Can anybody help with dorm selection at UTK? They have 3 styles and a lot of choices.
Thanks in advance, Go Vols!
I will be following this post as well. I did find a discussion on UTK reddit that could be helpful called “what dorm should I choose guide”…
Also following as my son is getting inquiries from others looking for a roommate, but he is not sure between the engineering LLC or regular dorm.
I did find out that this morning The College of Engineering LLC will be in Orange Hall in this coming Fall.
@HappyNJOOS did you son or daughter commit to UTK?
My son was in the Venture LLC in Clement. It was great. Except the location for dining on weekends, but it is right on the strip and I think you can use a meal equivalent.
We just got back from our second visit and did the residence hall tour. My daughter has not submitted her deposit. She is waiting on one more school and will decide by mid Feb. for sure. But she’s worried she will have the last pick of dorms and she may be too late to get into Design LLC at Stokely and also she’s really conflicted if she even wants the LLC even though it’s nice and convenient. She wants to rush and it’s hard to figure out how she can find a roommate she chooses with a narrow field in LLC and how you even meet someone to find an LLC roommate as no one on Facebook seems to be talking about it and she’s not sure she wants to rely on the match survey etc.
You cannot apply to a LLC until Feb so you are not late for it at all. Random match is part of college and can work out fine too.
Also when we did the housing tour we got the impression that we are pretty late to the game in terms of what her choices will be when she gets to choose her dorm. I know we could have put the deposit in early but we chose not to… and just let this process take it’s course. And commit when she is truly committed. Does anyone have any idea even anecdotally of what may be available if she gets her housing contract in early to mid Feb? I would guess too that she could get on waitlists. And do people think that Orange, Dogwood Magnolia area feels “too far”?
Well if it’s late in the game, we are right there with you. Waiting until my son makes a decision which will likely not be until late February.
My D20 applied to Honors, so we are waiting on that. I think Brown is the Honors dorm?
The good news is … after looking a few videos and talking to a few people… it seems what you may loose in comfort with newer, carpeted dorms… you may gain in community with some of the older dorms. Also forcing you out of your room a bit too. So I think my daughter is feeling less worried about the housing situation.
We haven’t done our housing deposit yet either! Going back next week for a second campus visit and doing the housing tour and a nursing school info session. Hoping that will help D20 with decisions but she probably won’t commit until late Feb after we hear back from honors/scholarships at the 2 other schools that are still in the running.
We liked Orange Hall when we saw it on the tour.
Looks like my son and I will be visiting the school on the 21st and 22nd of Feb. I need to make sure we include this for our day on that friday. He may very well have interest in applying to the engineering LLC, so we’d definitely want to check out Orange.
@snakster We will also be doing one more visit February 17th to help finalize my son’s decision. We are also looking into the engineering LLC. If your son decides to do this keep me posted as maybe they could chat to see if they would make good roommates.
Thank you, I’ll pass it along. This will be our first (and only) visit. Hope the weather is good. 
UT was a late addition to his list (which was really my fault because I did a lot of research for him). But now that he sees how well it fits for him in Nuclear Engineering and the music program, he’'s really starting to warm up to the idea.
BTW, we are from PA.
If you want other info on Orange Hall, I read on Reddit some posts.
To sum up; Orange is fairly new, very clean. Good A/C. Rooms are a little small, but expected. Community bathrooms. Good lounge rooms. 2nd floor highly recommended. Laundry time is competitive. Next to Presidential Court Café. West side of campus.
Another thing to consider for UTK engineering is the new building. I’d imagine it will be state-of-the-art and is scheduled to open late 2021.
https://tickle.utk.edu/new-engineering-complex/
One thing to remember with the LLC’s, they can and do rotate dorms from time to time. You may want to ask UTK housing where engineering will be this fall. My daughter is in Orange now (the nursing LLC) and the engineering LLC is there too. I think both have been there the last 2 years. Not sure though.
BTW, she really enjoys Orange Hall. All the items you list are true and living in a newer dorm is great (orange is around 3 years old). Yes, it is a good walk from the east side classes but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for her.
Also, they’re building a new dining hall next to Orange. It’s supposed to open soon I believe.
https://fs.utk.edu/underconstruction/westcampusdining/
Hope this helps!
@terpiedad we did get confirmation for Fall 2020, Engineering will again be in Orange Hall. Below is the email we go from Housing.
“Our LLC for the Tickle College of Engineering students is called Engage and has been in Orange Hall for the last several years. We anticipate that this LLC will continue to be housed in Orange Hall for fall 2020. Our application will be live on February 3rd so mark your calendar for that day!”