Trying to figure out my housing situation, can you help me narrow it down?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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I’m an Industrial Engineering major, female, and I’m not sure about the communal bathrooms. I guess I’ll learn to live with them, and I’ve heard they aren’t as bad as they seem, but I’m still unsure about them. I would totally go public if it weren’t for the bathrooms, and the noise, but I’m still trying to decide between public and private.

Right now, for public, I’m looking at the Weston LLC, Wassaja, Hopkins LLC, Allen Hall and ISR. I don’t drink or smoke, and I’m not that social, so I kind of want to force myself to be more social. I am not, however, interested in drinking or smoking, but I don’t have anything against people who do. Another reason I am concerned about public is that I need almost complete silence to go to sleep. Once I’m asleep barely anything can wake me up, but just for those 5 minutes or so, I need it to be pretty quiet. Obviously public is more social, so people will be out partying till the morning, so I don’t know if I could adapt well to that. I also only have one sibling, and I have my own room, my own bathroom, and a ton of space to myself, so I’m not sure if going public will be an easy transition. I do really like the dining options, the ability to make friends, the proximity to the ARC, and the bus stop situation for public, so I’m extremely conflicted.

As far as private goes, I’m considering Hendrick, Bromley, and Illini Tower (maybe…haven’t heard great things about it). Private housing is more quiet, which it might be hard for me to make friends in, and the housing reciprocal agreements don’t work with every PCH. There is less partying which I definitely like, and it is much quieter, but in some cases, the PCH’s are far from the main quad, and as a freshman, I don’t know how long it will take me to understand the ropes at UIUC.

Do you think private would be better suited for me or public? Which dorm in particular in those options?

Thanks for the help!

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I heard from many people that they regretted choosing private housing their first year because they weren’t able to meet as many people as they might have wanted to.

Although you might not like it, I think the safer route is to go public the first year and if you don’t like it you can do private for the rest of the years. But maybe you will like public housing and stick with it for the rest of the years. You never know until you try.

For your personality and what you are looking for, I would probably choose ISR. It’s social but also studious and quiet from what I hear.

As for other housing recommendations, you can use this link, it give a good description of each residence. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/1743005-dorm-advice.html#latest

Also if you do end up going private, you might want to immediately cross Bromley off your list. That place is full of the fraternity/sorority students.

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I agree with @Wesley364 about ISR if you are an engineering student and not into drinking/smoking. I also agree about Bromley–definitely the top choice for future fraternity/sorority pledges (and what my daughter would call “Basics” and “Frat Boys”).

Another option is Snyder Hall, which is substance free.

Weston LLC is widely known as a heavy partying dorm, so that would definitely not be a good choice for you!

Allen Hall is an LLC known for being very friendly and social and full of artists, musicians and “hippie” (and hipster) types. There is a good number of Engineering students, also. It is my daughter and her roommate’s first choice. :slight_smile:

Wassaja would be a good choice, especially if you are feeling weird about the communal bathrooms, but the “feel” of that dorm is unknown at this point because it isn’t opening until the Fall.

Note that you will have to choose six housing options by order of preference when you submit your housing application. Hope this helps!

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Barton is an all girls dorm with mostly singles so many sophs. It varies by floor in terms of how social or quiet it is. There is no AC though so, windows open (but the whir of a window fan could provide a means to drown out other sounds). It’s one of the low key dorms in the six pack so it’s a very nice location. Freshman engineers don’t necessarily have alot of classes in the Engineering side of campus.

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@glee12 D1 lives in ISR and says it is mellow. Good for non-partiers. She was hesitant about the communal bathrooms at first, but has gotten used to it. She is going to live off campus next year, sharing a house with a bunch of kids she met in ISR.

She did join the LLC in ISR, and said it was helpful in the beginning of the year re: meeting people, but she reports the LLC “doesn’t do much” now.

I’ll admit she hit the jackpot with her roommate. They get along very well.