<p>I’m just wondering what the best living situation would be for transfer students.</p>
<p>Would you guys recommend living in Duren or San Jac for a Cockrell student? From google maps it looks like Duren is closer to the engineering school, but I feel like San Jac is closer to everything else (gym, probably a lot of my classes, etc).</p>
<p>@Featheredfedora I’m going for the Co-ops if I can. It’s much cheaper and very close to campus.</p>
<p>i already payed my $50 housing app fee but i need to know what are the pro’s & cons of dorm on campus and co-op? im transferring into fall 2013 & want to know if co-op are cheaper? closer to college of natural sciences classes? distance to library or gym? also i want to still be be heavily involved in on campus activities & party’s since its my first year in Austin.</p>
<p>I would really appreciate help!!</p>
<p>Visited UT with son (entering freshman). He paid his $50 back in Dec. for housing and has a “contract” for oncampus. We looked at San Jan and Dobie while visiting, also at Duren (too remote) and a few others, as well as cruising through Jester main eating areas.</p>
<p>DOBIE QUESTIONS: It seemed larger than the other dorms for potentially lower price. The security however seemed lax (we walked right in, rode elevator, cruised the halls at 9 pm…) But it looks to me like a property on a decline? (theater gone, so many empty stores in mall) I am sure the “model” room they showed us was far nicer than reality, right? What hidden charges are there (parking?) How is internet service? How is food? How are facilities (A/C? Plumbing?) We did look in dining area - my plan would be to get him the 14 meals/week and give him bevo bucks or cash for remainder of meals. Closeness to business school nice, though as a freshman, I imagine his classes will be all over? Is there some other benefit to being on-campus (versus off) that he would miss out on by being at Dobie vs one of the UT-sponsored dorms? Anyone know roughly if Dobie is more upper classmen or freshman residents, or a mixed bag? </p>
<p>JESTER QUESTIONS: So it really does smell bad in there? How early would one have to apply / put in their token $50 to secure a room with bath versus community bath sector? (Or do you specify which Jester?) Just wondering if you put jester as your top choice… if you might end up with the community bath jester. Can’t recall if it differentiated on the website for that…think it does? Is Jester room same size as San Jan? (if so - that’s tiny!) </p>
<p>SAN JAN - Wow - tiny rooms for the price. Worth it? What perks does it have to make it worth that price? It did seem very nice in the common areas and much more secure than Dobie. But dining times seemed limited?</p>
<p>ON CAMPUS (in general) - Do many find they have to up their internet plan? What cost and where is parking? (near dorm or randomly assigned? Are you guaranteed that there is enough spaces for every space “sold”? Some schools sell more passes than there is actually space for cars… like a bad game of auto musical chairs) Is the food allotment (dining dollars and bevo bucks) enough? How often are parents subsidizing this by year’s end? </p>
<p>DOBIE VS ON-CAMPUS: to hear the Dobie staff talk, it’s like “sign a contract today or all will be lost!” I do not get a sense that they truly will sell out, however - it felt instead rather…used car pushy. Understandable - they are in market to survive so they must sell. Obviously we need to choose before May 1 however so we can get our on-campus deposit back, if need be, to apply to Dobie. Is there anything else we shold know about Dobie versus on-campus (specifically Jester or San Jan) to help in that decision? What about crime (those stats are often best known by residents… and suppressed by campus and building staff!) Any other concerns? Building safety? Laundry facilities? Anything? </p>
<p>Sorry for the 20+ questions… just another anxious parent here racing against some fast approaching deadlines! I did search this site - but many of teh Dobie threads are at least a few years old… and as I stated - my concern is that it has declined - not improved - over that time and therefore I would like current opinion / comparison to the UT dorms, if possible. THANKS!!</p>
<p>I’m curious: what are the Whitis Court rooms like? Does anybody have experience with the residential FIGs? I’m still deciding whether they are right for me. </p>
<p>Thanks, in advance.</p>
<p>[Division</a> of Housing and Food Service - Whitis Court](<a href=“UHD Homepage | University Housing and Dining”>UHD Homepage | University Housing and Dining)</p>
<p>You can click on Virtual tour and Photo gallery</p>
<p>Here’s answering some Jester questions:
Students can put down their preference for the residence hall and the bathroom type they prefer. UT Housing goes in application date order to fill you preferences. So, if there are still private or connecting bath rooms available when UT Housing gets to your son’s application, then that’s where he’ll be placed. It all depends on when he applied and what everyone before him put down on their preferences - hard to know exactly.</p>
<p>For dining stuff on campus, each different dining center has its own hours. Some open earlier or close later than others - but students can use their Dine In Dollars at any of them. From what I’ve heard, the Dine In Dollars that you get are enough to get them through the year, or at least close to the end.</p>
<p>On-campus advance payments are only refunded if a student declines admission to the university by May 1, not if they just decide to live somewhere else.</p>
<p>Info on ResNet - A lot of the students my son talked with used Tier 2, and that was enough for them. <a href=“https://resnet.utexas.edu/index.html[/url]”>https://resnet.utexas.edu/index.html</a></p>
<p>For parking, students go into a lottery system for the garages. They do take into account where the student is living, but that doesn’t guarantee a close garage.</p>
<p>Thanks- appreciate the Jester info, and holy crap, SO glad you pointed out that the $$ for on campus contract are only refundable if you decline to attend… Not just want to live elsewhere. (but that then makes NO sense as to why Dobie sent their flyer out so late! Seems like they would do better to advertise sooner and tell people to lock in BEFORE they drop a few non refundable hundred dollar bills on UT’s table…)</p>
<p>My son got his app and $50 in before December… Hopefully that will be enough to get decent choice. If he requests a certain roommate- whose app / payment date do they go by, latest or earliest? His roommate turned his in even earlier, I think.</p>
<p>They go by earliest app. payment.</p>
<p>[UT</a> Austin Dorm Tours - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxfa-P08Pc3365PPWjk8kGaDqihmbqdF]UT”>null - YouTube)</p>
<p>Freshmen Support videos of </p>
<p>Moore-Hill</p>
<p>Duren</p>
<p>San Jacinto</p>
<p>Whitis Court</p>
<p>Blanton</p>
<p>Castilian</p>
<p>My son and I are hoping to visit Taos and Pearl Street this Saturday after we tour Jester. I’m afraid his housing application date of Nov 25th is going to rule out San Jacinto for him so we are exploring other options. </p>
<p>Jester - He doesn’t seem concerned about being placed in Jester, in fact he’s tempted to put that as his first choice. But I am hesitant for couple of reasons. One reason is I’m afraid he’s going to find the huge number of other students and activity too much of a distraction. I just picture it as a huge party dorm, but I could be wrong. That’s why we are touring it on Saturday. </p>
<p>Taos and Pearl Street - First, I’m not sure he can even still get in. We have to know by the end of next week since that’s when his UT Housing contact is due and I’d rather not lose $300. :-). My impression, on paper(screen), is that a large-ish co-op would be great for him. He’s very independent and not into following the crowd. I think the work hours will be good for him-force him to set some structure and living in a group setting will make it easier for him to develop a home/family away from home. I know there are risks to this as well. His being in CS, I know he’s going to have long lab hours on campus and I’m concerned about the distance from campus. Does anyone have experience with these two particular co-ops and if the distance is a huge issue? Plus, I am assuming the “partying” temptations are going to be greater at the co-ops. He’s not into the party lifestyle so far, so I’m hoping that carries through to college, well, at least in moderation. I’m not naive. He suggested 21st Street to me. I just laughed. But, overall, I do have high hopes for the co-ops. </p>
<p>I sure wish he had put in his application earlier for housing. I don’t think we’d even be researching right now if he could have gotten San Jacinto.</p>
<p>2btpts - one thing to consider - especially for a CS student - is that the internet speed is very very fast in the on campus dorms. I’ve heard off campus can be moderate to slow. My son is in CS and he and his CS friends do a lot of their CS assignments in their dorms on their own computers. He comments often that he loves the dorm internet speed. </p>
<p>Have you looked into Moore-Hill or Brack/Roberts? Those are smaller communites than Jester but in the same area of campus as Jester and San Jacinto. The Brack/Robert dorms are older and have more character - larger windows, wood floors, and quiet atmosphere.</p>
<p>Thanks, UTMother. I hadn’t considered the Internet speed. That’s definitely important to him. I’ll tell him to look into those dorms.</p>
<p>My son stayed in San Jac his freshman year. To be honest, I don’t really think it is worth the cost. San Jac is newer and each room has a bathroom shared with roommate. That’s about it. They have to clean their own bathroom while community bathrooms are being cleaned by someone else. We bought son cleaning supplies at the beginning of school year and the stuff was still in the shopping bag untouched when we picked him up for winter break :eek:. If we were doing it all over again, Jester would be perfectly fine for him.</p>
<p>@Ya Ya: Thanks for the information! I also saw a video of Whitis Court from Freshman Support on YouTube. Thanks again.</p>
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<p>Sunnydayfun, thanks for that observation. I think what causes confusion is that some people have great experiences in Jester, while others are just plain miserable. I think it depends on if you’re placed in East vs. West. One side seems to be a gross, smelly, prison like fortress. The other is just like a large, normal dorm. Large and normal is fine. The other, not so much. </p>
<p>But I’m trying to remember I’m looking at this from a 44 yr old woman’s point of view. In reality I don’t think my son will really mind anything as long as he is finally living away at school somewhere.</p>
<p>Edited to add: about the cleaning supplies - lol. I’ve been thinking about the easiest cleaning tools I can set him up with if he gets a private bathroom. But, yeah, he probably won’t use them. So maybe community baths are the best option. :-)</p>
<p>My son (OOS engineering student from Indiana) didn’t put in his deposit/application for housing until December 15th. (We didn’t know anything about the small amount of on-campus housing).</p>
<p>He has been accepted into the Honors Engineering Program, given a scholarship, etc. and a BIG draw for us would be his being able to live in the Honors Quad. I know there is no guarantee he will get a spot in those dorms, but does anyone have info on whether his December 15th date for his deposit/application is going to be just too late to get this housing preference?</p>
<p>@germanshepmom that actually sounds really early. Also, when the UT representatives came to my school, they said that even though the website says so otherwise, honors kids usually would get to be in the honors dorm if they apply for them.</p>