<p>i'm pretty sure that anything with a zero before it (012, 033 etc.) is a room in the basement and hey, basements have a bad reputation but i know a few people who will be in willets basement next year and they are nice people. also, basement rooms tend to be a bit bigger because they have less people per/hall.</p>
<p>Achat, Please, don't worry about it. D and I agreed this morning that unless they put her into a pup tent, any other possible room would be fine, and everything has its positive and negative aspects. She spent her overnight in Willets and is quite happy that she already knows how to find the building!</p>
<p>And thanks, brwnidgrl. A bigger room is surely one of those positive aspects and of course what it's most important is being surrounded by nice people.</p>
<p>Searching,
I will get a truthful answer for you from "the horse's mouth" within the next couple of days, but the "horse" isn't home right now. The number you wrote down "LO" seems peculiar. I'm assuming it has to be something like 001, etc. You can find a floor plan for Willets (and all the other dorms) at <a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/admin/Housing/plans.htm%5B/url%5D">www.swarthmore.edu/admin/Housing/plans.htm</a></p>
<p>My son just got his roommate/housing assignment packet. He's living on Willets 1st floor...</p>
<p>My roommate IMed me last night... I didn't think housing info came out that fast. Turns out she didn't get it in the mail; she asked someone who had the lists, and boom! looked me up and found me.</p>
<p>Son blocked into willets basement for this year.....he seemed to think it was fine and maybe a little quieter than some of the other floors in the dorm. According to him, he also got the largest doubles in the dorm. He's not much into esthetics, so he probably won't care if it's yucky. A basement room wouldn't have been my preference. (The physics dept. is in the basement of the beautiful science center partially because those professors don't care about esthetics either, so he's the perfect physics major) After living in ML last year (not one of Myrt's better placements), he's happy to be anywhere else.</p>
<p>Momof3sons, Thanks! Looking forward to the info (especially since the link didn't quite work when I tried it). Yes, there's a number after the L0 but I was trying to keep D's identity relatively unknown, not that there seems to be anyone untrustworthy here... Just habit, I guess.</p>
<p>Searching,
Sorry, I was being dense and forgot why you wouldn't have put the whole room number in. Please try this link because I may have inadvertently entered the previous one incorrectly. <a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/housing/plans.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/housing/plans.htm</a></p>
<p>Willets was quite popular in the sophmore lottery this year. The "blocks" went quickly, which is somewhat unusual historically.</p>
<p>The reason it's popular is that it is probably Swarthmore's best dorm for meeting a lot of people. It's also just about the only "lottery pick" where it is somewhat possible to keep larger groups of friends from freshman year living together in the same dorm. It's almost all freshman and sophmore doubles.</p>
<p>thanks, momof3sons--this link worked! And I think I've found bathrooms on that level! :)</p>
<p>Searching,
Glad this link worked! You can enlarge the floor plan by holding the cursor over any room and clicking on it. Of course there are bathrooms-even Willetts is civilized! :D</p>
<p>My son will be in Mertz, which is where he stayed during Ride the Tide, so he's pleased. At least as pleased as he is about anything these days...we're going into "let's be as low-key as we can about life changes" mode.</p>
<p>Mertz is a fantastic dorm for freshmen. Plenty of freshmen to form groups that hang together and lots of upperclass students who are a great resource.</p>
<p>staceysmom,
Mertz is a great dorm! Relatively new, well-located and a good mix of the classes. It was near the top of the list for my junior S.</p>
<p>Searchingavalon,
I spoke with my S today and the one thing he did say about Willets basement is that there may not be a lot of natural light-windows would be smaller than usual in the basement, so make sure that you bring enough light sources. You can always take something home if you find it's overkill. If you are traveling from a distance and can't drag a lot of stuff with you, I am quite sure that the bookstore sells standing pole lamps for the rooms. Just check their web site.</p>
<p>The bookstore does sell pole lamps. Target, right around the corner, has a very nice selection of inexpensive pole lamps.</p>
<p>Anybody know off the top of their head which dorms have AC / heating and which ones do not? (I feel the 43k cost coming to mind right about now...). Specifically, Mertz? ;-D</p>
<p>I am new to CC, have followed some Swarthmore posts in the past, but for some reason the housing thread has finally hooked me in, specifically about Mertz. Just curious as to relative room sizes, the AC question (are any dorms air conditioned?), how is the lighting, ie how many lamps do we take across state lines? Anyway, my son will be a freshman there, and we are very excited, he to finally get away, and me to finally see him happy at college, after all of the HS angst that they have to go through now.
So any helpful housing wisdom about Swat would be much appreciated.
BTW, interesteddad you have been unbelievable with all of your knowledge about Swat, and are a legend in our home. Thanks to all of you!</p>
<p>maybe someone else will correct me if i'm wrong but as far as i know mertz does have AC but it's not used just because no other dorm (i don't know about the new dorm--alice paul) has no AC. There should be heating in all the dorms that is turned on once the room reaches a certain temperature--workbox told me and my roommate this when it got very cold in our room last year. Mertz room are likeable but i think them to be smaller than some rooms in other dorms. It depends what room you get. there is a link to room descriptions. i'll try and put it up if i find it.</p>
<p>My rising-almost-junior S has never mentioned the phrase "A/C" so I wouldn't count on that in the dorms. Heating, definitely yes, so much so that in Willets he would have his windows open in the dead of winter. Bring a fan or fans. It may very well be quite warm in September and April/May. He had a box fan, a small desk fan, and a fan which he attached to a pole lamp so that it blew on him while he slept. (He is a little bit of a looney when it comes to being warm.)
As for lighting, there may very well be overhead lighting in most rooms but it probably won't be adequate. He brought along a pole lamp and a desk lamp.
Gphoenix and Collegialmom-getting into Mertz as frosh-how lucky! The link to the general description about the dorms is <a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/students/enteringstudents/house.html%5B/url%5D">www.swarthmore.edu/students/enteringstudents/house.html</a><br>
The link to the page where the floor plans are posted is in a previous reply above.</p>