<p>-How exclusive is it?
-What's the purpose of asking us to send in a color photo of ourselves?
-Must we really be sponsored by a Mason?
-Worth living there?
-Worth it at all?</p>
<p>Ah I’ve found answers to most of that.
Except the picture question and if it’s really worth it as much as it looked nice passing by and online.</p>
<p>sasha2014, the only help I can give you is that I loved it so much that I lived there all four years in college. That was many years ago, but I have visited a couple of times and it still looks nice. I loved sitting by the swimming pool! Starting in late February, I spent a lot of time out there. My last three years, I was in a sun room, which was bigger than a typical room. It didn’t have a sink, but I didn’t mind since I liked the size and layout.</p>
<p>Thanks - I think I’m going to apply there for the 2010-2011 year. It does look really nice!!</p>
<p>Good luck! I have a secret hope that my youngest, our only daughter, will live at SRD starting in 2016!</p>
<p>Mainelonghorn is right, it is a lovely dorm with a nice pool, beautiful furnishings in the common areas and rooms with (mostly) charm. DD was on their list up until the last minute. It was a tough decision, but she opted for UT’s on-campus housing. Two issues you might consider are: Because SRD is not part of the UT system, you don’t have the convenience of being as close to your classes, nor the flexibility of eating on campus at the cheaper rate. I could be wrong about this, but my own D spent a certain amount for lunch and her off-campus friends had to spend more for the same meal. Secondly, D commented that the SRD girls she knew from high school rushed and joined sororities. D wasn’t interested, but said that she might have felt “left out” at SRD if it was that big of a deal there.</p>
<p>That said, I still think overall SRD is a nicer dorm with better amenities than some of the UT dorms. It depends on what is important to you. You can always pay the deposit and get your name on the list. They were very prompt about returning our deposit to us when D changed her mind.</p>
<p>^ Every girl I know that lives at SRD is in a sorority. I wouldn’t say the majority are though, based on my experiences (or, maybe I am wrong and they are).</p>
<p>And yeah, although SRD provides meals, if you want to eat with your on-campus friends on the on-campus eating places, if you are not a resident you are charged more for all-you-can-eat places.</p>
<p>I was a structural engineering major. About as polar opposite from a sorority girl as you can imagine! My first roommate was a Chi Omega; I got a kick out of her attempts to “remake” me, lol. When I lived in SRD, about 60% of the girls pledged sororities, so it certainly wasn’t “everybody.” And there were lots of great girls, sorority or not. A girl I met the first day ended up being my roommate for three years at SRD.</p>
<p>The dorm was more convenient for my engineering classes than Jester would have been. It was no problem to go back for lunch, even when I had a class farther away.</p>
<p>I was on the waiting list for SRD last year but in the middle of the summer, I was still pretty far down the waitlist, so I decided to go ahead and get my deposit back and live at San Jac. I still had a ton of friends who did live at SRD and loved it. I have a friend who had a single room and was paying the same amount for her own bedroom as I did for having a roommate at San Jac with increased amenities- study rooms, swimming pool, exercise room, free yoga/exercise classes, and a cafeteria downstairs where the meals are all already included. I know a lot of people who lived on campus when I did and used up their bevo bucks and dining dollars really fast and so had to add in more money, but at SRD, you don’t ever have to.</p>
<p>I think SRD used to be predominantly freshmen and still probably is, but now there are more and more upperclassmen living there… my friends told me that supposedly this year they had more returning residents than they have ever had before which means there are more girls who are choosing to stay and live there for a second or maybe even third year and it’s not all freshmen girls. Also, it used to be a lot of sorority girls lived at SRD but now I would say it is pretty 50/50. You still see the posters outside the girls doors who did pledge and join a sorority, but it is definitely not an overwhelming feeling of greek life at SRD. Hardin House is the dorm where basically 98% of the girls who live there go through rush and end up pledging, while SRD is only about 50% and maybe even decreasing. Also, the bathrooms at SRD are all remodeled now and are SO NICE. They look like hotel bathrooms and the showers are walk-in showers with tile. It is a very nice dorm!</p>