Transfer Dorms

<p>I understand that transfer students are not guaranteed dorms, but when they are given, are they at the same level as the rest of the class? For example, if I will be a sophomore, will I get a sophomore dorm?</p>

<p>There are only freshman and upperclassman dorms on campus. The upperclassman dorms house sophomores, juniors and seniors all under one roof. So if you transfer to W&M as a sophomore, junior or senior and you receive on-campus housing (not a guarantee unfortunately) you will be placed in any non-freshman residence hall.</p>

<p>do transfers generally have an easy time getting housing?</p>

<p>It very much depends on how the current student lottery goes and how many current students elect to live off campus or go abroad. Some spaces in upperclassman dorms are held for incoming transfers but not enough spaces to accommodate all those who likely wish it.</p>

<p>Once admitted, transfer students have their own housing lottery and by that time, we usually have a better idea of how many spaces are available. The current student housing lottery isn’t until April so at this point, we don’t know how many spaces will be available for transfers.</p>

<p>You may have a small chance of getting a spot in a Freshman Dorm. Brown Hall in previous years has seen quite a few spots for transfer students. Many transfer students must live off campus, I’ve heard they only reserve rooms for about 1/4th of them (room politics on campus is quite fierce- its popular to live on campus with 80% of the school). Hopefully with the opening of the new apartments next to Wawa and across from Blow Hall there will be more room. However, Residence Life has always managed to find a place on campus for whoever really really wants it, although they may not know where they are living until a few days before the semester begins, and for some reason some students were housed in the Governor’s Inn this past year.</p>

<p>I’m just curious because if I’m admitted, I would have to have housing on campus else I would not be able to attend. It seems like you don’t find out about housing until awhile, and by then I will have had to make up my mind about what school to attend. It’s risky!</p>

<p>McBainTrain, I do believe students are not notified as to whether they receive on-campus housing before the deposit deadline. However, you can always consult with our transfer dean of admitted about the deposit deadline in relation to when you might hear from Residence Life.</p>

<p>Is there a reason you need to live on-campus to attend? There are numerous apartment complexes not terribly far from campus and the summer gives students time to explore and find a place. Additionally, there is a day for enrolling transfers in June during which incoming transfers often find roommates and learn more about off-campus housing.</p>

<p>I probably couldn’t live off campus because it costs too much money, plus I don’t have a car or a bike so it just makes much more sense to live on campus. I probably wouldn’t even want to live off campus my first year either. </p>

<p>I know it’s way to far in advance to be thinking about all of this, but I’m just curious</p>

<p>I probably couldn’t live off campus because it costs too much money, plus I don’t have a car or a bike so it just makes much more sense to live on campus. I probably wouldn’t even want to live off campus my first year either. </p>

<p>I know it’s way to far in advance to be thinking about all of this, but I’m just curious</p>

<p>Why do so many schools put freshman all together, instead of having housing with a mix of classes in every dorm? My personal experience was mixed housing, and thus, as a first year student I could make friends with upper classmen, and had their encouragement during times of homesickness. I don’t see a benefit of putting just freshman together…kind of like 16 year olds teaching each other to drive in my opinion!</p>

<p>freshmen dorms are an important part of the college experience, at least at W&M. You are all in same boat, you will have classes with people in your dorm (especially the big lectures like intro chem, intro bio, intro micro, intro macro, intro psych, etc). Freshmen dorms form IM teams, they eat together. It’s like a group of friends that is given to you. Obviously you don’t click with everyone in your dorm, but you will with some people. People hang out all the time in the lounges in freshmen dorms, people leave doors open and other people drop in. Freshmen dorms have helpful RAs to assist students who need help with something.</p>

<p>Upperclass dorms are not nearly as social… in upper class dorms people definitely do not know all the people on their hall, much less in the dorm as a whole. By the time people are sophs or older, they generally have a good group of people that they know. The best way to meet older students is to join activities or clubs.</p>

<p>As a residential community and as a campus-centered community, we have many aspects of the first-year experience. We just want to ensure that freshman are transitioning well and thus we have them live with other freshman going through the same process. Also, our freshman halls (individual sub-sections of the dorm) are generally smaller than in upperclassman halls allowing RAs to give more attention to individual students and allowing for the community to be more tightly-knit.</p>

<p>All of our upperclassman dorms are mixed by class so that provides a chance for students to mingle across classes. Also, in the classroom and in extracurricular activities, freshman will get plenty of opportunities to meet upperclassmen.</p>