Can someone give me a little rundown about the types of dorms and dorms at UNC? I am considering UNC but I don’t know about the dorms (the tour was not very informative)
There are several videos on youtube that you can check out. Just type “UNC Chapel Hill Dorms”.
We found the following to be very helpful. Seems most recommend the South Campus dorms for freshman. Granville is preferred by many who intend on joining a sorority or fraternity.
https://unc.freshu.io/melissa-cordell-751/best-freshmen-dorm-to-live-in
http://reslife.web.unc.edu/2010/05/31/residential-communities/
For the stupendous school UNC is in nearly everything, the dorms I believe are the one thing that could really use work there
Yeah, most freshmen live on South Campus. It is a TERRIBLE walk and generally, the consensus seems to be that the dorms there are a struggle (but part of the freshman experience). However, there are two other options if you don’t want to brave the South Campus dorms:
-Granville Towers (Pretty nice but expensive and you’re surrounded by Greek life so if you’re not a part of that, it might not be fun)
-There’s also one first-year quad (Lower Quad) on North Campus. I live here (in Stacy) right now, and I honestly have few complaints. It’s a hall style so the bathrooms can be saddening, but the proximity to classes, Lenoir Dining Hall, and Franklin Street cannot be matched. And you still have plenty of other first-years to meet because all five of these buildings are freshman-only. I’m personally pretty happy that I ended up here (although many don’t know that this freshman quad exists lol).
Yes, more OCLQ love (I’m in Everett)! remember when I was obsessing about dorms last year, most people online said south campus was the way to go, but I took a chance on the north campus freshman dorms and I really love it! Nothing beats rolling out of bed at 7:30, out the door at 7:50, and still getting to my 8am with a few minutes to spare.
To add on to the post above, south campus dorms generally are suite-style (4 rooms to 1 bathroom) with built-in wardrobe, desks, etc. and have window-unit AC. The lower quad dorms are smaller, hall-style, with closets but movable dressers and desks, and central AC. I mention the AC specifically because you can only control air until like November, when they switch the building to heat-only (as someone who loves chilly rooms, this breaks my heart).
But yeah, every option has its pros and cons! Just depends on what you’re looking for in a room.
A couple of comments about residence halls:
(1) The South Campus residence halls are farther away from the academic quad (although closer to the Dean Dome, it’s a question of priorities). It can be a bit of a hike, but the easy remedies to this are (A) get a bicycle, and/or (B) use the P2P buses (they are free and pretty frequent), here, https://move.unc.edu/p2p/.
(2) Some of the residence halls DO NOT have university cleaning services for the restrooms. If the bathroom can only be accessed through a student room – as opposed to access from a common area or hallway – then the university cleaning staff will not clean the restrooms. I think this applies to a couple of residence halls on the South Campus – Manning East/West, and maybe some in Morrison. So depending on whether you want to rely on your selves and/or your roommates/suitemates for clean restrooms, that is something to be aware of.
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@chiirp did you find that making friends and finding things to do was harder because you lived on North Campus? I appreciate that it is quieter and closer to the academic buildings, but I do not want to miss out on my freshman experience
Can freshmen get a single room without medical issues?
My son is a freshman living in Ehaus and was given a single. It definitely has pros and cons. However, he will not have a single his sophmore year, even though he listed as his preferance. It is just a matter of availabilith and believe it is based on lottery for those requesting with non medical reasons. A single is also about 1200 more per year than a double.
Is it time for incoming Freshman to apply for rooms? Since it is lottery based, haven’t worried much about it…and son is still torn on where he is going to attend.