the official and comprehensive DORM thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>i'm a '10 and I would love advice about Dartmouth dorms. I stayed at one of the river dorms during dimensions and I thought it was pretty nice (two rooms plus a common area in in between the two rooms)...that is, until I saw East Wheelock dorms! they were amazing. i loved the private bathrooms especially.</p>

<p>pitch in anything you know about the dorms, but I have a few specific questions:
why exactly do ppl hestitate to sign up for EW dorms?
what are the pros and cons of sub-free housing? the dorm i stayed in was sub-free and the people seemed fine (as in, i met no extreme prudes and everyone was friendly and social. my host said she chose sub-free housing bc she didnt want to deal with ppl puking in the hallways, lol)
if you have a private bathroom, do you have to clean it yourself?
are EW dorms more expensive?
Does anyone know anything about the new dorms that Dartmouth is building?
would you recommend living on an all-freshman floor or an all-freshman dorm or a completely mixed dorm?
is having a single in freshman year a good idea?
which dorms have fireplaces?</p>

<p>i will probably find more questions to add to this list soon...:D</p>

<p>:confused:</p>

2

<p>EW has a reputation for being very anti-social and studious. I mean, come on, you have to write essay to get a dorm. That's silly, in the typical Dartmouth student's opinion. There was an article in the D about noise in EW from students engaging in extra-curricular activities (sex). It apparently was the first complaint of such noise in the cluster's entire history. It was on the first page. EW is located pretty far away (I'd say farther than the River dorms, really). So, most of my friends there feel sort of isolated. In the end, most people choose to live somewhere else because they want the social aspect. The library has tons of places to study, so you won't be stuck in your room. I feel like the dorms should be a more social concern than an academic one.</p>

<p>We can't use fireplaces, but some have them. (older dorms, EW for various reasons)</p>

<p>I live in Sub-free in Cohen (the Choates) It's not bad. There's still drinking, but for the most part, people respect your desire to not have puke everywhere. And we're still very social. We hang out and talk and watch movies. We just don't have alcohol. Sub-free isn't strictly enforced, so it's more self-selection for no alcohol or drugs.</p>

<p>go for all-freshmen. It's a great experience, and I might continue it in the Fayerweathers next year, which will be all sophmores.</p>

<p>The new dorms will have rooms for Freshmen, but they will be mixed class.</p>

<p>Sybbie ought to know about the private bathroom, her daughter had one freshman year.</p>

3

<p>this is a little old but quite useful about dorms
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eshmen/dorms.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~shmen/dorms.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>Hey 10s – I posted some of this on another thread but thought it might be helpful to post it again.</p>

<p>By requesting what type of room you want (single, double, triple, or quad), you can easily influence which dorm you are placed in. If one dorm only has doubles and you request a single, it's likely that you won't be placed in that particular dorm. I requested a triple and at the bottom of my housing application wrote which dorm I wanted to live in in huge letters, just in case it might help. I think the Residential Staff really want to make us happy, because I got into the exact dorm I had requested. Also, students usually think that singles will go very quickly, but all the 09s who requested singles were given them.</p>

<p>As for which dorms are best, I highly recommend going for the new dorms. They sound amazing and new facilities are always wonderful. As for which is better, I think the location of your classes will be a very important factor if you don't want a long walk. The McLaughlin Cluster is nearer to the science, psych, and astro buildings. The Tuck mall cluster is closer to the government and econ buildings. Also, Tuck mall is closer to Baker library, where many English and history classes are held. Both clusters are equally far away from language, film, theater, art, music, and math classes. </p>

<p>The River and the Choates are all-freshman dorms. The River dorms are the least desirable because they are on the edge of campus. However, they were renovated pretty recently. The Choates are closer and are right behind frat row. They’re pretty new and have glass tunnels connecting the second floors to the lounges. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, McLaughlin, Tuck, the River, and the Choates are all very far away from Thayer dining hall. In fact, McLaughlin is REALLY far away from the dining hall. If you don’t mind a 10 minute walk then it won’t be a big deal. I think they are planning to build a dining hall near there by 2010. </p>

<p>Lucky for you guys, the freshman will be placed in either all freshman or mostly freshman buildings. This is great because mixed class housing (where freshman are a minority) is awful. Being in mixed class housing with not many other freshman can make it harder to make friends quickly and bond with your class. </p>

<p>The new clusters will be 75% freshman in mostly doubles and 25% seniors. Butterfield and Russell Sage are older dorms and will probably have mostly freshman. Even though these dorms aren’t all freshman, I don’t think it will matter much.</p>

<p>I do not recommend a single unless you really like your privacy and quiet. Even if your roommate doesn’t become your best friend, it’s still nice to know someone else your first day on campus. Plus, doubles and triples are larger and will give you more floor space. However, if you are very social and can make friends easily, then I don’t think a single would be all that bad.</p>

<p>As for private bathrooms, some dorms (Mass Row) have full baths while a couple of others have half baths. I don’t think any freshman dorms will have half baths. But if you do, your bath room will be cleaned once a week by the custodian. The college provides you with toilet paper if you’re wondering. ;-)</p>

<p>You guys can get check out maps of the campus at this site
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Emaps/campus/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~maps/campus/&lt;/a>
and get more info and look at floor plans at this one
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eorl/housi...ties/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~orl/housi...ties/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The ‘shmen guide Isaac posted is helpful but a little outdated. Freshman won’t be living in Gile or Hitchcock anymore.</p>

5

<p>HI Greensleeves:)</p>

<p>Good luck to you in the housing draw.</p>

<p>Regarding EW, </p>

<p>When D lived in EW and even now in the treehouses, someone comes in to clean the bathroom. I read the article about the "noise" in EW.</p>

<p>For her living in EW was the best of both worlds as she had a lot of friends who lived in EW and still do along with a lot of friends who live outside of EW. She said it was a long walk to class but you get used to it.</p>

<p>This year she lives in the River cluster and it is still a long walk to class, but there is a bus stop by Thayer that will take you to the hop (she got to know the bus well when making the 7:45 spanish drill).</p>

<p>Sophmore summer she will live in greek housing, guess what , still a long walk to class (she should have really great legs by the time all of this is finished) but at least it will be better weather.</p>

<p>She went to a meeting for her study abroad and they told her at the college she is staying at, she will be in a single and they have someone who comes in to clean the rooms, empty the trash daily and change the sheets weekly (I think she'll be ruined when she gets back to Hanover :)</p>

<p>W3DNESDAY,</p>

<p>Don't worry rooms are not priced according to where you live.</p>

6

<p>hi. How come everyone is talking about dorms and I've received pratically nothing, no documents regrading dorms selection. Should I start contacting Dartmouth, ir should I wait a bit longer</p>

7

<p>its way too early...the hardest part now is waiting for info which will be slow going for a bit longer...understand on campus the room draw for upperclass is around may 8th...housing has to deal with that first</p>

8

<p>I don't think anyone has actually received anything about housing. This is just a cursory speculation :)</p>

9

<p>Has anyone who submitted their enrollment form heard anything at all back from them yet? I understand that the housing form has not yet been sent, but should I have received any sort of confirmation?...does it maybe just take a while to process?</p>

10

<p>I got an email confirming that they received it a bit more than a week later. They said they'd start sending other info in early June (or was it late May?).</p>

11

<p>i'm going to need to stock my dorm room with furniture, a fridge, etc. from Hanover and the neighboring areas. how am i supposed to lug all that junk back onto campus? i heard that there are shuttles that go into Lebanon, will they take stuff like chairs in the luggage area? oh, and does it cost anything to ride the shuttle? i might need to take more than a few trips..</p>

12

<p>one plus to EW is that it is literally across the street from the renewed fitness center, which looks fabulous.</p>

13

<p>w3d ..dont worry about furn..they give you what you need to get started...you can rent fridge and can get laundry service etc will all be explained to you in mailings and during your long orientation...your job just get the stuff you need for doc trip(and dont buy the best)..a list will be sent to you and show up on the right day ..
youll have plenty of time for figuring out everything else</p>

14

<p>Re: mailings. Dartmouth is very laissez-faire about all this stuff. You and your parents are naturally very excited and anxious to get all the info, but they are moving at what we have come to call "Dartmouth Pace". The upside is that they don't require a deposit, for example! </p>

<p>I would check the website for the DOC trip info, it will be up before the mailing. The dorm info will come when it comes. Don't sweat the trip selections too much, we had little evidence that they honor many requests - in fact the whole selection process seemed a little mysterious! Housing, however, does seem to really make an effort to get people what they want. The HO does not guarantee anything, but don't let that stop you from asking for a space you particularly want in the comment section of the form - you may be pleasantly surprised.</p>

<p>For the 09s, singles were an unpopular choice, more people requested doubles than there were doubles available. Sub-free was also less popular. Who knows what the 10s will want! Hhhmmm, I don't remember anything about renting a fridge, because that is an option we would have taken had we known about it. </p>

<p>Comprehensive mailings are coming in June.</p>

15

<p>From a Dimensions handout:</p>

<p>Late May: Members of Class of 2010 receive first mailings from First year Office....Frequent mailings after this time.</p>

<p>June: Take SAT II language test, if not already done so, for placement purposes</p>

<p>August 1: DOC trip assignments made</p>

<p>Aug 29-Sept 12: DOC trips; each trip = 5 days</p>

<p>Sept 13-19: Orientation</p>

<p>Sept 20: First day of classes</p>

16

<p>bluebayou,</p>

<p>Was the info given out this year at Dimensions? I am certain my S in unaware of the SAT II language test requirement which he has not taken despite his many years of French. Thanks for the tip...it looks like a late registration for him!</p>

17

<p>yes, S picked up a yellow flyer (or, more likely, it was stuffed into his packet since he is loathe to search for anything value ).....</p>

<p>A student needs a 690+ on the Subject Test to fulfill the language requirement. An AP score will work as well; a 4 = copletion of the language requirement while a 5 also earns course credit.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Espanport/study/SAT-II.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~spanport/study/SAT-II.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Efrstyear/work/policies/apexams.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frstyear/work/policies/apexams.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The Dartmouth website notes that placement or exemption exams are also given during orientation week.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Efrstyear/work/policies/placement.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frstyear/work/policies/placement.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

18

<p>Runmanstl, taking the SATII is a very good idea. There may be other placement tests that he will need to take during orientation, and there is so much fun stuff going on - why add on one he could have gotten out of the way.
If he is not planning on taking anymore French, then he will be able to fulfill the language requirement as Bluebayou outlined,</p>

19

<p>cangel, </p>

<p>S is planning on continuing his French (we have spent much time there and have family friends in Paris)...so it would only be for placement purposes. Do you recommend SATII for placement purposes or will Dartmouth require him to take their test in Sept?</p>

20

<p>If he takes the SAT II he will have some idea of where he stands in terms of placement before he gets to Hanover and can plan his schedule accordingly. </p>

<p>If he takes the placement test during orientation he will get the results either later in the day or the next day and then plan his schedule.</p>

<p>If he is thinking about doing the french LSA (he will apply by feb 1, 2007), sophomore year the school's only requirement is that he has the pre-requisites done before he leaves for his trip.</p>