<p>Would love some feedback from current students. I've read the threads on freshmen housing, but am wondering what people do the following years. I'm OOS, will probably be an Engineering major, not a big partier to give some context.</p>
<p>I've read that the vast majority of post-freshman students at UW don't live in dorms--do they go to the private dorms or get off-campus apartments? How does the housing scene impact your academic and social life and connection to school activities? Are most apartments geared toward students within walking distance to campus? If sophomores stay in campus housing, are some dorms more geared toward them, as I've read that the dorms are 50% freshmen?</p>
<p>Others on campus will have better info, but your dorm percentage of freshman is way low. It’s more like 75-80% freshman. A couple of the dorms are more like 50%. Most dorms are closer to 85-90% freshman.</p>
<p>There are MANY MANY rental units of all types and prices geared to UW students. That ranges from luxury highrise units to older homes that were dumps when I lived in them and appear to be in the same or worse condition today. Many people team up with friends or even people they don’t know to rent places. But some rent their own 1BR or studio unit to live alone. Many are closer to the downtown side than engineering is but with free bus passes, mopeds and bikes people can live anywhere they want. For Engineering I like the Vilas/Monroe Street area or the area along old University Ave. west of campus.
New generally midrise units are going up all the time.</p>
<p>Yeah, most upperclassmen live off-campus in apartments. The vast majority move out of the dorms after freshman year. There are an awful lot of apartments (more than there are students to fill them, I’m told) within walking distance to campus, though I’ve met people who live farther away and take the bus to class each day, and their rents are much cheaper. There is something in every price range though, you just get a bit more for your money if you’re okay with living farther from campus (or on the west side, near engineering-type stuff). The west side of campus has a lot of apartments that are usually filled with engineering majors (and often athletes because Camp Randall is also right there) and they are a bit cheaper.</p>
<p>The Spring St and Dayton St area has a lot of affordable apartments near the engineering end of campus, Comp Sci and Union South. Some sophomores will live in dorms, sometimes because their parents require it. Parents are typically required to guarantee the rent so parental input matters. Res Halls makes sure at least 50% of each dorm available to freshman is allotted to freshmen, the percentage is higher in many. The UW website (under housing) has a nice tool for finding off campus housing and mauch information about renting. Students also learn about desirable and not so apts via talking to other students and searching databases.</p>
<p>Parents need to realize that off campus living has changed vastly- improved- since they were college students. Many, many more decent as well has high end places available very close to campus now. More grocery stores as well. Also many tenant rights, etc- Madison radicalism has extended to improving the lot of renters.</p>
<p>Parent here- went through the process recently with son.</p>
<p>Yeah I lived in the dorms as a freshman last year, and pretty much all of the kids from my dorm were freshmen. And only a select few of them are returning to the dorms this following year. So I would say that after freshman year it is either an apartment or house that you would be living in. Although, if you are not planning on staying in Madison for summers, dorms might be the best choice, because almost all apartments or houses in Madison have one year leases as opposed to just during the school year, which the dorms offer.</p>
<p>Sophomore dorms are typically: Adams, Tripp, Ogg, and the new Lakeshore Dorm</p>