<p>Hi, I am a freshman applying for housing next year at Berkeley and I'm a little confused. I want to know what would be the best housing option for me. I've narrowed it down to Units 1, 2, and 3. Which one is best? Or are they all essentially the same? I've heard that Unit 3 has a grocery, which is nice because I like to cook (but it seems kind of isolated from units 1 and 2). Also, I like the idea of a suite. I would like to be in a triple room with a bathroom in my suite (I don't care how many people I share a suite with, it's usually a triple and a double right?). I think that's called a mini-suite? Is there a way to get a mini-suite but still be in the high-rise buildings among the regular rooms? I like the suite idea but I don't want to be in a separate building of just suites. Also, what is a triple room in suite? Really the only reason a suite appeals to me is because of the bathroom situation. Is there another way to get around that? Finally, is the bathroom situation that bad? The idea of the girls and guys sharing bathrooms and showers freaks me out a little bit because I am a very private person, but is it something that I shouldn't be worried about? Thank you for reading, please answer! :) Go Bears!</p>
<p>I would highly discourage you from living in a mini-suite for your first year. That’s what happened to me this year, and it is such a different environment than a standard residence hall. At any given time there are 4 doors between you and people in another suite (the door to your room and the door to your suite). In my experience, living in the suites is much less social than in a normal hall. Many of us who live in the center of the floor don’t know people at the ends, but this is different in a normal building. </p>
<p>If you are concerned about the bathroom situation, you can request to live on a single-sex floor, so the bathroom will be girls only. I know that in Unit 1, which is where I live, this means you get to live on the 7th floor of the normal res halls, which have great views. The rooms in the suites are bigger, though. If you’re in a triple in a suite, it just means that there are 3 people in your room (which is bigger than a double) and 2 or 3 in the next one, so there are 5-6 people in your suite. This can be good or bad for getting to know people, depending on whether or not you like your suitemates. But to answer your question about buildings, the suites are in 2 suite-only buildings in Unit 1 and one building in Unit 2, though I think some of the normal buildings in Unit 2 might have suites? I’m not exactly sure.</p>
<p>As for which unit you should live in, I highly recommend Unit 1, because it’s still very close to campus and Crossroads, the main dining hall for the units. Unit 3 does have Bear Market, but everything there is overpriced (as is pretty much anything else you can buy with meal points). And Cafe 3, Unit 3’s dining hall, is closed from Friday to Sunday, so you may want to consider that. Unit 3 is also the closest of all the dorms to campus, but it’s not that big of a difference between 1 and 3. There are a lot of dining options around Units 1 and 3, but Unit 2 is slightly more out of the way. Overall I think Unit 1 is just prettier than Unit 3 (though I guess I’m a bit biased), and the rooms are slightly bigger and not as old. Unit 2 basically looks the same as Unit 1, but like I said it’s a little bit farther from campus. </p>
<p>I hope this helps! Welcome to Cal!</p>
<p>There are 4 original highrises in the Units. There are 2 mini-suite buildings in Unit 1. There is 1 mini-suite building in Unit 2 *only for continuing and upper division students. If you are interested in mini-suites, you’d apply for Unit 1 only. All three units were built in the 50s/60s. The mini-suite buildings were built in 2005. </p>
<p>There are single gender floors in all of the unit high rises.</p>
<p>Um, this may be a little off topic but, how common is it to find people smoking weed at those halls/dorms?</p>
<p>@GAhuntsvillan: first of all, it’s college. second of all, it’s berkeley. so pretty common. at least it was in my dorm, since there were so many doors to mask the smell from the hallway (sometimes even went into the hallway).</p>