<p>What size is Barrett Hall? Would that be considered large, small or medium?</p>
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<p>there are always a solid number of non-monroe scholars in Monroe, so I assume if your kid wants Monroe, they can get it. Mostly the location is good for spending lots of money at Wawa⊠lol</p>
<p>My oldest dâs experience was that Monroes are not guaranteed rooms in Monroe Hall. She returned her housing questionnaire in less than 24 hours, requesting Monroe, and somehow wound up as part of two overflow Monroe Scholar floors in Hunt Hall instead. As W&M Admissions says, it was still a great experience (although the third Hunt floor, composed of non-Monroe guys, did its level best to make sure no one could possibly mistake Hunt for an honors dorm :D). In fact, there have been two Hunt Hall weddings from her freshman year already, and two of the bridesmaids at her upcoming wedding are people she met in Hunt. And she still watches games with two guys from Hunt a couple of times a month. Not the spiffiest dorm, but they all remember it with affection.</p>
<p>My youngest d, not a Monroe, requested to live with a friend of hers from middle school who is a Monroe, and offered to request Monroe if the friend wanted it. The friend didnât and they won the housing lottery instead with a nice room in DuPont.</p>
<p>Soccerguy -</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. </p>
<p>Actually, thanks for all your responses - Iâve enjoyed reading them over the past year or so during this process. Anyway, no doubt my kid will enjoy Wawa and any other establishments along Richmond Road.</p>
<p>frazzledâs d not getting into Monroe is throwing kinks into my perceptions⊠hrm.</p>
<p>Anyway⊠there is nothing inherently special about Monroe. The location is solid, it is close to wawa, but it doesnât have AC. I think wherever you live, people generally make good friends in their freshman dorms.</p>
<p>same with us soccerguy. Our understanding is that if an admitted Monroe Scholar requests Monroe Hall they will get to live in Monroe Hall. Certainly Monroes can choose to live elsewhere and there arenât enough Monroes to fill Monroe Hall so some non-Monroes do live there but they generally try to have Monroes room with Monroes if it all works out.</p>
<p>Barrett would be a medium to large size. Yates and Dupont are the largest. Monroe is also mid-sized. Hunt, Taliaferro and the dorms in the Botetourt Complex would likely be considered small.</p>
<p>Iâm an old-timer, guys, so Iâm talking class of 2005 here. Way back in 2001, Monroe was full of Monroes and Hunt Hall that year was a spillover dorm for them. Iâm sure things have changed (arenât they offering Monroe status to fewer student these days?).</p>
<p>I remember being concerned because I thought the atmosphere would be more âscholarlyâ at Monroe Hall. I was, shall we say, naive. 
D1 would visit friends in Monroe and tell me afterwards that she preferred Hunt - but the reasons were always related to her hallmates, instead of location, room size, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, we did use to admit far more Monroes and sometimes more enrolled than can fit in Monroe Hall. This is no longer the case. Now that some students are admitted to Monroes as W&M sophomres, we admit fewer through the freshman admission process and now there is room in Monroe to fit all incoming Monroes who desire to live there.</p>
<p>PS: whether or not Monroe Hall is âmore scholarlyâ is likely up for debate. That reputation is likely out there but students, regardless of scholar designation, can often find creative ways to amuse themselves which might not necessarily jive with âscholarlyâ. When some of our staff were students at W&M, Monroe Hall students engaged in human bowling in the attic so you all be the judge :)</p>
<p>^ Physics experiment.</p>
1 Like
<p>lol bandgeek. Each freshman dorm develops its own culture and identity and generally freshman hallmates become quite close. Thatâs what matter most.</p>
<p>Now-junior daughter lived in Fauquier her first year. Not great, not horrible. Her main complaint was distance from classes. Second year, she ended up in a dorm that was part of the complex where the fraternities are, but that was a disaster. Constant problems with roaches. She applied for, and got, moved out of that dorm after 1 semester. This year, she is in Jamestown and loves it. Itâs almost time for selecting next yearâs dorm, and so we arenât sure where she will end up. I must say that the W&M system for dorm selection baffles me.</p>
<p>bubblemom, sorry to hear your D had a less-than-perfect sophomore experience but Jamestown is a great residence hall and it sounds like she enjoyed herself there. On any campus dorms will have their pros and cons in terms of location. </p>
<p>While the lottery process isnât perfect by any means, itâs hard to determine the most fair way to allocate housing and likely there will always be people who are disappointed by a system that relies partly on chance. Residence Life does conduct frequent surveys with students about the lottery and is responsive to suggestions from students as to how to improve the process.</p>
<p>I live in Monroe this year. Iâd say there is a distinct âMonroe Culture;â there are several tight-knit groups, probably enhanced by the fact that we are relatively isolated from the rest of the freshman dorms. The rumors of a more scholarly atmosphere are correct, as far as I can tell. Itâs quieter, and you are more likely to find people studying on Friday and Saturday nights than in any other dorm. You are more likely to be peer-pressured into watching Dr. Who and Lord of the Rings than partying. That said, you can always go to other places if you want a more exciting weekend, but I have loved having a safe place to come home to. I would recommend it.</p>
<p>everything you described about Monroe is likely true of other dorms as well. It was true of my freshman dorm. We had plenty of video gaming and movie watching. This is why I donât think the Monroe environment is that different. Honestly, I didnât even know that some of the people I hung out with multiple days a week over multiple years were monroe scholars. Likewise I had no idea that some of my friends were in PBK, until I looked at the lists on the website b/c I was curious. You canât walk around and be like âthat person is obviously a monroe scholarâ IMO.</p>
<p>This is one of the reasons I liked W&M, actually. You are around very talented people, but they are also generally pretty humble. They donât advertise the amazing things they do (not just monroe people, there are people all over W&M that do awesome things).</p>
<p>I havenât lived in other dorms so I donât have an idea of how the environment is, but Monroe has an undeniable reputation both amongst its own residents and other students. I think it has less to do with Monroe Scholars being housed there, and more to do with being separated from the botetout/dupont/yates area, where freshman have closer access to more parties, and there is more of a âgoing-outâ culture. I think Brown and some of the more isolated dorms have similar reputations. </p>
<p>Honestly, there is no difference between Monroe Scholars and others. I live with and am friends with both, and no one could begin to draw a distinction, because all the students at W&M are fabulous. Monroe still has a distinct atmosphere. </p>
<p>Where did you live your freshman year?</p>
<p>Could also depend on the year. Some years certain halls get certain reputations when other years they donât. Several of us who are alumni in the Admission Office lived in various freshmen dorms including Monroe and it had a very fun reputation.</p>
<p>All freshmen residence halls have their quirks, traditions and cultures. We think, if given the choice, most people would elect to live in their freshmen dorms all four years because of the friends they make, the open door atmosphere and the camaraderie</p>
<p>As much as we (parents) would like S3 to choose to attend WM this fall, we were disappointed to hear about the on-campus housing shortage that can impact a student in the second or third year of school. </p>
<p>What are the chances of a student needing to find off-campus housing for a year? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I think the chances of actually being forced off campus are slim. The chances of getting Âwaitlisted are higher. As a parent of someone who was waitlisted, I can say this is definitely a stressful situation, but most students are reinstated or go into an overcrowd room. This was discussed in more detail recently on this thread: Housing Waitlist Question. IMHO the benefits of W&Mâs residential campus far outweigh the drawbacks of the room lottery. My friends kids at other colleges all become commuter students, most after their first year. W&M guarantees living on campus for 3 years. I think you should look at the dorm situation at W&M as a positive factor, not a negative one.</p>
<p>lastof3 - at many schools, almost all students go off campus after the first year. W&M guarantees you a room for 3 years if you want it. I would say the chances of your student needing off campus housing one of those years is less than 5%.</p>