Does anyone have a dorm suggestion for a freshman with a major in the College of Agriculture and Life Science? What would be a good choice? Pros? Cons? Thank you for any information you can provide.
@Empireapple
I think it’s easy to start narrowing down the dorms based on what your student would prefer.
A/C or no A/C?
Suite style or traditional style?
Close to classes?
Close to food?
My son knew A/C was high on his list. Then he decided he did not want to worry about cleaning a bathroom, so he opted for traditional style (which I had read is more social and easier to meet kids in the halls). He wanted to be centrally located. At that point he had narrowed it down to Geoffroy and an A/C room in Friley. Geoffroy is nice and new, but it is not near a dining center. That left him with Friley, which is what he chose.
He has been very happy there - spacious room, excellent location, lots of food choice, A/C (in his room). His only negative is that the bathrooms are old and not very clean. He is considering living there again though, because he likes the location so much.
I will mention that my son had a very early housing priority date. He accepted and put his deposit down in Aug 2016 for the fall of 2017. That allowed him his first choice. Do you have an early date?
I feel the worst choices would be Wallace and Wilson towers because they are basically off campus.
Even if your student does not get their preferred choice, they may have an option to change into it. Over the summer, ISU reopened up housing selection for trading certain days of the week, and you could log in early and check everyday to see if they could get into a better dorm/location.
DS, food science major through CALS, will be in the food science and nutrition LC which is in Eaton. Worked out well since that is one of the 2 dorms we saw on the tour and was his first choice anyway.
He put a deposit/contract down in early November and the contact person for the LC said it wasn’t full, so we don’t have official notification but it appears to be settled.
My son is in Roberts, in the Richardson Court area east of the Union, which wasn’t even on our list of requested dorms. (BTW, My boy also said “no way” to cleaning a bathroom!) Roberts is an all male dorm, but there are also co-ed and all female dorms in that cluster.
Despite the older age of the dorms and no AC in the rooms, he actually likes the location very much (even though he’s an engineering major). It’s right next to the president’s residence on the knoll, so those dorms have a traditional collegiate appearance on the exterior (brick, white columns, etc.) So far, his room has not been excessively hot. There is AC in community rooms in the dorm, so kids can go there if they’re looking for some chill.
The Richardson Court dorms are very close to multiple food options… the Union, Seasons, and Conversations (the favorite of many students on campus). The rooms are also larger than the newer dorms, with high ceilings. My son’s room has actual closets with doors, vs. the curtained off rods in some dorms, and that’s nice.
If you don’t need a pristine, everything new look, don’t rule that area out. I never notice anyone putting the Frederiksen Court dorms on their list.
The East side of campus location also looks pretty good for AG/Life Science classes, but of course, there will classes all over campus for various electives.