<p>Since my acceptance (i was waitlisted) I am desperately trying to find info on Tufts' dorms. I've even found floor plans (LOL) but I could not find any pictures yet...</p>
<p>Some questions:</p>
<p>How the room assignment works?
How are the dorms in general? any amenities?
Where can I find photos of a typical Tufts dorm?
How do they assign a roommate?
Which dorm is considered the "best"?</p>
<p>Any info would be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>A questionaire will be coming in for housing…but you can decide who your room mate will be and so both write each others names…
The Tufts website has lots of pictures and information…
And the toiletpapers sandpaper…
Ah…one gets to learn such great things on this board…</p>
<p>Unless you pick someone in advance, the roommate assignment will be “random”. (I put random in quotation marks because I doubt it’s really all that random - when I was a freshman, there were nine or ten rooms in my hall where each roommate had the same name. They like to amuse themselves.)</p>
<p>I really didn’t mind the dorms. It often seems like everybody has different ideas concerning which dorm is “best”; it sort of depends what you’re looking for. The dorms are largely split into two groups: “uphill” and “downhill”. Uphill dorms are closer to most liberal arts classes and the library. Downhill dorms are closer to a few academic buildings, the arts complex, the campus center, and most campus eateries including Dewick, the far superior dining hall. (Some people will try to tell you that Carmichael, the uphill dining hall, is actually better. They will use words like “stir-fry night”, “atmosphere”, and “breakfast nook” to try to confuse you. Do not trust them; they are liars.)
For uphill dorms, Miller is generally considered a prize because some of its rooms are gargantuan. Houston, as a very large all-freshman dorm, is popular, but the rooms are small. Carmichael (it’s a dorm as well as a dining hall) is dark and unfriendly with cramped rooms. Wren was recently redone to be in suite styles, so I don’t know off the top of my head if freshmen can live there or not.</p>
<p>For downhill dorms, South Hall is far away from everything with relatively small rooms and a mildly upsetting paint job, but people who live there really just seem to love it, and often choose to live there again the next year. Must be something in the water. Haskell is brick interior and in suite-form, so you get to know the people living in your suite pretty well. Lewis has decent sized rooms and a lot of singles, people generally seem to enjoy living there. Bush is a small dorm with big rooms, and has a reputation for its residents becoming friends quickly on each floor. Hodgdon has largish rooms as well, is located right above the Hodgdon food place and right across from Dewick, and occupies a nice midhill location that isn’t too far from anywhere.</p>
<p>I think Miller is pretty similar in layout to Houston with the exception that Miller has small lounges on each floor in addition to the main lounge while Houston has one large lounge in the basement. I think Wren and Haskell have very similar (possibly the same) layout, too.
This year, Houston, Haskell, Tilton (another downhill dorm between Lewis, Haskell, and Bush), and Hill (“so far uphill it’s downhill” - it does have mail services, though) were the four all-freshman dorms, with Hill being designated either partly or fully (not sure which) healthy living.
The mixed dorms (include freshman/sophomores, and juniors too in South) were Lewis, Hodgdon, Bush, and South for downhill and Carmichael and Miller uphill (I think that’s it).</p>
<p>There are a bunch more dorms that are open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.</p>
<p>I really don’t think Miller and Houston are that similar. The rooms, for one, are vastly different in size. Houston is claustrophobic, and while Miller varies, some of their rooms are palatial.
Also, Houston actually does have “lounges” on each floor, they’re just. . . comfortless, undecorated, cramped pits of despair. A friend who lived in Houston called them prison cells.</p>
<p>is there a “party” or more social dorm? I think somebody told me houston was a bit wild</p>
<p>Well, upperclassmen tend to live off campus and so don’t have parties in dorms. Freshmen usually don’t have as easy access to off-campus houses, and so have more parties in actual dorms. As such, freshman-only dorms tend to be quite social, as well as halls like South and Bush which have a large number of common areas placed right in halls, as opposed to halls like Hodgdon where one has to go out of one’s way in order to get to the common room. Sociality can be a bad thing if you’re the sort of person who prefers doing work and studying in your room.</p>
<p>I think you might be referring to the study rooms in Houston? Those are definitely not “lounges”. I lived there this year and I guess I was lucky to get one of the larger rooms, but there weren’t any rooms that were really small, anyways. As far as “sociality,” Houston is a fairly social dorm, but it didn’t prevent any of us from getting work done or sleeping (usually). In fact, we would often hang out while doing work/studying, occasionally taking study breaks, etc. You can also go to the library or other places on campus to study. There were a few times, though, that it was noisy outside my room when I was trying to sleep, but people generally complied when I asked them politely to quiet down/take it elsewhere.</p>
<p>They’re not small compared to say, Carmichael or South, but have you seen the average room size in Miller, West, Hill, Bush, or Hodgdon?</p>