Do you know if freshman can pick rooms? (Higher floor, not too close to common area, etc.) Is there an open house so we can see what the room looks like? I know I will be in Belair because that’s where my scholars community is. I also signed up for housing in January like the day after I got in. Do I get priority or something?
No, you cannot pick your room. You can send a request in writing to Resident Life if you have specific requests and/or needs, but they are assigned, not selected. The earlier you signing up for housing greatly reduces chance of being assigned to a triple.
If you have specific need for a/c (as an example), they will absolutely honor that, but will need a physician’s note of medical necessity.
Bel Air is nice because it is a “low” riser, so only 4 floors instead of 8. My son lived in Chestertown, which is similar (but did not have a/c). The smaller dorm makes for a tighter community. He loved the convenience to Eppley Rec Center and La Plata Beach (outdoor space between Cambridge Quad and Ellicott Quad where they often have informal outdoor sports going on)
Ok thanks. Do you know if Belair is a nice dorm?
It’s got concrete walls, so it’s not homey, but it’s the sister dorm to Chestertown, so it’s decent as far as room size (never actually been specifically in Bel Air - they were doing the renovation of adding a/c at the time my son was there)
Even though the rooms have blinds permanently installed, I would suggest getting a tension rod and hanging blackout curtains (you can buy inexpensive ones at Target). My son is a sloth and likes sleeping in the complete dark, so the curtains helped block out the light that might come through between the slats and on outside edges. Fwiw, he had absolutely zero decorations in his room, but the curtains and an area rug made it pretty cozy/homey so it helped to balance the cold look of concrete walls.
Note that because of the concrete, and restrictions of what you can do, the tension rods are the only way to “install” curtains.
Thanks for this. I was about to bring a power tool to install stuff. Do the laundry machines take credit card? Is there a printer in the dorm or do I have to bring my own?
They will go over all the details at orientation, but u can use an account called Terrapin Express that is attached to your student ID. It is like a prepaid credit card so u don’t need to carry a separate card or wallet with u. You can use it to pay for laundry, printing, food court meals/snacks, etc.
As for a printer in your dorm, I don’t think so (may be one in the scholars community center) but either way I recommend having your own in your room. It will make your life easier for those late nights…you can split the expense with your roommate- one person buy the printer and the other buys the toner and paper…
@keenshope 100% agree with the printer thing (but make sure you get along with your roommate and know they’ll pay their half first lmao). There are usually no community printers, even for special LLPs. To my knowledge, the only “free” printer is the one for engineers, but there’s a semesterly limit to that, I believe. Something to note about bringing printers, though: you can’t connect wirelessly to the printers. They must be able to connect to your laptop/desktop/device via some kind of cord (ex. USB).