<p>Would anyone be willing to post either a ranking or brief description of the dorms here? i.e which have air-conditioning, which are party dorms which are social which has best food etc. Any info would help... thanks!</p>
<p>Here’s a link to all the freshman dorms and each dorm link provides detailed floor plans, dorm ammenities, room sizes, a/c info, etc.</p>
<p>All of our dining halls are in separate buildings. None are in residence halls but no dorm is too far from a dining hall.</p>
<p>Dupont, Yates, and Jefferson have a/c. The rest do not. </p>
<p>Some have hall bathrooms, some have suite bathrooms. Each residence hall has social and study lounges and all dorms breed a really tight-knit community. The freshman hall experience is a common social experience for all W&M students regardless of which hall they live in</p>
<p>here’s the link I assume W&M Admissions meant to include about the dorms: [William</a> & Mary - Freshman Halls](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/residencelife/oncampus/residencehalls/freshman/index.php]William”>Freshman Halls | William & Mary)</p>
<p>I don’t think the dorms are very different in terms of social-related things and what type of people are in each dorm. They are all W&M freshmen. Some of them are closer to the frats though.</p>
<p>thanks soccerguy. It’s been a long week so when we were on CC late last night we clearly forgot to add the link.</p>
<p>We have a few of these threads every year… there is some good information that you can locate using the search functionality.</p>
<p>Here’s a re-post of what I said last year:</p>
<p>DuPont and Yates are popular for the AC, although DuPont is the nicer of the two. It also has suite-style bathrooms, which is either good or bad depending on your opinion. Yates has a more institutional feel and like HtH said the basement is particularly undesirable. Both are close to the Caf, which is way better than the UC for dining. None of the other freshman dorms have AC except in some of the lounges. Get a “medical” note and bring a window unit.</p>
<p>Brown and Hunt and Taliaferro are kind of isolated (often referred to as “Siberia”). Long walk to the Caf or the Rec Center. Brown has larger rooms, Taliaferro has small rooms, and Hunt is somewhere in the middle. CW is pretty close to all three. If you live in Brown, you may find yourself on the Aromas and Baskin Robbins meal plan.</p>
<p>Botetourt is equally isolated, although I guess it’s not that much more out of the way than DuPont. It is, however, roach infested. Rooms are a bit larger than average and so are the desks. Reasonably close to the frats for weekend fun.</p>
<p>Monroe is known as the old and pretty dorm. Has a nice location right in between old and new campuses. Not sure about the actual quality of life in the dorm though.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend switching just because you don’t like your dorm room though. The people you meet are going to be far more important over the course of the year(s), and a lot of that bonding happens during orientation. Switching rooms right away disrupts that. I was annoyed because I got a smaller than average room on the sweltering top floor of the roach motel Fauquier, but when the day to submit room change requests arrived I let it pass. Best decision I ever made; I’m getting ready to graduate and am still very close with the same group of great people. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/821445-dorms.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/821445-dorms.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/691080-dorms.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/691080-dorms.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/967107-freshman-dorm-assignments.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/967107-freshman-dorm-assignments.html</a>
etc…</p>
<p>My ranking (100% my own opinion) would be:
Dupont
Yates
Jefferson
Barrett
Monroe
Brown
Hunt
Taliaferro
Botetourt (Fauquier, Gooch, Dinwiddie, Nicholson, Spotswood)</p>
<p>A related question: Can you request a roommate?</p>
<p>javabytes, we think to say that Brown, Taliaferro and Hunt are in “siberia” exaggerates things. They are very close to old campus, CW and the Marketplace. While they are far from the caf and the Rec Center, Dupont, Yates and Botetourt are all farther from old campus, the Sadler Center and CW so each dorm has its location pluses and minuses. Also, we think you mean Barrett is located between new and old campuses. Monroe is firmly on old campus.</p>
<p>ExceptMe, you can request a roommate. Assuming each of you requests each other, Residence Life will do everything in their power to place you together.</p>
<p>Yes W&M Adm, you are right… I must have mistyped last year. Barrett is the one that sits between old and new.</p>
<p>It’s true that Brown, Hunt, and Taliaferro are only as far from the Caf, the Rec Center, and the frats as Botetourt and Dupont are from the campus center and CW. The distance to the Sadler Center is roughly equivalent. That said, the area towards Botetourt/Dupont/Yates is much more of a social/recreational area. The rec center, Busch field, the IM fields, W&M hall, the Caf, the frats, and even Swem are much closer to that part of campus. Brown/Hunt/Taliaferro are much nearer to the Campus Center and to CW, but there is not quite as much activity in the vicinity. By the time you walk to the rec center from Brown, you won’t need a workout. It is very close to old campus though, whereas if you are in Dupont/Yates/Botetourt you will have a moderate walk to new campus and a long walk to old campus, but this is most important for classes and not so much for outside activities.</p>
<p>Can you request a dorm building? I’d really like to be in Barrett.</p>
<p>Don’t think so. When I did it, you could rank the buildings in order (not that it meant much, as they said they tried to match roommate preferences first). I think recently they have changed it to indicate a preference of small dorm vs. large dorm.</p>
<p>I’ve never been to Williamsburg in August, but I’ve heard that the heat in August and September is pretty brutal. How exactly do students deal with the lack of AC in residence halls, and is it as bad as it seems? Also, I seem to remember hearing somewhere that not all of the residence halls have wireless, but I can’t seem to find a source anywhere to back that up. Is this true?</p>
<p>All dorms have wireless. A cable is still recommended as it is faster. [William</a> & Mary - Wireless Network](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/it/a-z/wireless/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/offices/it/a-z/wireless/index.php)</p>
<p>The first few weeks after move-in are pretty brutal. Usually you get a doctor’s note for your “allergies” or “asthma” or something (note the quotes) that says you need air conditioning and bring your own window unit. Or you congregate in the room of people who do this.</p>
<p>the entire W&M campus is wireless, but you can still hook into a plug for faster speeds, as javabytes said.</p>
<p>Sometimes it sucks if you don’t have AC in the beginning of the year. I didn’t have AC my freshmen year and there were some rough times. Spent a lot of time in the lounge that had AC.</p>
<p>It can be hot without A/C but you can bring fans and such and after the first few weeks the weather is often pretty moderate and the College, which controls when the A/C is turned on and off for the season generally turns off A/C at the beginning of October.</p>
<p>We know living without A/C seems rough but it isn’t as bad as one might think.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me when we can expect to receive housing paperwork?</p>
<p>After May 1, the welcome website will turn over to a pre-orientation site which will provide all of the information/forms/dates/deadlines you need throughout the summer.</p>
<p>The housing questionnaire is one of the first forms due (usually due by late May/early June). Housing assignments are emailed in late July generally.</p>
<p>how exactly are dorm rooms given? Are they given at random, or by preference?</p>
<p>You get a housing questionnaire where you answer a few questions about your preferences. It’s usually very basic and short. Residence Life uses these to assign you a roommate and a dorm room, though there is still a fair amount of randomness. Roommate preferences are much more likely to be matched than dorm preferences.</p>
<p>Yes, for the most part residence halls are assigned at random although there are generally a few questions on the questionnaire that ask about which size of residence hall you prefer (size referring to number of residents). You will not get to have any input on which types of ammenities you prefer. All dorms have their pros and cons in terms of physical ammenities but regardless of which one you’re assigned to, you’ll likely have a fantastic experience bonding with your hallmates.</p>
<p>My kid was admitted as a Monroe Scholar and will be attending in the fall. Is a room in Monroe Hall guaranteed for first-year Monroes?</p>