<p>during my interview with a uchicago alum last year, she told me this:
my interviewer told me that she recommends first years get a roommate.
She said:
"You have an instant person to attend events
with, which is a good thing when you first arrive at a
new college. As a general rule, more social people
live in doubles and want roommates. These people want
to meet other people and see this as being an
important priority. These people also tend to want to
attend more social events which is crucial in your
first year.</p>
<p>In addition, to 1st years that aren't as social in the
dorms that predominantly house singles, more 1st years
live in the dorms with doubles/roommates. If you go
to a dorm that has all singles (Broadview, BJ,
Hitchcock Snell) then you are with more upper
class-men that have their own friends and interests.
Again, it will be quite a bit more difficult to make
friends in these dorms."</p>
<p>my personal experience: im a first year. i live in a double in maxp. and i realized very early on in the year that i am probably better off in a single. i first was excited about the prospect of a double because i thought it would lead me to be more social and make new friends and living with a roommate excited me. but my roommate and i aren't close at all, nor we do we have anything/any friends in common. we just live in the same room. that's it. and there were (and are) a couple (or more) things that kind of annoy me about my RM.
but i know several other people who are best friends with their roommates. my suitemates are realllly good friends w/ each other, for example.
it really depends, IMO, what type of person you are and what type of roommate you have. </p>
<p>mach, i know a few people who were first years who have been paired up with returning students. i don't think it's as common, but it does happen. </p>
<p>prowlin,
i live in max p west. i LOVE the location and the newness. i'm definitely returning next year (in a single suite). it's pretty social and most of the housemates are close to each other. i know that in max p central, woodward house has a really close bond w/ the people in the house. private bathrooms are nice (although you have to clean it yourself and supply your own toilet paper, whereas public bathrooms are cleaned for you). </p>
<p>i visited S-H. the room sizes are nice and location is realllly convenient cuz it's in the quad. but for me, the staircases were kind of annoying bc you have to take a different flight of stairs to get to a different floor. but as been previously said, it's really hard to get in to S-H bc the returning rate of students is so high.</p>
<p>any specific questions on max p or lingering questions about double/single, feel free to message me about it!</p>