Transfer housing

<p>To transfers enrolling for the fall, how are you managing housing? I can't seem to complete the upperclassmen housing form without a Columbia e-mail address. I've sent requests to Nicole Thompson, but I haven't gotten a reply yet. :/</p>

<p>call Mark Chatoor in the housing office of 125 wallach hall. he's one hell of a good guy.</p>

<p>Yeah, Nicole Thompson hasn't been responding to my email as well. I figured last week might take a while with commencement and all, but I'm going to try giving her a call.</p>

<p>I'm a transfer as well and will attempt to dorm at Wallach because it contains a mix of people from every class. I emailed Housing and they said chances are pretty good there.</p>

<p>As for your question, just input your SSN on the Columbia ID tab, and personal email in the CU email field. That's what the office told me and it worked; I sent in the form.</p>

<p>So, chances look good and even though we don't have emails yet--hopefully soon we will!--we can still apply.</p>

<p>Thank you for the info. :D My top two choices for housing are East Campus and Furnald. After rooming in a triple last semester, I've been hoping to get some privacy in the future.</p>

<p>Unless I'm mistaken I think furnald may be full.</p>

<p>furnald is full for sophmores, i don't think the first-years have gotten their housing info yet, and unless you're a senior and are somewhat lucky, are an incredibly lucky junior, or a sophmore that went into the housing lottery with seniors, there's no way you're getting East Campus.</p>

<p>I'm also a CC transfer, and have no idea about housing. Could any current student please fill me in... I'm a sophomore and am looking for the nicest single possible. I would prefer suite to hallway, but don't care much about co-ed/single-sex. An accessible kitchen would also be nice. What buildings are best to request at this point? Thanks!</p>

<p>I see...can anyone address aj888's question?</p>

<p>aren't we all going to be put in the same building anyway? at least near each other...</p>

<p>no, you'd get placed among all the other CC/SEAS students. why assume you'd be a second-class citizen?</p>

<p>The question is, would you be incoming as a new sophomore or as a new junior? Because sophomores generally don't get singles, but juniors do. The thing is, since you're not participating in the lottery, you are part of the Summer Transfer process which is really a total crapshoot.</p>

<p>aj888's 3 requirements are, essentially, what defines senior housing at columbia:
1) suite/apartment style rather than hallway
2) singles
3) access to a kitchen.</p>

<p>You get #3 with #1 typically, but even when non-seniors are placed into a suite-style building, they generally don't get singles. So decide what's more important to you, a single or an apartment with a kitchen. You may luck out and get both. Rising/entering Sophomores may or may not be able to get into a suite, but they definitely won't have a single. Rising/entering Juniors can almost certainly get a single, but it probably won't be in a suite (and they can definitely get doubles in almost any building on campus).</p>

<p>Please clarify:
1) your incoming class status, and
2) your actual preferences and how strong they are</p>

<p>...and i'll be happy to tell you which buildings you should ask about.</p>

<p>The bottom line here, though, as with post #2 in this thread, is to talk to Mark Chatoor. You'll probably need to do that eventually, and at some point you'll receive an email from him with your room assignment. Cut the wait, and get some input into the decision - reach out to him now.</p>

<p>oh no...i was just posting something i remember seeing on the housing site about transfer housing. sorry denzera.</p>

<p>i'll also be an entering sophomore...broadway, furnald, and i guess east campus look like my top 3.</p>

<p>broadway and furnald have a floor kitchen. broadway has a bigger/nicer floor lounge. furnald is less likely to get as an incoming sophomore, but broadway's not easy to get either. schapiro has halfway decent kitchen/lounge areas but isn't as nice a building - but nicer than Wien. That's at least possible to get placed into, but watch out for getting a double there. As a rising sophomore, the odds of getting placed in a single are pretty low.</p>

<p>All of the above are corridor-style buildings though. If you'd be willing to live in a double in exchange for being in an apartment/suite-style building where you get a small group of people sharing 1-2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a common space, places you want to ask about, in the following order, are:</p>

<ul>
<li>East Campus high-rise suites (each has a double)</li>
<li>600 W 113th st (suite-style, but rooms are selected separately)</li>
<li>Ruggles (older building but still fairly spacious)</li>
<li>Hartley/Wallach (has a mix of all class years)</li>
<li>47 Claremont (prewar, not that nice but fairly private. better than wien/mcbain.)</li>
</ul>

<p>HTH.</p>

<p>-Steve</p>

<p>yo denzo, you know a lot about housing! thanks for the help. where did you live back in your columbia days?</p>

<p>do you know anything about the worth of a dining plan for a sophomore / upperclassman? i'm tempted to get one, but i have no idea if getting breakfast + lunch + dinner at nearby places will be cheaper (and healthier?) than a dining plan. any info would be appreciated.</p>

<p>also, is there a reason why we haven't been granted email addresses yet? i got some email from the transfer association telling me to set one up as soon as possible, but i don't have an UNI yet...</p>

<p>P reepa, when you try to activate your UNI, simply indicate that you do not have one by clicking on a hyperlink to the right of the box. Then the system will ask you for your full name, and you'll eventually only need your DOB and social security to activate your UNI.</p>

<p>Yeah, I activated my Uni--should take a couple of days and we all get email access as well.</p>

<p>Campus dining plans are very healthy, and cheap by comparison to eating out at local restaurants and cafes. What's cheaper is cooking the food yourself. As an incoming student who doesn't know the pressures of the school, my suggestion is to keep your life simple by getting a meal plan your first semester, and then re-evaluating it after that. 120 meals is a good average of what freshmen tend to use in the dining hall.</p>

<p>I lived in Carman freshman year, I then lived in Plimpton (a suite-style barnard dorm) in the Big Room of the suite (170sf). my buddies liked the place so much we stayed for junior year as well. Then I was in Hogan senior year. Between soph/jr and jr/sr years, I was in Broadway over the summers. After I graduated they put me up in 600 W 113th for part of the summer. All of it pretty much rocked.</p>

<p>So thanks for the responses. I'm still trying get all the dorm names straight (haha). Anyway, sorry for the confusion: I'm a rising sophomore-- I'll be a sophomore in the fall. </p>

<p>I'm really not totally against the idea of having a roommate... from what you've said, it's very likely. But after a not-so-great experience last year rooming with a stranger, I'd really prefer to go with a single for one year until I know people and can live with friends. So after some more consideration, having a single is more important to me than being in a suite/having a kitchen. </p>

<p>Where would singles be available at this point, and are they so *<strong><em>ty as to make even the worst roommate preferable? (Hopefully "</em></strong>*ty" is an exaggeration.)</p>

<p>Oh yeah, one more thing: I was planning on just mentioning this on the form, but maybe you guys have some ideas.</p>

<p>I'm an avid pianist, and really need easy access to a piano. I don't know how far most dorms are from the music department/building (I'm assuming it's always open for practicing)... maybe it will be best to just practice there since I'll be in the main part of campus most days anyway (although I had to do this last year at my former school, and on weekends the trek got to be annoying). Which dorms have the best practice facilities with pianos?</p>

<p>Maybe this is all getting too complicated, but it is a fairly big deal to me (if less important than getting a single).</p>

<p>i'm an avid pianist as well. the best instruments on campus are, in order:</p>

<p>1) John Jay lounge
2) Wallach Lounge
3) Dodge hall (not a dorm, but home to the music dept)
4) Wien lounge
5) Broadway practice rooms (in a dorm, but need a key from music dept)
6) Schapiro practice rooms (same)
7) Hartley lounge, if it's still there
8) up at teacher's college, 5th floor of Horace Mann hall, and several floors below as well.
9) There are other pianos, like in McBain lounge and even (i think) in River's basement</p>

<p>As for roommates, the saddest singles on campus are in McBain and Wien. Both are old buildings, poor construction, no features really, communal floor bathrooms, etc.</p>

<p>The best-case-scenario doubles, where you have the most space, features, access to a lounge, etc would be:</p>

<p>1) EC high-rise
2) Ruggles
3) Furnald. There are some doubles available to sophomores.
4) Watt and Woodbridge have a bunch of one-bedroom apartments that are awesome, but there's no way you're getting them. Watt does have some studio doubles though, with private kitchen and bath, and those are fantastic.
5) Wien walk-through double (essentially two singles, but you have to pass through one to the other)
6) Schapiro walk-through double (good floor lounges, but much less space. the -07 line is big enough to have a bed in each room, but the -05 line truly is tiny). Non-walk-through doubles are fairly well sized but have less privacy.
7) McBain. At least some of the doubles are really big.
8) 47 Claremont. it's just far, and kinda run down.</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

<p>-D</p>

<p>Thanks a lot --- I appreciate it Denzera.</p>