<p>Hey y'all, I was recently admitted to Tulane and I just reached my decision that I'll go there! Now I'm starting to do some research on where I'll dorm and I've decided I want to live in one of the two more social dorms Monroe or Sharp, at the expense of cleanliness and better facilities. My question is which one would be better? Is one cleaner than the other, is one closer to the center of campus, does one have better facilities, etc. Thanks!</p>
<p>They are virtually right next door to each other. So location probably isn’t a factor for you. Sharp is the closer of the two to Bruff Commons where the primary dining facility, the post office and cleaners are located. My two boys both chose Sharp. I would have chosen Monroe. Sharp has standard twin mattresses and Monroe has Twin XL. There is a video on the website that gives you a tour of all of the freshman dorms - check it out!</p>
<p>My niece lived in Monroe her freshman year and really enjoyed it. Ian Terry from Big Brother is a RA at Monroe :)</p>
<p>My son is a freshman in Monore. He is having a great time. For great dorm info with links to videos on each dorm, check out Tulane Jeff’s blog on “Tour de Dorm” [Tulane</a> University Admission Blog - Jeff: Tour de Dorm](<a href=“http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2012/04/tour-de-dorm.html]Tulane”>Tulane University Admission Blog - Jeff Schiffman: Tour de Dorm)</p>
<p>Just to add a bit to what kreative said, Monroe vs. Sharp is pretty much a wash. You are either adding about 30-50 steps to your trip to Bruff, Reilly or anything on the north side of campus by living in Monroe, or adding that same distance to your walk to most of your classes by living in Sharp, since nearly all the academic buildings are on the southern side of the campus.</p>
<p>D1 lives in Monroe and is very happy. She spends a lot of time in Sharp as she has friends there too.</p>
<p>Butler is another Freshman dorm. My son lives in Butler and loves it. It’s close to Bruff, which is important to him.</p>
<p>Just to be clear for the newbies, though, Butler is not considered a party dorm. It is, of course, plenty friendly (all of Tulane is), but usually not nearly as wild as Monroe and Sharp can get. I think that’s a good thing, but to each their own. For the girls, JL is also not as much a party dorm, but has many advantages of its own. Sinks in most of the rooms, closer to everything that is on Broadway and beyond, and just a kind of semi-sorority atmosphere within your wing.</p>
<p>Isn’t Butler the Honors Dorm?</p>
<p>Yes, but some non-honors that either want the quieter space and/or want to room with someone that happens to be in the Honors Program live there as well, if space is available. There usually is some, quite a few of the HP students choose Monroe and Sharp, or Wall.</p>
<p>Are the dorms communal showers?</p>
<p>Although Butler is the honors dorm, many of the students living there this year requested sharp/monroe as their first choice. Because of this, Butler has definitely become a more social dorm. Sharp and Monroe are very similar. I currently live in Monroe and love it. My one complaint is that some of the floors in Monroe do not have central common rooms (the floor I live on does not). All Sharp floors do have common rooms so this is definitely a plus. </p>
<p>Texasteen- the freshman dorms including Sharp, Monroe, JL and Butler do have communal bathrooms (I am not sure about wall and if im missing any other dorms). By communal showers if you mean a bunch of shower heads in an open space - then no. The showers are stalls with shower curtains. </p>
<p>Just to add some more info about the dorms (from a past post): Monroe and Sharp are extremely similar in the type of people that live there. (I currently live in Monroe). Both dorms are very social, comprised of outgoing people, and often loud. This is not to say that if you live in another dorm the people will not be friendly and social. The only difference I can think of in Monroe is if you are lucky and get a higher floor you have a good view of the city on one side. A pro to sharp is that the dorm has a much nicer lobby with couches and a pool table. A con to Monroe is that some floors do not have central common rooms whereas all Sharp floors have common rooms. I am on a Monroe floor without a common room and it definitely limits your ability to meet other people on the floor.</p>
<p>No matter what dorm you end up in you will make a good group of friends and end up hanging out with people from all different dorms. People that did not get placed in their desired dorm were understandably upset at first. But everyone I know is completely happy and content with their current living situations.</p>
<p>Both Monroe and Sharp have one floor each that is all female. These tend to be a bit quieter than average. Both D1 and D2, 3 years apart, were on these floors by coincidence and were happy there.</p>
<p>That’s true, Vitrac. Of course, if somehow the incoming class is closer to 50-50 female-male rather than the approximately 58-42 it has been the last few years, then there would not be an all female floor. But I am just being academic about it, you are totally correct in practice. The odds of the ratio changing significantly are pretty slim, given overall national stats regarding this issue.</p>
<p>Re: communal showers - Wall has suites where you share a bathroom with the room next door so you might have anywhere from 2-4 sharing a bathroom depending on whether the rooms are singles, doubles, or one of each. They provide the toilet paper, but you have to clean it. </p>
<p>Wall also has 2 kitchens/lounges/laundries on each floor.</p>
<p>My son is a Freshman in Paterson and loves it. He’s made a ton of friends. There are only 4 girls on his floor, however.</p>
<p>Does having only 4 girls on his floor really matter to him, though? After all, there are many more women than men in the undergrad class.</p>
<p>Is Wall considered to be a more social dorm as well?</p>
<p>All dorms are social, this is college! But if you mean is it more like Monroe/Sharp (loudest, most party atmosphere) or like Butler (definitely quieter than Monroe/Sharp), then it is somewhere in-between. Being all suites rather than halls makes some difference, but the fact that the tenants have to participate in running the dorm brings people together. So it is different than most of the other dorms, but definitely a lot of the residents get to know each other well and hang together.</p>
<p>Since my D is home right now, I asked her opinion about the dorms and Wall vs. Sharp/Monroe. She said the biggest difference is you are less likely to find puke in the elevator in Wall. She said they party and are very social in Wall and even probably get to know each other more since they have the committees and such that they participate in. Sometimes she has to ask others to quiet down, and sometimes she gets asked to quiet down, so definitely social as she isn’t one to be bothered by other people making noise. Her room does opens up to the outside courtyard so sometimes it’s louder than the inside rooms. She also said that she does hear about people in the other dorms that don’t like their dorm, but everyone in Wall loves Wall.</p>