Anyone with personal experience, please help us make this decision. Son is looking for a social dorm to meet people. I’m hearing conflicting things on social media, so your experience would be so helpful. We don’t care about the size of the room, etc, just would like to be in a position where people are friendly and open to meeting new people. When I went to college, the dorm floor was the epicenter of your social experience…the RA’s planned events, and it was a fun experience. What dorm would be good for that? He assumed it would be Jester, because it’s mostly Freshman, but I’m hearing conflicting things.
Is he interested in Greek life?
yes he is.
UT housing is the rare instance of girls having it better with Hardin House & SRD being great choices for girls interested in Greek life. There really aren’t equivalents for guys. D had guy friends in Callaway, Towers, and Jester. Towers and Jester have lots of freshmen and are social but not especially nice or clean. And the disadvantage of a “social” dorm is that you may not be able to count on studying (or sleeping) in your room.
San Jac and Duren are the newest on-campus dorms; Duren isn’t well-located for class but is closer to the West campus Greek houses, which is good from the standpoint of coming back at night after parties (Duren is right across the street from FIJI, for example). They will usually have a mix of upperclassmen and freshmen. Moore-Hill tends to be pretty quiet, with many upperclassmen, but it is very central.
The dorm floor is the social epicenter only for non-Greeks at UT. Once guys pledge, their social lives pretty much center around the fraternity.
Most UT students move off-campus after their first year. It looks like on campus housing will be scarce again this year: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/05/03/ut-experiences-higher-demand-for-on-campus-housing
If your son hasn’t already turned in a housing deposit, do it right this minute!
Thank you @yauponredux for your detailed response. To be clear “social” doesn’t necessarily mean big partying dorm. Son is looking for that close knit community where people on the dorm floor really get to know each other. I hear the honors quad might have that feel but son isn’t in honors. I have read that Jester is too big to get that community feel. Some say Moore hill has it, but you stated its mostly upperclassmen so I continue to get confused. Son applied for housing end of December and got his contract today.
Sorry if I confused you – I would not say that Moore-Hill is mostly upperclassmen. My understanding is that because people like it, some tend to stay there after their first year rather than move off campus. I know a couple kids who lived there recently, and they are good kids – the friendly, studious sort rather than the hard-partying types. I do think it’s really helpful for freshmen to be able to get to know some older, wiser (!) kids. But if your son’s goal is to live where most of the freshmen live, that would most likely be Jester. If I had a son who was not in honors housing, I’d rather he be in Moore-Hill. YMMV.