<p>As a freshman entering UCLA in the fall of 2006, which are the best dorms to try to get into and which are the worst? Are the plazas better then the regular halls, and what about location on the hill....</p>
<p>plazas are nicer than res halls, but usually plazas are not as social. some floors may be, but some floors may not be, so its sort of hit and miss. res halls are usually all pretty social. hedrick and hedrick summitt are furthest up the hill, followed by rieber and rieber vista (and soon to be completed rieber terrace). next would be sunset village and sproul (sproul will be closed next year for renovations). lowest on the hill is de neve and dykstra.</p>
<p>plazas also have private or shared bathrooms. res halls have communal bathrooms. rieber vista, rieber terrace, and hedrick summitt rooms are noticeably bigger than res halls and other plazas.</p>
<p>if you want nicer living conditions, go with a plaza. if you want the "full college expericence" (ie communal bathrooms and higher sociality) go with a res hall. just FYI, with sproul being closed and rieber terrace opening for next year, theres a higher chance (compared to this year) you will get a plaza even if you requested a res hall...and theres a lot of freshmen that got "stuck" with rieber vista and hedrick summitt this year.</p>
<p>isnt hedrick hall going to be all first years next year?</p>
<p>Ranked in order of my own preferences:[ol]
[<em>]De Neve
[</em>]Rieber Vista/Rieber Terrace
[<em>]Sproul
[</em>]Rieber
[<em>]Sunset Village
[</em>]Dykstra
[<em>]Hedrick/Hedrick Summit
[</em>]Saxon/Hitch
[/ol]</p>
<p>I would recommend living in a residence hall as a freshman cuz it's much more social so you can meet people. there's many more advantages to that (i probably wrote a post listing all the advantages a long time ago, so see if you can search for it). </p>
<p>plazas are better in terms of room quality but i'd contend they're not as good in terms of social quality. plazas are usually considered "anti-social" but they're good places to study and live. some people prefer living in a nicer and newer dorm so they choose the plaza types.</p>
<p>I'd second what kfc4u wrote. When you start a big U like ucla you're going to feel a bit lost and it can be very helpful to have a core group of people you know by name and who you can hang out with. The res halls are great for this, you'll meet 75+ people within a few days and you'll be seeing them everywhere.</p>
<p>I live in Hitch and I love it... But I'm also a bit older, which might explain that.</p>
<p>Hm... i was actually impressed by saxon/hitch. But I guess it is hated here. <em>boohoo</em>. But seriously, I checked out De Neve... its freakin nutz. Very nice dorms.</p>
<p>im a first year right now. i was originally supposed to go to a plaza and then switched to res hall (rieber)..bad mistake. but i wouldnt take my case too seriously because most people love res halls the first year, im just a quieter person and i personally love the plazas (living in de neve next year). i just dont really have acquaintances on my floor, but i get the feeling everyone likes living here. oh i hate the stairs too, haha, another reason i am going to de neve.</p>
<p>it really depends on the people on your floor. my floor is completely dead, most of the people dont even know half the people on the floor. my friends' floor is pretty social, everyone knows who everyone is at least. (both floors are in Rieber Vista).</p>
<p>which res hall is most social from your guys experience?</p>
<p>it depends on the people on your floor</p>
<p>i live in hedrick and my floor's pretty social but my brother also lives in hedrick and his floor is not really social</p>
<p>If you request a plaza does that mean you will get a plaza, or is it all just random and you take whatever is left based on your priority number? Do the sophmores and juniors take all the plazas and semi-private rooms with the shared baths or do freshman get a good chance at them?</p>
<p>so what are the differences between suites, plazas and res halls? i have no clue what those are. care to elaborate someone?!</p>
<p>chappa: You rank your choices (plaza, res hall, suites) by 1-3. If you want a plaza, there is a significant chance you will get one, but definately not for sure. Wherever you end up, it's almost certainly going to be a triple. There are plenty of triple rooms left open in plazas right now.</p>
<p>plazas have private restrooms. suites have restrooms that are shared with 2-8 other people (depends if its saxon suite or a standard double shared, like in rieber vista). and halls have community restrooms</p>
<p>halls are more social than plazas. i think its because of the different types of restrooms...</p>
<p>res halls: "traditional" dorms....high rise building, large floor, communal baths.</p>
<p>plazas: usually smaller floors. sunset and de neve have only 3 or 4 stories. vista, terrace, summit have 9 stories. private baths or shared baths (two rooms share a bathroom)</p>
<p>suites: secluded, private bath, living room.</p>
<p>hmm so wouldnt everyone want to stay in a suite? sounds much more comfortable.</p>
<p>Sproul is the best place to live - semi convenient & social. You will have a hard time studying because of noise, but it is the "place to be" on campus.</p>
<p>Isn't Sproul going to be closed until 2008 though????</p>
<p>OK so anyways...I am really conflicted between residence halls and residence plazas. I really want the social aspect, but at the same time I cannot stand the thought of the communal bathrooms (I know this is college...but i'm just lame). Are the plazas EXTREMELY anti-social?
Right now, I'm leaning toward De Neve because I definitely like privacy.</p>
<p>Anyone have any input about which is better...compromising the social aspect or the privacy aspect...?</p>