuff back and forth every year.</p>

<p>We are warm weather dwellers and have never lived in snow or cold. When does the weather start tuning bad enough for heavy winter clothing. Thinking maybe we could keep some of this type of gear until after the winter break. My son was looking forward to a white x-mas season. When does it typically start snowing?</p>

<p>Any answers would be greatly appreciated!</p>

8

<p>Three trunks seems a bit excessive. There are some threads in the Parents forum and parents cafe on what to bring/not bring. A current one is here <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/525546-things-you-don-t-need-pack-college.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/525546-things-you-don-t-need-pack-college.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>A lot of things can be bought locally, like dorm/desk supplies, a fan, lamp, etc. There have been a number of threads about buying online and having it shipped/picked at local stores... look for threads discussing Bed, Bath and Beyond or Linens & Things.</p>

<p>If you've already purchased items, consider shipping via UPS or Parcel Post instead of schlepping.</p>

<p>As far as I know, there was no on site system for storing trunks, etc. There are a number of public storage facilities in the area. Hartford, East Hartford, West Hartford, Bloomfield are all close, look online for the best deal. We used an East Hartford facility for two years with no issues. If you need info, PM me.</p>

<p>We have seen snow as early as late October (rare), occasionally in November.
It can get serious in December, and snow all winter, or you may see little if any. New England weather is fickle. However, it can be cold, with days, even weeks at or substantially below freezing. On the flip side, you'll see the 60 or so degree day in December or January. Most years, winter has run it's course by mid-March. There are years our heavy winter coats never see the light of day and a three season jacket is enough. I'm sure there's a regional snowfall/temperature chart online if you Google.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the info violadad. We have more things than usual to take with us because we live outside of the country. It's tough to buy a winter coat, dance gear and many other things in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico so I ordered things ahead of time online. We did leave 2 trunks and a keyboard up in the states to be sent to school via UPS or another shipper. I figured locking trunks would be the safest way to ship and store and better than schlepping it via the airlines and worrying about customs.</p>

<p>A friend of my son started school at Penn. State this year with plans to buy things when she got there but by the time she and her mom got to the stores the shelves were picked clean by other students that had the same idea. They ended up driving well out of town to find simple things like school supplies and linens. It sounds like good idea to order ahead of time and then just pick it up when getting there. </p>

<p>As far as the weather goes, it sounds like anything can happen. I guess it's better to just be prepared for anything.</p>

10

<p>so..</p>

<p>what if im in a regular, 2 person, freshman dorm.</p>

<p>what should i/should i not bring?</p>

<p>= (</p>

<p>im kinda lost</p>

11

<p>ace, the standard room has a bed, desk & chair, and bureau. I haven't been inside the complexes since they were redone (summer '06?). I know that prior to the redo, some rooms had underbed rollouts in lieu of bureaus. There was also a small closet for each student as well. Cable TV, internet access and phone jack are wired in each room.</p>

<p>My son was in one of the Complexes as a freshman. In addition to the stuff suggested in the link below, he had a small mini-fridge, and a 13 inch TV, I believe his roommate had a small fridge as well. The room was serviceable, not alot of extra space, but not cluttered or "tight". Again, all my info is all PRIOR to the '06 redo.</p>

<p>From U/Hartford's ResLife pages:
Office</a> of Residential Life | Univerity of Hartford
Office</a> of Residential Life | Univerity of Hartford
Office</a> of Residential Life | Univerity of Hartford</p>

<p>Don't forget major specific clothing, training, practice needs. </p>

<p>Conspicuously missing from the list is a fan. Now some (not all) of the units have central air, which is new. The ResLife pages list the ones that do and don't have ac. If you are unlucky enough to be in a non ac unit, bring a fan.
Son had both a small Honeywell unit for the desk area that moved a quite a bit of air, as well as a cheap osillating pedestal type for the general area. </p>

<p>I don't think even the corner units had windows on perpendicular walls, so while there were windows on one wall, they provided no cross ventilation. September, April and May can bring some high temperatures, as well as high humidity. In a non AC unit, you will suffer without a fan.</p>

<p>They used to send a ResLife packet in the mail (early July timing?) with housing contract, roommate/room assignment, and general info. It's conceivable they now transmit all this electronically to you. You should be sent all this info some way. If via the Internet, spend some time reading the ResLife pages, policies.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

12

<p>thank you very very very much</p>

<p>I was so lost without this!</p>

<p>= )</p>

13

<p>I wrote the head of the MT dance dept. in May and this is the list of clothing and shoe requirements that he sent me:</p>

<p>Dress Requirements –
Actor Training and Music Theatre Students</p>

<p>Clothing/equipment requirements for both programs – </p>

<p>All – knee pads (as needed for rehearsals and class),
black non-restrictive clothing, black t-shirt (long and
short sleeve)
Men – black lace-up dress shoes AND black lace-up
character (not sneakers) shoes, black pants, black t-shirt
(long and short sleeve), and black tank top;
Women – black AND beige character shoes, black leotard,
black rehearsal skirt (long)</p>

<p>Dance Class Dress Requirements – Music Theatre</p>

<p>Ballet:
Women - Dark leotards, black or pink tights, ballet shoes,
chiffon ballet skirts (optional) tight fitting sweaters or
t-shirts are acceptable, absolutely no shorts.</p>

<p>Men - fitted t-shirt, tights or tight jazz pants, dance
belts (required), ballet shoes, no jazz shoes</p>

<p>Jazz:<br>
Women- Any fitted dancewear, (leotards, tights, jazz pants,
t-shirts), character heels or t-straps as well as flat jazz
shoes (jazz sneakers are fine, but not the Bloch's kind, I
think the soles are too thick and make balancing difficult)</p>

<p>Men- Any fitted dancewear, Black jazz shoes or dance
sneakers, (keep in mind you will need black jazz shoes for
shows, sneakers are not appropriate for all shows.)</p>

<p>Tap:<br>
Dancewear for men and women needs to have full range of
motion, not too baggy, but can be looser than jazz and
ballet. (jeans are unacceptable) </p>

<p>Of course tap shoes. (women must have heels, absolutely no
flats.)</p>

<p>*****All Music Theater men must have a pair of black mens
jazz shoes or character shoes. Jazz sneakers are fine for
class and rehearsals, not productions.
Women it wouldn’t hurt to have a pair of tan, and a pair
of black chracter shoes. You must have at least one pair.
Also, everyone should own proper undergear for productions
(i.e. dance trunks, dance belts, bras, tights, fishnets (for
women).
Men must have a decent pair of black dress pants.</p>

14

<p>We are getting ready to fill out the housing applications (pretty sure she’s made a final decision) and wonder if anyone has feedback on Hawk’s Hall vs. the Complexes. She has a close friend in the MT program who lives in Hawks Hall but there doesn’t seem to be a theatre arts related program in the RLC choices. He picked a random topic, sent in an essay, got into Hawks Hall and is very happy. I just wonder where most of the MT and acting Freshman live. Any info would be greatly appreciated…</p>

15

<p>Hi Pohsmom, by now you probably have the information you needed, but my daughter (MT Freshman) told me last weekend that she noticed most of the MT Freshmen lived in the Complexes; however, some lived in Hawk hall. She said the upperclass men that lived on-campus were mostly in the Village apartments, namely Q1 or Q2. She thinks they prefer to live there because of the closeness to the parking lots, and because those buildings have a 24hr Quite theme. She personally likes the Park River Apartments better. Hope this helps =)</p>

16

<p>Thanks MarieMT mom-my D applied for Hawks Hall (after seeing the complexes she was not too anxious to live in them-) I think she applied for leadership and community service. I don’t know when the dorms are assigned but she did the essay immediately and hopefully she’ll get in. (Apparently housing is somehow influenced by number of credits and the MT Freshman take 18 so that should help.) She did request a roommate in the theatre department so IF she gets in Hawks Hall and IF another theatre kid does as well with a common interest, then maybe she’ll get lucky! If there’s anything that you think I should know or that might be helpful for over the summer please pm me. Thanks!</p>

17

<p>Wondering if anyone has any info on the triples in Hawk Hall. My d is thrilled to be in Hawk Hall the RLC dorm but found out she has 2 roommates. Apparently they bunk one of the beds… she is curious about the rest of the room and can’t find any info anywhere. Does she still get a dresser, desk, etc? That kind of kills the under the bed storage if you are in a bunk bed…yuk. If anyone or anyone’s child has first hand knowledge of the Hawk Hall triples please let me know or pm me.
Thanks</p>