The DL on housing

Colleges & Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Can any current students just give a summation of all the dorms? The housing site is ridiculously confusing and doesn't give all the proper info needed to make an educated decision on housing.</p>

<p>Personally, I was thinking of going for an apartment. I really don't want a community bathroom and am kind of a germ-freak so I don't want random strangers in my room chilling that my roommate invited, so it'd be nice to have a living room. But I know that this will take away from the freshman experience and possibly make it harder to meet people although I am pretty friendly and outgoing. </p>

<p>So I guess my main question is, which dorms DO NOT have community bathrooms, shared between 2 rooms/suite style/etc is great, AND AC. I really really need AC. I can't really determine from the housing site which dorms have both AC and semi-private bathrooms.</p>

2

<p>Only Stever and Henderson offer A/C</p>

<p>Henderson is 2 double rooms sharing an adjoining bathroom. No living room. If you’re a germ-a-phobe-- it’s one of the new and clean dorms as is Stever. Both are clean-- less than 10 years old.</p>

<p>If you enjoy “clean”…morewood is probably not for you (it’s older-- tiles are authentic-- but the grout is practically gray with germs from ions past…)-- those bathrooms are particularly old and dirty looking- but that is just my opinion (The room size, computer cluster and proximity more than offset the old bathrooms-- but you said you are don’t like germs-- so I think you would be very unhappy at Morewood)- I saw a bunch of these rooms at pre-college as a parent-- at check in parents were schmoozing across the floor and I practically gagged at how repulsive the bathrooms were in the semi-private rooms-- not sure about MOrewood E tower-- which is for freshman and has a communal bathroom-- </p>

<p>With a physician’s note for allergies, you can install an A/C in any campus housing on or off campus.</p>

<p>The housing website is actually the best place for comprehensive info-- click the links on every dorm to see the floor plans. It’s worth your time.</p>

<p>London Terrace Apts are available to freshman.</p>

3

<p>^Great tips! Thank you so much! That was a great help!</p>

<p>Henderson really seems great. But it appears that they don’t have the virtual tour option for it on the housing site, am I just missing it? How are the dorms inside?</p>

<p>I think I’m gonna do Henderson as first choice, LT Apts second, Mudge 3rd? Are the first 2 hard to get into? Henderson only has 60 kids… :frowning: I paid my deposit April 23rd. How does the housing preference work? Does it go by who paid their deposit first? How likely would I be to get Henderson?</p>

4

<p>To be honest, Henderson and LT are very rarely requested. They’re mostly where you get put if you filed late and couldn’t get in anywhere else. So you probably won’t have any trouble getting in there if you request it. LT is very far from campus, and Henderson is the Wellness Housing program, which means it’s smoke/drug free and not very sociable. (The only Henderson kids I know fear parties like the plague and are intensely focused on their schoolwork.) You also have to take part in a couple wellness/health seminars throughout the year. So you won’t have any trouble getting a room in either of those places, I don’t think.</p>

5

<p>The following entry is an old post from 6/27/2008. Perhaps Kate or another current student might want to update it.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carnegie-mellon-2012/529775-dorms.html?highlight=dorm[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carnegie-mellon-2012/529775-dorms.html?highlight=dorm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hi incoming freshmen.
You will probably get something in the mail that asks you where to dorm. Here is some helpful information about the dorms here on campus that the brochures do not tell you. </p>

<p>West Wing/Resnik- most coveted dorms on campus by everyone, usually is filled up with upperclassmen, good luck trying to even get a spot in here, you will most likely be rejected because upperclassmen get preference
why do people want it so badly? it has a/c, is the newest dorms on campus, is right in the center of campus, has restaurants right inside the building such as taste of india, tartan pavilion, and carnegie cafe, oh and it is the only dorm on campus that you are legally allowed to drink alcohol in and throw parties in(obviously if you are 21 loll…), if you somehow get this dorm, i highly encourage you to retain this dorm for all four years
Coed</p>

<p>New House (now known as Stever)- in my opinion this is the nicest dorm for freshmen, freshmen only, but you can not retain it for sophomore year, very recently built which is why it is called new house, has air conditioning and good heaters which you will need in august for a/c and february for heaters(cuz believe me february here is really cold)
coed- half the floor is guys and the other half is girls so this makes it very interactable between both genders
very nice lounges, nice showers, has security entrance with someone who lets you in
Elevators- theres like i think 5 floors.
cons: your room is very small but that is ok as it encourages you to go into the lounge and socialize with everyone else and make many friends</p>

<p>Morewood
this dorm in my opinion is pretty decent but not the best
medium sized rooms, if you get a triple it is huge though
Elevator well cuz there is like 7 floors or maybe a lil more.
E-Tower Morewood is freshmen only. I highly reccomend this dorm as you can meet your fellow classmates, and you guys are more likely to bond as you guys do not know many others on campus.
Co-ed- gender however is split up by floor </p>

<p>Gardens is all grades-I discourage gardens for your first year. Even though you get a suite with your own bathroom and a big room, you do not get the opportunity to meet many fellow first years.
Coed- gender is mixed up by floor</p>

<p>Mudge- freshmen only, however those who had it last year can retain their rooms for the coming year
this used to be someone’s mansion
very big rooms, nice lounge
no elevators
Coed</p>

<p>Donner- everyone will tell you it smells
it smells outside since the dumpsters are there.
But honestly, its pretty decent inside.
Big rooms
Coed by floor- that is every floor is one gender</p>

<p>On the hill
These dorms
Hamerschlag- if you get this dorm you are very unlucky
cons: smells really bad at times especially during the winter, all guys, when you get to hamerschlag after climbing a huge hill, you still have to climb up many stairs to get to your room and when you get to your room you are simply exhausted, bathrooms and showers are ugly and old, heater rarely works- i rememeber having to sleep with a jacket on in february cuz the heater in my room never really worked</p>

<p>pros: it is all freshmen so you do tend to bond well with your fellow floormates,
Scobell- all guys too, but not anywhere as many stairs as hamerschlag, but the facilities are a bit newer than hamerschlag, not too many people have heard of this dorm, again you have to climb up a huge hill to get to this dorm</p>

<p>Boss- freshmen only as of this year
coed on floor, the rest of the floors is all guys
the dorm is nice tho and the rooms are medium</p>

<p>Henderson- the nicest dorm on the hill, only dorm on the hill to have a/c
coed, has an elevator, rooms are medium</p>

<p>McGill- all girls ouchy to be a girl at this dorm, havent heard too much praise or criticism otherwise</p>

<p>If you get something off campus
Fairfax- big rooms, have your own kitchen too which is pretty awesome
Webster- big rooms but not as big as fairfax, farthest away from campus but if you have several friends at pitt or take classes at pitt as well, its not so bad as you are very near pitt</p>

<p>Shirley- not as good as webster or fairfax, apartment style tho which is pretty sweet, again very near pitt</p>

6

<p>I don’t really have anything to add/update to that, haha, he did a pretty good job. Just a couple things:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>You can’t get into Resnik unless you’re in a wheelchair or have Downs or something and moving a certain distance is physically troubling for you, so you need to be close to campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Henderson is the Wellness Scholars program. Like I said above, you take part in seminars and will meet people who do not enjoy going out or doing anything more than play Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday nights. (Not that DnD is a bad thing. I love my level 12 rogue-fighter multiclass.) </p></li>
<li><p>McGill has a reputation for hosting either the very very religious conservative women who fear men, the girls who despise social interaction and don’t want to be around boys, the girls who got placed there because they filed for housing late and hate being there, and the girls who chose it without actually knowing anything about it and didn’t know it was one gender. It seems like everyone in McGill falls into one of those four categories somehow. </p></li>
<li><p>Freshmen in Mudge cannot retain. That was a temporary program and it’s been phased out.</p></li>
<li><p>Donner is way cleaner and nicer than people give it credit for. It’s a nice dorm and the trash only smells when it’s very hot and you’re in exactly the right place outside to smell it. It is closest to every academic building, so to all you kids who keep asking “HI I AM X MAJOR WHAT IS THE CLOSEST DORM TO MY BUILDING?” The answer is always Donner without fail, regardless of what major you are, except maybe SCS, which might be considered closer to Morewood E-Tower.</p></li>
<li><p>Boss is home to the Humanities Scholars program and some other intellectualist programs that connect smart people to smart people. If you, too, wish to be recognized for your overwhelming intelligence, then Boss is the dorm for you.</p></li>
</ul>

7

<p>In defense of Henderson…there’s only 20 people on each of the three floors.
The first floor being all Freshman with a few extras on the other floors. As Kate noted, most freshmen end up there rather than selecting by choice to be put there-- and many DO NOT fit that stero type per se. The point - they aren’t Henderson by definition -and it can be a great situation.
My D had a some friends living there freshman year (I think I noted in an earlier post we once walked there when I was visiting to pick up something left behind and I thought the rooms were awesome- large, clean …amazing)…and these friends were many of the last minute deposit date students- they didn’t strike me as boring, they were party types, some did drink (I asked about the dorm). The wellness programming is not mandatory - it is optional-- and has stuff on stress reduction and even massage.
The dorm had a fitness center and laundry room (that is not in the basement as it is in Morewood) and great kitchen - all for only 60 people.
One drawback was the two flights of stairs to get there…might be bad in the winter months I suppose.
It also does not have a printing cluster- as is the case for all the Hill dorms. But a printer costs $30…how much ink could use in an emergency?</p>

8

<p>perhaps it would be better to sticky that post about CMU housing rather than have a bunch of admitted students asking us the same questions each year.</p>

9

<p>wish we had a mod :/</p>