Hey guys! I need to put down a housing deposit and I’m just wondering what the best dorms are on the SMU Campus. Any other information regarding housing is welcome!
Hi kgrace268 and congratulations on becoming a Mustang.
At SMU you no longer get to pick your dorm–you are randomly assigned to a “Residential Common”–basically a dorm. You will always remain part of that residential community as long as you live on campus-and you have a two year on campus requirement.
There are new dorms and very old dorms. There are suite style and traditional, there are dorms with large rooms and others with very small rooms. Unfortunately, the only thing you can control is your roommate and it you want a “single” room.
Welcome to the Hilltop…Pony Up!
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Oh wow I did not know this! Thank you so much @doresearch !
@kgrace268, congrats on your acceptance!
Yes, it is true that you will not be picking your residence hall. I guess that’s one less thing for you to worry about 
However, some of the info above is false- all of our residence halls have been built or renovated in the last five years, so they are all in great condition.
You can go potluck for your roommate and fill out a short survey for SMU Housing to match you, or you can join the Facebook group for SMU Class of 2019 to connect with other new Mustangs and pair yourself up with the perfect roommate.
@Lilly119 I beg to differ…McElvaney Commons is one example of a dorm that has not been renovated since 1996. Half the dorm did receive renovated restrooms/showers over the summer, but that is not what I would consider a true “renovation” as the dorm rooms were not improved in anyway.
Really! So even the Honors students don’t get to pick if they want to live in Virginia-Snyder or not.
BTW, how long is the walk from the Residential Dorms to Dallas Hall?
@Galore there is no longer a “Honors” dorm. Virgina-Snyder is now part of the Residential Commons system.
The SMU Residential Commons includes 11 residential communities housed in
Armstrong, Boaz, Cockrell-McIntosh, Crum, Loyd, Kathy Crow, Mary Hay/Peyton/Shuttles,
McElvaney, Morrison-McGinnis, Virginia-Snider and Ware.
As another example for @Lilly119 who stated that all dorms had been build or renovated in the last 5 years, Smith and Perkins, which had not been recently renovated, will be renovated during the 2015-16 academic year and will re-open as upper-class housing in the Fall of 2016. Current residents of Smith and Perkins may request to be assigned to other residential communities during reapplication Spring of 2015.
Oh, thanks @doresearch
Do certain scholarship programs get a preference (Hunt/PS)?
@Galore, I know Presidentials and Hunts that were put in the old non renovated dorms, and others who were lucky enough to get in the new dorms. As a point of interest, of last years 24 Hunt Scholars, 5 were put in McElvaney (over 25%)–a dorm that has not been renovated since 1996 and is very run down.
Last year there was an option where you could request to be put with another Presidential of Hunt Scholar but that may not help with the randomness of the room assignments.
Best of luck and welcome to the Hilltop.
@Galore The Hunt percentage in McElvaney was just over 20%–not 25%–my bad, but still a very high percentage considering there are 11 Residential Commons.
Oh, thank you so much for the help @doresearch !
The room assignment/process seems really random–but I was just wondering if anyone knows if you get priority, or if there is any correlation to being put in a newer dorm, the sooner you enroll and put down your enrollment deposit? Seems like a long stretch but have to ask!
Also, for students in the honors program, even though there is no longer a dorm specifically for them, are the majority of them still placed in the same residential building/commons, or are they now spread out amongst the 11?
@ibther4iam I can only speak to last years assignments.
Honors students were not “clustered” in one or two dorms, but were spread out among the 11 Commons.
After talking with both parents and freshman, it seemed there was no difference in housing assignment based on how early or late you singed up for housing. The only thing that seemed to skew a bit toward the new dorms were those freshman who went “random” for their roommate choice. Please note this observation is not scientific in anyway, just based on the limited responses from the parents and students I spoke with. I do know of a few students who put in roommate requests that were placed in the new dorms, but the majority seemed to be placed in the older dorms.
My daughter visited recently and SMU is now high on her list. Our tour guide seemed to say that if two incoming freshman both asked to room together that request would be honored but that all other roommate assignments were random. My daughter worried that a ramdomly assigned roommate could keep drasticly different hours, habits etc. But I’ve also heard that there is a roommate questionnaire form and perhaps an admitted student FB page where in incoming freshman could do a bit of homework and then find a roommate. Any help appreciated. Our daughter attends a small HS some distance from SMU and should she attend SMU it is highly unlikely she will have a HS classmate there as well.
@123Angus the FB page for incoming freshman is helpful, and I know several who met their roommate at their AARO session. The roommate questionnaire is well intentioned and works well if the person is truly honest. For example, my son tends to be messy, but did not want a messy roommate so he put he was neat. Thankfully, he ended up rooming with one of his close friends, so his response to the questionnaire did not matter.
Best of luck to your daughter. SMU is an amazing school and I am sure she will make many, many new friends.
@doresearch - thanks!