<p>I toured the campus over the summer, but I was unable to see the dorms. The buildings look beautiful from what I've seen in pictures, but I've heard the rooms themselves are small. I'm also wondering about which buildings are "best" (where I should try to be put if I can help it). It'd be wonderful if someone had dorm pictures they could share.
thanks!</p>
<p>Locale wise, West Quad is the best since it's close to South U. Street and State Street which is where all the the places to go are. It's also directly connected to the Union so you don't have to go outside in the winter to eat at the places there. If your in LSA, it's really close to the Diag so that's always a plus. Some people say that there's aren't any freshman but half my hall is. Stay away from Baits. There's no place to go there. Markley is where the freshman usually get placed. I heard Bursley's nice because it's the newest.</p>
<p>Depends what kind of person you are. All the different dorms have their own personalities.</p>
<p>u of m housing sucks. </p>
<p>but every residence hall has their own characteristics, but the best building is probably south quad since it's the newest.</p>
<p>At least initially, all you have for a choice is Central Campus, the Hill, and North Campus.</p>
<p>Central Campus:</p>
<p>South Quad/West Quad: Both have good location, doubles are all 12x19, have their own cafeteria, pretty much the best dorms to get. Also have building block furniture, which makes it easier to arrange your room to get more space.</p>
<p>Betsy Barbour/Helen Newberry: Given the "chick" in your username, I'll assume this is an option. Good location, but very small rooms, all girls, good chance they might be closing down Barbour's dining hall. Wouldn't really recommend it. Also, doesn't have very many residents.</p>
<p>Martha Cook: Seperate from University Housing. Not sure when you'd need to decide about wanting to live there, but that's an entirely seperate issue.</p>
<p>East Quad: Home of the residential college. The rooms I've seen have been a decent size, though not as big as others. Has a reputation for being filled with radical liberal/crazy people. I think usually it's just RC students and returning people, but apparently they started sticking freshmen in singles there this year.</p>
<p>The Hill: Don't know much about the places specifically. Not very good location, but still better than North Campus. Mostly freshmen. At least Markley has small crappy doubles (12x12 with no building block furniture and only 4 electrical outlets total. Compared with, say, South Quad, where rooms are 12x19, with building block furniture, and 14 electrical outlets per double).</p>
<p>North Campus:</p>
<p>Bursley: Affectionately known as the "Burlodge", I think the only real problem with Bursley is location. Pretty sure all the doubles are 12x19, the food is rumored to be better at their cafeteria, it's filled with 1200+ other students. But the simple fact is all of your classes and (if it's your thing) most of the parties will be a fairly lengthy busride away. Even if you're engineering, as a freshmen a majority of your classes will be on Central Campus.</p>
<p>Baits: Originally intended for more independent graduate students, Baits is divided up into a number of small houses. Each one has a pretty small number of people, each little corridor shares a bathroom, and each house has it's own kitchenette. Like Bursley, nowhere near anything. I know at least one person who benefitted from having such a small community, but in general Baits is not a good option for people.</p>
<p>What will probably happen: Inevitably, housing will f*** you over. You'll get stuck on North Campus, or be put into an economy triple (ie, a double with 3 people in it), and be not happy. If something like this happens, you have the option of doing a contract reassignment. In a nutshell, returning students who signed up for university housing and want to go off campus aren't allowed to just cancel their contracts, they have to reassign them to a freshmen who doesn't have a contract. What you would do is simply not return your original contract, and there's a posting board on the housing website where people looking to reassign contracts will put up their room type/e-mail address. Once you find somebody, e-mail them, come up with an agreement, and starting around August 1st you can go to the Housing department and officially transfer the contract. You have a pretty good chance of finding something you'll like (which is how I got my room freshmen year, double in south quad). If that fails, you should be able to settle for something else which is equivalent to what you started off with.</p>
<p>if you're a girl, you should live in stockwell. it's RIGHT next to ccrb and pretty much RIGHT next to central campus. all of my friends that have lived there and that currently live there absolutely love it.</p>
<p>west quad and south quad are too dang noisy and hectic at times.</p>
<p>also, there is martha cook..another allgirls dorm..if you're really worried too much noise. It also has big carpeted rooms and has the best location to central campus...but it also costs more and you have to apply.</p>
<p>this is quite helpful (in an overwhelming way). Thanks very much!</p>
<p>Go to Mary Markley! Best Hall EVER! It's a great place for freshmen to met eachother. Sure- they're a bit run down, but they have the Underground hangout! I lived there for awhile way-back-when. I'll send you some pictures when I get the chance (they're on a different computer).</p>
<p>Ok- here's some pictures of Umich Mary Markley dormrooms (pretty typical if you ask me).
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/RebeccasPhotography/RyansRoom.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/RebeccasPhotography/RyansRoom.jpg</a>
the AC is not part of the room- normally there is a beautiful window there.
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/RebeccasPhotography/MyRoom_3.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/RebeccasPhotography/MyRoom_3.jpg</a>
That's of the desk (one for each side).</p>
<p>
[quote]
doubles are all 12x19
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Unfortunately not true. There are a lot of 12x19 doubles, but there's also plenty that aren't. Mine is 13x14 or something like that. There's at least two other sizes, including a 11x13 double, which is pretty tiny.</p>
<p>thanks so much for the pics and info!</p>
<p>i'm getting a single in south quad next term. :/</p>
<p>I wish I had a single in South Quad...</p>
<p>Though I might be getting a 12x19 double to myself if I don't get reassigned a new roommate.</p>
<p>oh i have a 12x19 double to myself most of the time because my roommate is rarely in.</p>
<p>i was wondering if i shld move to west quad. i like SQ, but i ahven't seent the rooms in WQ.</p>
<p>im going to apply to the honors program, and i was thinking about the martha cook building. the rooms look extremely nice (waaaaaaay better than what my brother had; i think he was in east quad), but i was wondering about the atmosphere and types of people that live there. my brother said that it might detract from the university experience in general, and wouldnt recommend it for a freshman.</p>
<p>Sunny, I lived in martha cook last year and am living there currently as well. It definately has its pros and cons but it all depends on you.</p>
<p>Pros:
-big carpeted rooms
-quiet
-teas, dances, sit-down waitressed dinners
-homey atmosphere
-the girls who live there are not into crazy partying</p>
<p>Cons:
-too quiet at times, a lot of girls are kinda anti-social
-the food is bad and there are very few choices since its such a small dorm
-we have a lot of the rich white conservative girls, some who are quite stuck up
-sometimes the rules are really dumb and they go overboard with them (like when your dad isnt allowed in your room at 10 am)</p>
<p>But its up to you. I really liked it last year, but this year..it's kinda getting to me. If you have any more questions about the marth, i'd be happy to answer them!</p>
<p>All the people from Stockwell that I've met hate it. A lot of upperclasswomen, mostly keep to themselves, etc. South Quad is the balls.</p>
<p>I'm also living in Martha Cook and definitely suggest it. However, it's just my freshman year, so we'll see.</p>
<p>I think the food's good, especially on sit-down days (I've never gone to a sit-down...Tuesday and Wednesday are busy for me, but I eat the leftovers at Late Dinners). The deserts are delicious. Keep in mind that I'm speaking on relative terms...the food in the other dorms is absolutely disgusting. I do agree that on some days there's a lack of selection. Once every few weeks, I sit down and realize the only things I have on my tray are mashed potatoes, water, and yogurt because I wasn't in the mood to eat anything else they had. Then, I binge on desert. On other days, I crowd my try with three plates of food plus desert. Then, I feel bad, because all the girls around me are talking about how fat they are and eating salads. Oh well.</p>
<p>By the way, the old-fashioned scales in bathrooms are awesome.
And the bathrooms in general are nice: bath tubs and extra changing rooms in front of the shower stalls.</p>
<p>The best part of Martha Cook is the location. I love waking up at 10:00 and knowing I can make it in time for my 10:10 class in East Hall with time to spare. It’s also buy the stores/coffee shops in S. University, so it’s not a pain at all if you want to run and get Starbucks or laundry detergent.</p>
<p>The building and rooms are absolutely beautiful. You share a sink with 1-5 other people, too, in a little hall way thingy in front of each room / set of rooms. You get a lot more personal space.</p>
<p>Personally, most of my friends live in South Quad, so I spend most of my time there. I also have to spend time there because I plan on majoring in honors math / the more quantitative side of political science, so I have to go elsewhere to find people who are in or have taken my classes (a lot of them require…or, um, are greatly, um, aided by…group work). However, I do have a small group of friends in Martha Cook, too…I’m able to experience the social scene in both the Martha Cook and general university atmosphere.</p>
<p>A lot of the girls in Martha Cook are a bit stereotypical, probably a bit more than I’d like to admit: either very innocent/isolated or party girls whose parents forced them to stay there. I haven’t really noticed that most of the Martha Cook girls are rich or conservative…maybe half? I haven’t thought anyone was snobby, but maybe it’s just me. I think it’s just disproportionate to the general campus, which I feel like means there’s actually political diversity in terms of Michigan (versus the center to the extreme left…throw in a couple Ann Coulters, maybe).</p>
<p>Male visitation hours suck, but I deal. It’s not like most of my guy friends really want to hang out in Martha Cook anyway. But then again, I suspect many of them are gay/crazy-mathematicians-of-the-future…my boys probably don’t fit the description of the typical Martha Cook boyfriends and study buddies that I see around. By the way, it depresses me each and every time someone sends a Cookie flowers. And then I hear Cookies argue with their boyfriends in their dorm rooms from across the hall and suddenly I’ll settle for math help. I know I’m shooting myself in the foot by saying that.
I feel like every time there’s a boy, there is some deal made about it. Sometimes it’s awkward when a girl has a guy with her. Sometimes you feel like a slut when four of your guys are giggling like girls right outside the men’s bathroom in the basement. My Martha Cook friends will giggle for days about some cute guy they saw in the Red Room or the lobby, hoping they’ll see him again and pondering over who he “belongs to.” A lot of the time I feel like every time you bring a guy over, the girls assume you’re more than just friends with him and thus the whispers begin. Things get interesting once you bring your 5th or 6th or 10th guy. Oh, and male voices resonant.
Just don’t get too many strikes against you when it comes to male visitation hours. Or any. And don't worry, I don't think most people have come so close to getting caught violating them (oops). Midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends aren’t that bad.</p>
<p>That was long. Merry Christmas.</p>
<p>thanks so much for all the info!</p>