<p>Dropping off/picking up son and friends I was surprised to see how close to the area dining hall and other dorms Bradley was compared to my eons ago memories. Chad is a high rise, totally different in style than the lakeshore dorms. Choose the area of campus you want to live in, do not worry too much about distances to classroom buildings- instead consider the surroundings you will be in. If a particular learing community is high on your list of priorities, go for that, "better" is in the eye of the beholder. Every dorm has its benefits, you have to weigh them for your particular list of preferences. No dorm is better in all respects, you decide which aspects appeal most to you and don't worry too much about it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much wis75, this has been really helpful!
I’ve gathered that Liz seems to be the most desirable, but I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the other Lakeshore houses? It seems that some of the buildings are mostly geared towards “socially-awkward” (<– quoting a past comment) sophmores, and as an incoming freshman, I’d like to be surrounded by, well, freshmen. I’m not a big partier and look foward to “Coasty” life, but I can’t decide between them. And suggestions?</p>
<p>See all of the dorm related threads for many bits of info. All dorms with freshmen have at least 50% freshmen, and usually many more as current campus culture means many leave for apartments after their year in the dorms. The character of each dorm floor is deteremined by its residents, every year this changes. Remember, everyone chose UW as their school. Also, while the particular dorm may not have been a first choice, everyone ranked that dorm high on their list- those who want lakeshore ranked those dorms above the southeast dorms and vice versa.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about those who do not share your interests. You do not need to be friends with everyone you live with, even your roommate. You just need to get along. You will find enough other freshmen to hang out with as you all make the adjustment to college life. Everyone will be in the same boat- new and discovering others to share interests and activites. Don’t worry about any sophomores, some may share interests and others won’t be in your life. It is nice to have some around to clue you into some facets of campus life/ask questions of.</p>
<p>To decide which dorm to rank highest you need to prioitize the differences you see. It may be distances to the lake, snack bar, dining hall, tennis courts or other places. It may be relative age of the building, its size, room layout, style, or other factors. For every pro there is a con compared to others. All buildings are well kept but they all have their own character. Finally- just rank them, paying attention to area of campus, and be done. You can revise your list later. This is only for 9 months- you are renting, not buying, your space.</p>
<p>So what dorms in Lakeshore are the most “freshmen oriented”? Which tend to have the highest percentage of freshmen or are they all pretty much the same?</p>
<p>MNTwins, My first guess would be the freshman only dorm, Bradley. Can’t go wrong there. :] As for percentages, I would say the rest are probably around around 50-60% freshman, with more freshman in the KroCS dorms. </p>
<p>But Bradley is obviously the most freshman oriented dorm. KroCS and TAS are different, however, they’re both their own small communities, which is nice. You’ll find things aimed at freshman in all the lakeshore dorms.</p>