<p>which do you think is better for a freshman?</p>
<p>I doubt you'll be able to get a suite as a freshman.</p>
<p>All of our dorms our suite style, and it's pretty nice. We don't have sitting rooms or anything, but every two rooms (4-5 girls/4 guys) share a bathroom, so you don't have to go down the hall or anything.</p>
<p>At ASU, you can choose between both. </p>
<p>In suites, where you share a bathroom between 4 people, you have to clean your own bathroom, versus community where the college staff clean it. 1 less thing to worry about.</p>
<p>if you have a choice, I'd suggest the dorm. They tend to be more sociable, having long hallways with rooms along them. One of the things most people want to do frosh year is develop a network of friends to make adjusting to college easier and fun, so choosing a dorm is a good way to start.</p>
<p>You also might want to check out who has to clean the in-suite bathrooms. At a lot of schools, the school cleans the common-hall bathrooms, but the students themselves are responsible for cleaning the bathrooms in their own suites. For my son, this was a problem for a while as a couple of the boys in his sophomore suite didn't have much concern for hygiene. This was a life lesson for my son--the boys eventually worked it out.</p>
<p>My S chose a dorm--he did have a choice between suites & dorms as well. He's happy with his choice & the floor he chose also goes on outings twice/semester, which is also fun & a great way for the students to get to know one another better. In some ways, the community bathrooms is a good way for folks to meet one another. There is also a washer & dryer on their floor, another place for folks to meet. I lived in the dorm my 1st two years of college & in grad school, I lived in a suite the one year I used university housing. It worked well for me the way I did it.</p>
<p>first years tend to be in dorms while upperclassmen go into suites here. i am in a suite my first year, i think it is better for first years to be in dorms. but if privacy/noise/space is a big issue, suites are always better.</p>
<p>Here all the freshman dorms are arranged in suites. Four rooms in a suite (two students per room), and we share a small common area and a bathroom (two sinks, toilets, and showers). A few suites also have a single in addition to the four rooms, but I believe the single has its own bathrom. Our school cleans the bathroom and suite area, so we don't have to worry about it.</p>
<p>I don't have experience to compare it to a normal dorm, but I like how we have it set up. The suite common room is good at times for studying, or just having fun and hanging out, and a lot of suites will decorate theirs. I had no problem meeting people, most of my friends are in other suites in my dorm.</p>
<p>dorm >>>>>> suitesssssss</p>
<p>^what are you in??? in between?</p>
<p>It kind of depends on what the suite is like, I guess.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman in a suite. However, my suite is simply two rooms joined by a bathroom, and each room connects to the hall. So really the only difference between my "suite" and a regular dorm room is that we don't have community bathrooms (and yes, we have to clean our own bathroom, but that's not a huge deal). There are washer/dryers on every floor, and group study areas.</p>
<p>Anyway, I really like it, because it's as social as it would be if it were a dorm (unless you really talk that much in community bathrooms), but it's a little more private and you don't have to walk through the hall to get to the bathroom.</p>
<p>But really, I think any place is as social as you make it, dorm, suite, or otherwise. You can hole up in your dorm all day, or you can spend a lot of time in other people's apartments. I know freshmen in apartments (they applied too late and there was nowhere else to put them - not much of a punishment, if you ask me ;) ), and they may even be more social than the dorms, since rules are less strict in them.</p>
<p>i get the best of both worlds, namaste. :)</p>
<p>Bookaddict, that sounds like my dorm as well, though our laundry is in the basement. And we have a lobby on each floor for socializing as well.</p>
<p>I'm currently living in a suite-style dorm at UNC and I hate it! It's really a crap shoot. If you get good suitemates and have things in common with them, a lot of times you become close friends. If you get bad suitemates you are screwed because, from my experience, there is close to zero socialization with other suites.</p>
<p>dorm. definitely. there is a much better community atmosphere when you walk into the hallway and see other people.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what your priorities are. I live in a suite-style building, but in a corner room where I only share my bathroom with my roommate. The normal rooms share a bathroom between two rooms. </p>
<p>While I love having my own bathroom (and the staff comes to clean it) you do miss out on a lot of stuff dorm style residences have. Because the rooms are so self-contained there is not a lot of hall activity. Doors are usually closed and people tend to hang out in their rooms with their suite mates, at least in the beginning. It takes longer to get to know your hall mates because you don't have to see them or interact with them on a daily basis if you don't want. </p>
<p>I have a lot of friends who live on normal halls and I'm a bit jealous because they have more of a hall experience. Rooms are open and they know everyone really well. In the beginning of school you tend to hang out with the people on your hall, because they are really the only ones you know. So it's hard in the beginning when you don't know that many people. </p>
<p>If I could choose I would have chosen to live in a dorm freshman year. I think suites are better for upperclassmen. I will most likely live on my sorority hall next year, so I won't have totally missed out. </p>
<p>So it really comes down to your priorities on privacy. If that's really important than a suite would probably be good for you.</p>
<p>I have a suite. Its the same as any other dorm except that each 2 rooms are connected by a bathroom. And the school staff cleans our bathroom, so its win-win</p>