Tell me about different residential "neighborhoods"

Colleges and Universities A-Z Indiana University - Bloomington
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<p>My son may be a freshman next year (Fall, 2012) and we understand he needs to preference a neighborhood but can't pick dorms. Can anyone fill in details about these neighborhoods - general vibe,location, condition of the dorms. Which neighborhoods are best for kids who are planning to live in honors housing (I think that's usually a floor on different dorms?). </p>

<p>NORTHWEST
Briscoe
Collins
Foster
McNutt</p>

<p>CENTRAL
Ashton
Eigenmann
Teter
Union Street Center
Wright</p>

<p>SOUTHEAST
Forest
Read
Willkie
University Apartments</p>

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<p>Thanks for starting this thread!</p>

<p>NORTHWEST
Briscoe-We heard at IU admissions overview yesterday that one tower of Briscoe was just renovated and has AC; second tower is being renovated and will open next fall. IU dorm prices posted online are higher for these renovated/AC dorms. Living Well learning community has been at Briscoe in past years; not sure about next year.
Collins
Foster
McNutt</p>

<p>CENTRAL
Ashton
Eigenmann
Teter
Union Street Center
Wright</p>

<p>SOUTHEAST
Forest
Read
Willkie
University Apartments</p>

3

<p>So if you choose a neighborhood but then get assigned to a dorm, you may have to pay more if you randomly get assigned a newly updated dorm? yikes.</p>

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<p>Quick note: You do have some slight control over which specific dorm you live in if you apply for a Living Learning Center. For example, the Central Honors LLC is in Teter, the Kelley LLC is in McNutt, the Collins LLC is in Collins (obviously, haha), ect. Of course, applying for an LLC doesn’t guarantee that you’ll live there, but your chances are pretty good if you apply for housing early and list the LLC as your first preference. Also, you can apply for housing before making your enrollment deposit, which I definitely recommend doing if you’re seriously considering going to IU.</p>

<p>As far as honors housing goes, there is an honors LLC in each neighborhood. Another thing you might want to look into is the Collins LLC–that’s where I’m living now. It’s not an honors dorm, and it is known as the “hipster” dorm, but we do have the second-highest GPA on campus and everyone here is quite studious. It’s also one of the cheapest dorms :)</p>

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<p>There are different price rates in each neighborhood (like premium, regular, etc.) you will select one of those. So you probably will end up in the price option you want. </p>

<p>Also, if money is an issue, you can live in co-op housing. Basically it’s a couple floors in a normal dorm, where the students do cleaning and basic chores in exchange for a big decrease in housing costs. </p>

<p>The basic stereotypes of the neighborhoods are:</p>

<p>Southeast: Asian, music students, anti-social, </p>

<p>Central: In-state, Mix of majors/academic motivation, less oriented towards Greek life than Northwest, less of a raging party atmosphere than Northwest. </p>

<p>Northwest: Out-of-state, Jewish, Partiers, tend to go Greek, Lots of business students (or pre-business), Less inclined towards academics (Not for honors floor or LLC), Wealthy</p>

<p>As far as the neighborhoods, there’s not really a difference (people wise) between dorms, but there is a difference between neighborhoods (except for Collins). There’s a lot stereotyping and generalizations that go on with these threads, so I will try to stick my own personal experience. It would probably be helpful for others to do the same about where they live. </p>

<p>Pros of Northwest (I live in McNutt in the KLLC, so it is slightly different than general Northwest, but probably similar to an honors floor in Northwest)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The OOS students. Coming not knowing anybody, it has been awesome to be around so many other kids coming from far away. </p></li>
<li><p>The social life. Northwest is definitely the party neighborhood. I’m not the most outgoing individual, but it has helped a ton that most other people on my floor are very outgoing. </p></li>
<li><p>Being in an LLC. Even though almost everyone on my floor is a partier, most of them have parents paying OOS tuition and they are trying to get into/do well in Kelley. That means Sunday through Wednesday nights are typically pretty quiet. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>There’s a lot more awesome things about living in the KLLC, so if anyone is interested in that they should PM me. </p>

<p>Cons about Northwest.
-Location. It just sucks (Except we’re close to Greek life).</p>

<p>The stereotypes obviously don’t represent every person in the neighborhoods, but I think you would be doing yourself a disservice by ignoring them. I had an expectation of what the people on my floor would be like, and it has been turned out to be pretty true. I think you need to really think about what you want out of a living situation, and choose the neighborhood or community that fits that the best. </p>

<p>Even for honors floors, the honors floors in Southeast are different than the honors floors in Northwest (I know people who live there). My advice would be to pick a neighborhood that fits what you want socially, then pick an academic floor, if you want to be surrounded by more academically motivated peers. </p>

<p>Where you live is so important because the people on your floor will probably be your friends. So I would not take it lightly.</p>

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<p>Thanks hkem123! Now - please fill in all the details you haven’t mentioned yet! ;)</p>

<p>I agree with picking the neighborhood that fits, and that’s what this thread is for so please - gossip! How are honors floors different between SE, NW, and Central? How would you describe the general vibe in SE and Central?</p>

<p>Also, Collins sounds cool, but if you sign up for NW you’re just as likely to get into Briscoe, Foster, or McNutt, right? </p>

<p>Thanks for all the info so far!</p>

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<p>I am a freshman living in an honors residential community in Forest (Southeast), and so far I absolutely love it. I applied for HRC housing in Central, and was pretty devastated when I was placed in Forest because of the huge stereotypes associated with the Southeast dorms (anti-social, 24/7 studying, nothing to do, etc). However, my experiences during only a month and a half in Bloomington have really disproved all of those generalizations. If you’d like more info, feel free to message me.</p>

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<p>As a freshman living in the KLLC in McNutt, I honestly wouldn’t trade it for anything. For social freshmen, NorthWest is the place to be and McNutt is the general hub for NW. The previous poster is right about the common NW’er’s perspective on the other campus neighborhoods. I would say too that everyone I know who lives in Forest stress that it is very anti-social. I wouldn’t really mind living in Center either, as long as it is not Wright. Wright is easily one of the worst dorms as there is no air conditioning and overall in a bad state right now. Collins does have the reputation of being very “hipster”, but the food there is the best for dorm food.</p>

<p>If you are interested in going to business at all, the KLLC offers the perfect blend of academics and social life.</p>

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<p>[Residence</a> hall stereotypes weigh on minds of incoming freshman, past residents|UWIRE](<a href=“Residence Hall Association to elect new positions | UWire”>Residence hall stereotypes weigh on minds of incoming freshman, past residents | UWire)</p>

<p>No, if you apply for Collins as your first choice and don’t get it they will look at your second choice. Since it is an LLC, it stands alone as a preference and you will select “Collins” rather than “Northwest”. Also, even though Collins is technically a Northwest dorm, it isn’t close to the other dorms. </p>

<p>Northwest is the most requested neighborhood to live in by far. So the kids who live on the Honors floors in Northwest, likely had Honors floor in Northwest as their first choice. They did not select Northwest because they wanted to have a quiet Friday night. The Honors floors in Northwest are toned down versions of the other Northwest floors. The kids are going to go out 2 to 3 nights a week, but they are going to be smart kids. </p>

<p>There were a couple times I had to walk from Northwest through Southeast at night to get to the third street Greek life, and I was amazed at how dead it was. Northwest is like an open party at 11:30 on a Friday night, and Southeast was completely dead. I walked through the hallways in Read, and I can tell you those people were not going out that night. </p>

<p>I don’t even have any second hand experience with the honors floors in Southeast, but I can guess. I imagine there’s probably a lot of Jacobs students. They are probably smart. but they really just didn’t come looking for the party experience that Northwest offers. </p>

<p>Central is a mixture of people.</p>

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<p>I hesitated to post a reply because I don’t want to offend anyone but to know is important. Basically everything written is true. My son is a feshman this year. He waited way to long to put his housing request in and got stuck in southeast. We are oos and he was looking forward to having a blast at school. After he was put in Southeast we spent about 4 months trying to have him moved. It was IMPOSSIBLE. We read all the descriptions on the web about the different neighborhoods and it is all true. He absolutly is miserable in southeast. It is boring and not his type of kids. Another kid from our town is in Southeast and would like to transfer schools. Luckily my son had the advantage of knowing many kids in the northwest dorms and he’s ben able to socialize thru their connections. Central is a nice neighborhood is in between the crazier scene and the non existant one. As soon as you can pick ur dorming, it could make it or break it for ur kid!</p>

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<p>So the stereotypes are:</p>

<p>NW = party/preGreek/business major, except for Collins which is hippie/smart/weird
CENTRAL = close to campus buildings, mix of different types of people
SE = performing arts majors and no fun, dull, no social life (which doesn’t fit my experience - I find performers to be a blast that like having all kinds of good times)</p>

<p>So where are the kids at night in SE? Are they in their rooms studying? In practice rooms? Or out doing something fun besides a huge open party?</p>

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<p>Also, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the different neighborhoods have a different level of intelligence. If you want to live with other smart people live on an honors floor or in an LLC. </p>

<p>I don’t know where the Southeast kids are at night. Jacobs students are obviously very talented, so they are probably practicing. There are Southeast kids who practically live in McNutt, so they are probably there. </p>

<p>I’m sure there are kids in southeast have a more low-key social night, but to me they just seem less wanting to socialize than McNutt.</p>

<p>Also, be careful about Collins. I’ve never met someone who lives there who doesn’t love it, but it is very alternative. Unless you are super into Harry Potter, or the drug scene, I feel like it would be tough to fit in. When you see a kid with a green mohawk, and body piercings, he probably lives in Collins.</p>

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<p>I don’t agree with the stereotypes posted here with exception of Collins. I transferred into IU as a Junior and was put into Willkie, where we all tend to end up as an older, on campus, student. First, I am neither anti-social or asian and although I do agree that there are a lot of international students in the southeast neighborhoods, there’s an even mix of EVERY type of person. International students typically live on campus and therefore they will make up a large majority of the students in the dorms, no matter where you live. Yes, the neighborhood with Briscoe and McNutt is going to be more wild because they’re freshman dorms and freshman spend their first semester disobeying their parents and partying. But, I do suppose the point is this: at the end of the day, your dorm is a place to sleep. There are plenty of ways to make friends that go beyond the people you live next to and if you’re doing college right you shouldn’t be spending it inside your room. Clubs, sports, organizations, and classes all provide ways to make friends and get involved. If you don’t like your dorm it can be frustrating sure, but, that should be even more of a reason to GET OUT and enjoy college for what it is and that’s what you make of it.</p>

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<p>eLynn - good points! Stereotypes are usually partially or mostly true and ALWAYS have exceptions. If a student is hoping to avoid a roommate that stumbles in puking every weekend, it does sound like McNutt is best avoided!</p>

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<p>elynn07,</p>

<p>When people talk about the stereotypes of the neighborhoods, they are typically referring to freshman dorms. Most freshman can’t live in Wilkie, so it doesn’t really follow the stereotype. I doubt the apartment buildings in the other neighborhoods follow the stereotypes either. But that is somewhat irrelevant for a freshman coming in who can’t live in them.</p>

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<p>Willkie is simply an example. Freshman can live in Read as well as Forest, which is in the southeast neighborhood, and Willkie is not just an upperclassman dorm. It’s based on age so, depending on when you entered college, it is relevant. If you’re a 19 year old Freshman and you end up in Willkie, which is possible since they put most older students with those their same age, hearing that Willkie or the southeast neighborhood in general is anti-social and boring isn’t exactly going to be good news when they’re excited to start college.</p>

<p>Regardless, I think it’s important to remember that the majory of Freshman get put in McNutt and Briscoe and the stereotype there is that everyone parties but, like Willkie and Read aren’t full of quiet losers, those dorms aren’t full of puking idiots all the time. If you’re assigned to a dorm you don’t like, try to get out and do things away from it because at the end of the day, the people you become friends with don’t have live across from you. It’s all what you make of it really.</p>

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<p>Well, you’re right about making the best of where you end up. But in the meantime, students need to select a preference for a neighborhood, so it’s worth finding out what the differences are. Anyone else have any information to add?</p>

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<p>My daughter lived in Forest last year and she was initially afraid it would be boring because she’d heard that stereotype. She LOVED it and was very happy not to have been assigned to NW, which was initially attractive to her (she signed up VERY late for housing).</p>

<p>Here’s what she liked–having a place to chill out and sleep and study during the week. She’d go out with friends and do social stuff–and had LOTS of friends in the dorm, too, who she hung out with and had fun with. I’m sure she partied on weekends/went out etc., however, she’s a very serious student & was taking some hard courses. She liked the quieter atmosphere during the week for sure.</p>

<p>She said no one ever threw up in the hall or bathroom, but that friends she met who lived in more ‘party’ oriented dorms encountered that quite a bit.</p>

<p>I guess it depends on what you’re looking for, but she sure had fun in Forest and did not spend the year alone in her room, bored.</p>

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<p>I think eLynn has good advice!</p>

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<p>My boys have similar comments. In addition, </p>

<p>1) Teter seems to be a favorite.
2) Read has the best all you care to eat.
3) Apply early like right now especially if you want KLLC or Teter. You have to risk losing the $100 deposit even if you are still wondering whether you want to come to IU.
4) Do not select “premium” if you don’t want to pay the extra a couple of thousand dollars.</p>