First of all, thank you so much for the help! I am trying to decide which to rank first on my housing application. For a girl who plans to go through rush, wants the college experience, yet also has high expectation to maintain grades and keep the presidential scholarship which dorm is better? What is life like in honors vs Tutwiler? Pros/cons? Thank you and Roll Tide!!
My daughter was in Tutwiler and loved it. Yes, it has its downsides. She still says she would not do it any other way.
If my younger daighter attends UA, she also will be going thru sorority recruitment. While the suite style dorms would be more to her liking, knowing what I do as far as where they spend their time, her major, etc… She may also end up in Tutwiler.
My daughter knew many girls in all of the dorms. Some are just fine no matter where they are and don’t mind the long walks across campus to sorority events. FYI: Do not count on the ride service nor being able to drive and park near the sorority houses. I also know many girls that started out in suites thinking that was the only way they could manage and could not stand the thought of sharing a room and community bathroom… those girls put in for a move and wanted in Tutwiler.
Honestly, like I tell my kids when they have a decision like this to make. Write down each choice then the pros and cons for each. Reflect on it over time, you have plenty of time right now. Only you know what is best for you.
^^ She’s right…you have plenty of time to decide. You might list traditional as your first choice right now… but then when it comes time to actually select your room in the late spring, you can pick any room in any dorm that has availability (and where you meet the criteria … only honors students can select honors housing etc). You can go in and update your housing profile (i.e., change from 1st choice being traditional to first choice being suite-style, etc.) at just about any time between Oct 1 and actual room selection dates. Good luck!
You literally have until early May to make up your mind. However, I’ll give you the opposite perspective of that above. My DD is a freshman in RCS. The suite is quiet, she has her own room to study, and shares her bathroom with one person. She went through recruitment, and has had no problems with moving back and forth among the sorority house and the dorm. Its a mile walk. She is pretty sure it has helped prevent the “freshman 15.” She loves having roommates that she can do things with, but then also close her door to study. She is very interested in maintaining very high grades. Her comments on Tut have been…
- would have been nice to live there during rush so that during breaks you could go back to the dorm more easily
- Tues and Thurs nights there are a zoo as people get ready for swaps–extremely loud
- Football weekends are very loud
- She likes Tut because they have a mini mart in their basement for food (She, of course, has a full refrigerator and microwave in her suite, but has to go get food from the grocery)
If you think you can be disciplined to go to the library to study routinely, then Tut is an option. It is by far more central and convenient to sorority life. If you want to be able to study in your dorm room, then the suites are the best option.
A thought about private vs. floor bathrooms - in private, you clean the bathroom, supply toilet paper, and empty the trash can. You can, of course, keep all your “stuff” in the bathroom. In a floor bathroom, somebody else cleans the bathroom, buys and installs toilet paper, and empties the trash can. You bring your “stuff” in a shower caddy and take it back to your room every time you shower/brush your teeth/wash your hands.
No matter which type of dorm room you wish to go for… be VERY honest with yourself and your potential roommates.
Do not put things like you are very studious and desire 9 hours of sleep every night just to make mom/dad believe you are going to be very serious about studying. If you routinely get by on 4 hours of sleep, say so! If you need peace and quiet to study and want to study in the dorm, say so! If you like to cook meals that have a lot of heavy seasonings, etc, SAY SO! If you smoke, SAY SO! Be blunt honest in your roommate match portfolio. Yes, even you might not like yourself once you read your roommate search info, lol 
But, to insure the best fit so that everyone has a great first year, including yourself, you owe it to yourself and your future roommates to be honest.
My daughter that was in Tutwiler, she and her roommate were “two peas in a pod”. They wanted quiet so they were able to get a room at the very end of tha hall and had that peace and quiet. They both cared about grades and routinely studied in their dorm without having to go to the library to get some quiet (Tut was more quiet than her off campus apartment last year). There are mandatory study hours that you will have to out in at the sorority house so that gets a lot of the quiet time taken care of. They both wanted sleep and rest, joked they were old grandmas.
They are still great friends even if in seperate sorority houses. The reason it worked so well, they were honest in their own assessement when filling out the roommate information sheet and knowing what htey wanted and how they themselves behaved.
Tut is nice for the location for sorority row, B-D for games, the strip and there is the math labs at Tut, Julia’s Market on the ground floor, a SupeStore on the ground floor and now a mail center.
If with your pros/cons list heavily considered and being honest with yourself on your needs/wants for your living needs this first year of college, you can make the best choice for yourself.