Solin hall, fml! Anyone else?!?!?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
1

<p>Can someone make me feel better about this. I got my very very last choice (#15) residence, and I don't want to commute to and from McGill. One of my biggest problems with McGill was hearing that its a 'commuter school'. I thought 'oh, I'll just dorm at one of those dormitory style residences! I'll be fine.' I GUESS not. 4 metro stops away?? I also wanted upper rez because I wanted to do volunteer work at the neurological institute.</p>

<p>I could have gone to UMich for about the same price and had the 'campus feel'. The exchange rate sucks now. At least this rez hall costs the least (but there are obvious reasons for that.)</p>

<p>:'(</p>

2

<p>You won’t regret it. </p>

<p>It sounds far but it’s not. It only takes 100 seconds for the metro to travel from Lionel Groulx to Atwater, beyond that, less than 5 minutes. Another 5 minutes by foot from the station to lower campus. 10 minutes to the physics building and anything up there.</p>

<p>Harvard is the McGill of America…draw your own conclusions.</p>

3

<p>why wont I regret it? I really want to know what makes it any bit good (seriously, that’s not sarcastic or anything).</p>

4

<p>I just read all this.</p>

<p>"Haha, it has been 3 years.</p>

<p>Solin is the Jewel of McGill Rez. Take it from someone who has lived there for 3 years. I would have returned for my 4th year if it wasn’t for the price. It has gone up quite a bit since I started schooling.</p>

<p>Solin is possibly one of best maintained properties of McGill Rez thanks to the office staff(Howard mainly). I have seen how Solin has changed in the past 3 years,new colour schemes, new beds, new mattresses, new toiletbowls, faucets and bathtubs, new appliances etc. It’s definitely a bargain for the price that you are paying for.</p>

<p>People do complain of Solin being far and out there but it has its perks. Far maybe but with the metro pass, Montreal becomes really accessible, cafes at cote-des-neiges, waterfront at Verdun or sorts of places that you normally wouldn’t go because of transportation problems. If one is only looking for booze, boobs and drugs then the mcgill bubble is good enough for one.</p>

<p>New Rez is falling apart, Upper Rez looks like some 60s Soviet communist commune. $1k+ per month for a cell with share bathroom facilties(people do wank in them) is just a ripoff."</p>

<p>You see, I want residence life to be ‘fun’, I dont care necessarily about drugs and what not, but parties and sex, etc, isnt that supposed to be part of freshman year? I want to study, but the only time I’ll have any bit of time for fun is my freshman year. Are you saying solin is like the dead-no-social-life-dorm? That would suck…</p>

5

<p>Parties? There are parties in the courtyard when the weather’s still good plus your parties in different apartments on different days. </p>

<p>What I meant to say is that Solin has an added value to a student’s quality of life that you will probably never get in other rez or any private property within the ghetto. If you do not already know, properties in the ghetto is very run down- decrepit, rusty, squeaky, derelict. As you said that you are looking for a wholesome experience, Solin allows you to gives you that opportunity. Of course, you can still be a stoner at Solin, it’s up to you to make the best out of it. You will know exactly what I mean when you’re in Montreal.</p>

<p>With your metro pass, you can go anywhere, see everything. Because it’s so convenient, you don’t find it a hassle to say hang out on trendy Greene Avenue. No one in upper rez will pay $5.50 just to go to Greene. Walking is totally out of the question. You take the metro to Crescent while most of the fellas up there will probably walk. The same goes for St Denis and St Laurent. If you’re queer, you don’t have to walk to the village which is a pretty far from campus. </p>

<p>That said, your way of getting around town if you were to live in upper rez or new rez is by foot. That somehow discourages you to hang out outside of the bubble. </p>

<p>Solin makes you grow up so to speak, you have to cook, clean and do your groceries. You can choose to eat out or cook, no compulsion whatsoever. You won’t have that luxury in upper rez, food sucks? Too bad, chuck it in chap, you have paid for it. Want to have Indian or Chinese for the night? Maybe not, I have paid for my cafeteria meal. I can confidently tell you that what you spent on groceries for a month is ALWAYS going to be less than what you pay for a meal plan per month at upper rez. </p>

<p>Let’s crunch some numbers shall we? $750 for a regular single room at Solin, $1300 for a single up there. The difference comes up to $550 a month. Can you seriously spend $550 a month on bread and butter? I don’t know about you but many of us find it difficult to go above $200 a month for groceries, yes that includes ice cream and junk food. With the remaining 300 bucks you can drink till you die and still have some to spare for strip clubs.</p>

<p>What more do you want?</p>

6

<p>Haha, I don’t want to drink myself to death and strip clubs aren’t my thing either. That does sound cool about the metro pass and all. I’m just afraid I wont have as much time to cook and all doing premed. Additionally, the Neurological Institute is in between upper rez and campus. I plan on doing volunteer work but now it seems even further out of the way.</p>

<p>Is there good food and stuff near solin?</p>

7

<p>If you don’t have time to cook when you’re doing premed, would you have time to cook when you’re doing medicine? </p>

<p>This is life. Would you move to an apartment right next to the hospital if you’re a surgeon there or would you find a nice quiet apartment elsewhere and commute to work? What if say you have a job in downtown Toronto, would you pay an arm and a leg to stay downtown? </p>

<p>Atwater Market, SuperC(really cheap supermarket), nice bars and restaurants. Check out Place St Henri, it serves really good food and you’ll get free soup, dessert and coffee if you dine in.</p>

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<p>Hey. Which hotel is a nice, cheap place for family to stay in if they want to visit and be closer to Solin than the main campus?</p>

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<p>lol, ok ok ok. Don’t get mad at me. I was just concerned because it really wasn’t what I had in mind. I’ve been doing research and checking out the solin hall fb groups and talking with people (like you). It’s starting to look kinda cool. I’m a temporary resident there so I’m checking out whats gonna happen. Maybe I’ll end up there. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice! I’m American by the way. Haha, job in downtown toronto. I love Canada though, maybe that’ll happen some day…</p>

10

<p>I know a West Virginian who lived in Solin as a temp for the entire year. There are some perks as a temp, you can trash up the place and won’t be legally responsible. That is precisely what he did, his mates were cool with it and he moved out without cleaning the common mess. He paid like $400 a month with access to everything like a permanent kid would have.</p>

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<p>I also got a temperary residence at Solin hall, also my last choice. Although from what I read it seems that most people who get assigned temperary get an actual residence before they arrive at McGill, and I think its normally different from the temperary residence (which may be Solin hall for all temperary assignments cause I think they just throw a matress in the living area and call it a room).</p>

12

<p>I’m temporarily in RVC… :frowning: </p>

<p>If you call McGill they can tell you where you are on the waiting list to get a real room; supposedly I am at the top of the list which is really really exciting! Good luck!</p>

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<p>don’t stress about Solin, it’s a little far but that just makes the community that much tighter. From what I can tell people get pretty close living in Solin but there’s still 200 people in the building so it’s not like your stuck with 15 people you may or may not like in MORE. I doubt you’ll feel like a commuter if you end up living in Solin, you’ll still get the college experience with parties and events that floor fellows organize. I’m sure you can easily commute to the hospital, 4 subway stops is really not that far and the subway comes like every 3 minutes. It might even be faster than walking from a rez close to campus. And you don’t have to deal with that damn icy hill in winter like Upper Rez! Most of the people in Solin put it towards the top of their lists, and most of those people are more independent and self-sufficient, trust me those are people you want to live with. Montreal is a key part of what makes McGill so great and you certainly see a lot more of that in Solin. If you end up in Solin next year I’m sure we’ll be able to show you a good time. :)</p>

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<p>that sucks that you got your very last choice, I picked Solin as my third i think, at first I was sort of bummed about the distance, BUT there are huge perks that got me really excited…it’s your own apartment, so you can have friends chilling in privacy, not in huge common rooms with a lot of other people around, it’s fun and trendy having your own place, you can cook whatever you want, if you can’t cook then you can buy a meal plan and go really whereever you want to eat around the city and not be forced to use up every penny that went to the rent for the meal plan, and I’m thinking even the people who live on campus will purchase metro passes, because you can explore the entire city and save money, plus the night life in Montreal is probably awesome (party age ; 18!, not 19 for anyone not in MB, AB, or QC, or 21 to the guys in the USA) and as there will be parties at the campus dorms, whose to say there won’t be any at Solin? Plus you can just metro home from the campus if that’s the case, I’m pretty sure it’s not too sketchy in downtown Montreal that you can’t walk the streets at night, taxi’s are also highly accessable. The other great thing is - you don’t have to run down a hallway in the middle of the night to use the bathroom! You can wake up for a midnight snack or just hang around in your PJs for the day, and if you have your own room you don’t have to deal with your room mates all the time (just in case your not a friendly person) because we will all be busy will school, and most of us will probably spend most of our days on campus anyway. It’s just one year, after you’re usually on your own. I’m excited!</p>

<p>Btw, does anyone know how late the metro runs til? Or is it a 24/7 thing? And about the seperate meal plans, do the balences transfer over semesters? (I’m talking about the “Saver” Martlet meal plan)</p>

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<p>You must use the full amount by the end of the semester. More info: [The</a> Saver](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/foodservices/plans/saver/]The”>http://www.mcgill.ca/foodservices/plans/saver/)</p>

<p>The metro, unfortunately, doesn’t run 24/7. It’s typically 5:30am-12:30am. More info: [STM</a> - Operating hours](<a href=“http://www.stcum.qc.ca/English/Metro/a-heures.htm]STM”>http://www.stcum.qc.ca/English/Metro/a-heures.htm)</p>

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<p>Sounds great! I’m posted to Solin too. One question, is there a park or something for joggers and runners near Solin? I saw a small gym in a youtube vid, are the equipments good?</p>

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<p>I’m in Solin Hall 100 seconds on the metro doesn’t sounds to bad.</p>

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<p>The only gym close to solin hall is cross fit. It cost 70$ per month and you have to do a 4 session class before you can drop in.</p>

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<p>Although the mcgill gym is 5km from solin and there is a nautilus gym which is 3km.</p>

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<p>I think the nautilus is the best for price and distance to solin hall. There are some nice trails to run in the parks near by. If you want someone to run with let me know. What kinda runs to you like to do? Are you into biking?</p>