<p>Our son (who is traveling away from Internet currently) is going to attend McGill (Engineering) starting in the fall. We are from NJ.</p>
<p>It looks like the Upper Residences are the best choice for him based on distance to campus and having most first year students (making new friends). Can someone please confirm this?</p>
<p>Also, when ranking choices on Minerva, can someone please recommend ranking order for Molson, McConell & Gardner (and why)? Do the rankings make a difference or will he get whatever they want?</p>
<p>All the residences have only first year students so this shouldn’t be an issue in the decision. Nobody lives in residence after their first year. The upper residences aren’t technically the closest to campus; I would say the MORE houses are, but they aren’t traditional dorms. </p>
<p>The rankings do make a difference. Residence placement is based on a lottery system. Your son will be assigned a number (randomly). Once they get to him on their list, they will try to match him up with his first ranked choice. If it’s full, they’re go to the second, etc until they find him a place. They make some effort to take students’ preferences into consideration, but if you end up with a high number, it’s unlikely you’ll get your top choices. </p>
<p>Molson, McConnell and Gardner are more or less the same. If you haven’t already, I suggest you check out the videos posted by someone who did tours of most of the McGill residences ([YouTube</a> - mcgilltour’s Channel](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/mcgilltour]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/user/mcgilltour)). It may help in making a decision, or at least help in ranking the remaining residences if the three upper residences are still top choices.</p>
<p>My son is finishing up his first year. His first choice was Douglas (everyone’s), second was New Rez. He got into his second choice. New Rez is a bit more money and the majority of the rooms are doubles. The plus is they have their own bathrooms. Its a converted hotel about a four block walk to the campus. There is a underground mall underneath the dorm with grocery, drug store, etc. The elevator in New Rez takes them right to it. Very convenient.</p>
<p>Hi! I’m an International student and I’ll be attending McGill in the fall (hopefully!). THe thing is, I’m not very comfortable with sharing bathrooms and showers with guys, so that rules out the Upper Rez. RVC is my first choice even though I don’t like it at all. It seems somewhat gloomy and lifeless. Is that true or is it just what pictures show? I very much like New Rez but… still not sure about it since it’s very far from campus so I’ll have to spend more money on transportation. Can anyone give me good advice on what to choose?</p>
<p>Of the three upper rezes, McConnell is coed by wing. That means you wouldn’t have to share a bathroom and shower with guys as each wing has their own. </p>
<p>Not to endorse the stereotype, but RVC is kind of lifeless. Every time I’ve been there, even on Friday and Saturday nights, all the doors are closed. Its very quiet and people keep to themselves. I had a friend there who didn’t speak to anyone on her floor; all the “fun” friends she made at the beginning of the year moved out to other residences because they hated RVC so much…</p>
<p>New Rez really isn’t that far. You definitely wouldn’t have to spend extra money on transportation. It’s a 10 minute walk max. You’d probably end up spending more time taking a bus than walking! And at least the walk isn’t uphill like it is for upper. </p>
<p>If you like New Rez, I would put that as your first choice, even though it’s very popular and you might not get it. I would put McConnell as second choice, assuming you like the upper residences and maybe RVC as third. Personally, I really love Douglas but if you don’t want to share bathrooms/showers, these three are probably best.</p>
<p>Thank you a lot for ur post it really helped. I am considering New Rez and McConnell at the moment. One more thing I’d like to ask about is safety amongst students. I’m not quite used to coed living style so this might sound a bit weird! In coed residences, it’s quite safe, right? I mean there aren’t any incidents reported or something of the sort? One more thing, in case of snow or heavy rain, is it more difficult to walk from New Rez to main campus (I’ll be studying Biology and Life sciences so i still don’t know in which building I’m going to be). THanx again!</p>
<p>Yes, it’s safe. The people you live with will become your family!</p>
<p>When it snows, the sidewalks are usually cleared quite quickly. You’d probably have an easier time getting back and forth from New Rez to campus because you don’t have to go up and down the hill to Upper. When it gets icy that hill can be a real pain. You’d likely have classes in Stewart Bio or the Life Sciences complex, which are both on the other side of campus. Neither New Rez or Upper is significantly closer to them. You’ll likely not have very many of your classes there in first year anyways because you’ll be in the big lecture halls.</p>
<p>I’d say that New Rez is more popular in the rankings. Everyone wants a big room with a double bed and their own bathroom!
I don’t know much about Pres and Dio other than that they’re very small (around 35-40 people in each), coed and close to campus. They’re on University St., right across the street from campus and next to RVC. For some reason, they aren’t very sought after.</p>
<p>^Thanks carly! That’s actually good since Douglas would be my first-choice. Yeah, I’m surprised no one ever mentions Pres/Dio–I was watching the videos on youtube and they looked quite nice.</p>
<p>ok, so New Rez is my first choice but the Upper Rez’s seem to be a really tight community. I was just wondering if it was common for New Rez kids to hang out with Upper Rez kids or New Rez go to parties at the Upper Rezs? Or do those two just never mix?</p>
Yeah, I’m surprised no one ever mentions Pres/Dio–I was watching the videos on youtube and they looked quite nice.</p>