<p>I used to live in BJ (many years ago) and I loved it. The only problem was crossing the midway on cold days...</p>
<p>brokenw1ngs, </p>
<p>I'm not sure how BJ's work out, but our (Pierce's) bathrooms are co-ed, while our showers are --technically-- not. There's one bathroom per floor -- consisting of 3-5 working showers and 6 toilets & urinals. During O-Week your house (consisting of 2 floors; i.e. Thompson House is 7th and 8th floors) will choose which floor is for the male showers and which floor is for the female showers and that's about it.</p>
<p>I mean, it does sound a little shady, but it works out really well and there hasn't been a time when I haven't been able to get a shower (and most times I'm the only one in there.. and, yes, I do shower everyday lol). </p>
<p>But, yea, I'm gonna put my unbiased two cents in here. I definitely think Pierce is the best dorm on campus (with Thompson the best house). With our own dining hall, proximity to campus, and community spirit, you definitely won't be displeased if you get in here (unless you're a priss.. :P). The amenities aren't the best, but with close contact with everyone in your house, you get to know everybody really well, really quickly. There's always a ton of people hanging in the lounge and always something to do on the weekends if you have time :) And plus, who really wants to walk to brunch on saturday in -10 degree weather? Didn't think so! :)</p>
<p>BJ's bathrooms are such: </p>
<p>-Each floor has one bathroom that is either single-sex or coed depending on the floor.
-Each bathroom has two showers, two toilets, and maybe a urinal.
-I should also mention that each floor has 5-8 people on it </p>
<p>I've never had to wait for a shower or a toilet, so it all works out well. BJ's great - only trouble is walking across the midway, but that's not really that big of a deal to be honest. If you're worried about going out in the cold for meals, we have underground tunnels to the dining hall (our own), so you don't have to go out if you don't want to.</p>
<p>Are houses divided up by year? Originally I assumed my house would be all freshman, but I guess with the way the dorms work this is not necessarily true...?</p>
<p>Nope, my house (Thompson House in Pierce tower) has about a 1:1 ratio of 1st to 2nd years and then like three 3rd years. It's very nice to have some experienced students at your disposal :)</p>
<p>It's also nice to have housemates who are 21+, which is good for... oh I'll keep it a surprise.</p>
<p>Do any of the dorms have a distinct racial or political bent? For example, is Max P more asian or white or conservative or libertarian, etc. etc. ??</p>
<p>Not as far as I know.</p>
<p>Some people in the Shoreland view Max P as being more of a "high school" type of dorm personality.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, there's a longstanding Shoreland/Max rivalry, in that almost everybody in Shoreland that I know will dig on Max and vice versa. I think both dorms are equally nice... I would personally choose Max over Shoreland. It's newer and closer.</p>
<p>None of the dorms are split in any conceivable pattern, though I think it's fair to say that some dorms have personalities (or stereotypes, at least) attached to them. But for everybody from a dorm that fits the dorm's stereotype, you'll find as many who contradict it.</p>
<p>Most suites are 2 attached rooms with 2 students in each, and hence 4 people sharing a bathroom, but there are some that are 2 attached singles, you just won't get one as a first year. I live in a double suite, and so have a roommate and two suitemates, however, we all get along really well and I think it works out as a pretty nice living situation.</p>
<p>A question on Broadview: How un-social is it? What condition are the rooms in? Is there any particular atmosphere for dorm-culture there? Would some noise (ie, me practicing guitar) be acceptable? I'm a boarding school student, so I don't particularly care for the dorm experience, but I'd kinda like to at least know my neighbors. I basically want a single and a private bathroom, with an available kitchen and maybe a piano nearby as secondary concerns. Broadview seemed to fit the bill perfectly, so I'd love to hear more about it.</p>
<p>phuriku is the foremost expert on Broadview, but I know some pretty social people in Broadview and I don't think guitar would be a problem, particularly because you're in a large single. My hall as quiet as a hall could be (I'm in Burton-Judson), but it still has me playing Sonic Youth and having oftentimes loud conversations with my friends, my neighbor watching Buffy reruns, and my other neighbor watching Red Sox games. And I can STILL study with the noise. If it gets above a certain level, I'll just go over and ask them to close the door or turn it down. No big deal.</p>
<p>Just wondering......are Max P and Snell likely to be full by now for someone who hasnt sent in their deposit?</p>
<p>Snitchcock is most definitely full IMO.</p>
<p>Maybe, maybe not. My friend was EA and deposited around this time two years ago and got S-H.</p>
<p>Liaku, my son (not a morning person) plays guitar in Broadview. There may be a piano there. There is a communal kitchen arrangement.</p>
<p>Chicago</a> Maroon | The housing crunch</p>
<p>How many upperclassmen, third- and fourth-years, actually stay in the Chicago dorms?</p>
<p>You can do the math: There are about 5,000 undergraduates, and about 2,660 slots in undergraduate housing. 100% of first years live in university housing, representing about half of the slots, and probably 80% of second years. So . . . not very many, 15% or so of third years, even fewer fourth years. Many of whom are either RAs or scholarship students who are incented to stay in housing, i.e., students being paid to stay in housing.</p>
<p>The Maroon op ed piece seems pretty accurate from what I know. Non-university housing in Hyde Park is convenient (often more convenient than, say, the Shoreland or Broadview), equivalent or higher quality, and cheaper, especially when meal plans are taken into account, even after all of the various hidden costs of renting. Only a couple of the dorms have enough upperclassmen to provide any kind of same-class social community.</p>
<p>This isn't actually much of a tragedy. Because the "off-campus" students are concentrated around Hyde Park, they live close to one another, and there is still a tight student social community. Some apartment buildings might just as well be dorms, minus the RAs and RHs. Plus, for years the university has been trying to encourage people to invest in Hyde Park, and having a lot of students living in private housing there and patronizing local stores is a very important part of that equation. Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton don't have that problem; places like Yale, Penn, Cornell, Hopkins do. They have adopted various approaches to it, but Chicago's is probably the most common. Very few universities are spending money on creating more residential housing, something the private sector is arguably better at, anyway. It is not such a bad idea to get private investors to finance capital projects that enhance the university community.</p>
<p>If, all of a sudden, the university had dorm space for all of its students, and they all moved into it, student life would not necessarily improve overall. Yale houses over 95% of its students in wonderful university housing, but has historically been bedeviled by the urban decay of New Haven just outside its walls. And there's no way that Chicago could afford to build the kind of undergraduate housing Yale has. (Yale is talking about spending close to $500 million on two new residential colleges that would house about 500 students each.) The new dorm at Chicago will add about 100 slots net of the sale of the Shoreland, but Chicago isn't talking about radically changing its housing program as far as I know.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that at Pierce, while the toilets and sinks are coed, some of the houses have single sex shower set-ups, some have coed showers. It depends on comfort level of house residents. A vote is taken at the beginning of each school year.</p>