<p>Now that the EA Decision thread will start to wind down, and some people are seriously considering attending NU, I thought that it would be a good idea to get thoughts, and obtain knowledge, on the housing situation at Northeastern. I have read a lot of different information on this subject...some good, some not so good. Any input here is good. What do you know about the dorms, lottery system, housing, on campus dining? Does the school just select our dorm, and our roommates, or do we have any input? Anything here that I can't find at the *******, student reviews or elsewhere online?</p>
<p>For roommates, you will get a roommate survey at some point in the spring/summer which asks about your habits, music preference, etc. You are matched with your roommate(s) based on this.</p>
<p>There are two main categories of housing: honors and regular. Pretty much all of the dorms have common rooms with TVs, couches, and possibly a place to do some group work.</p>
<p>First, regular housing.
I think now all freshman housing is organized into LLCs (living learning communities), which are built around certain majors, hobbies, or interests. You get to put down your top choices of LLC. The LLC is what determines what building you will be living in, but don’t base your LLC choice based on where it was located last year; they change based on demand.
These are mostly going to be your standard freshman dorm, like at most universities: common bathrooms for the floor, double rooms, pretty average size. There is some variety, such as old dorm buildings with odd shapes, former apartments that might have a bathroom for a cluster of people, or triples. There are a few singles available, but don’t count on getting one.</p>
<p>Honors housing:
This is located in International Village. It’s through the train station from the main part of campus, but it’s really not far at all (like 2 minutes). The rooms are all suite-style singles or doubles, which means a bathroom shared between two rooms (so 2-4 people). (The downside is that you are then responsible for cleaning your own bathroom.)</p>
<p>That’s freshman housing. After your freshman year, you generally live in IV or in apartment-style housing, which means having a kitchen. (If you’re living in this type of housing, you no longer have to have a meal plan.) You also get to select your own roommates. You will get a lottery number based on your year, or possibly a waitlist number if you are no longer guaranteed housing. Then you can go online when your time comes up and pick out exactly which available housing space you want.</p>
<p>As for dining, the two main dining halls areas are International Village and the pair of dining halls in the Stetson halls. It’s a decent ways between them, so I usually ended up eating dinner at IV because I lived there. You can also use your weekly meal swipes a few other places on campus, including Outtakes (snack food and things you can stick in your fridge for later) and the popular Rebecca’s Cafe. You can also use the Dining Dollars that come with your meal plan on and around campus, like in the student center found court, the grocery store, some nearby restaurants, and the university’s food truck. Overall, the food is pretty good, and there is generally a variety.</p>
<p>That’s kind of an information dump, but hopefully it contains some useful information. If you have any specific questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.</p>
<p>Is there any way to request a specific roommate?</p>
<p>On the roommate survey on the housing application you can request a specific roommate</p>
<p>Cool. Thanks for the response! Figured there was but why not check.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology
Great information. Thanks so much for the details. Good to know what to expect.</p>