<p>Hi, I just recently got the housing package that requires me to rank the 19 housing options... I looked into the brochure, but it's really hard for me to choose simply by looking at some 3 paragraphs of words. Does anyone have any advice? Which is the most popular dorm? most convenient? Social scene? facilities?</p>
<p>sellery, witte, and ogg is where all the parties are. if u want a more relaxed and calmer scene go for the lake shore dorms. the lakeshore dorms are usually bigger and nicer.</p>
<p>Chadbourne, Liz Waters or Smith</p>
<p>What is Slichter like? I see that it's subdivided into wings; are the wings coed or are there separate male and female wings? And how about the Bradley learning community? Are those learning communities really a good way to get comfortable in a big school?</p>
<p>Where is the gym where people go to work out? Is there more than one?</p>
<p>Slichter does have wings, each with its own bathroom, I lived there eons ago and don't know the current setup. There are two locations for recreational facilities- SERF for the southeast dorms and the ones at the west end of campus serve the lakeshore residents (remember anyone can use any food service or facility, you are not limited to the area on campus where your dorm is located). One thing I notice is that Res Halls and UW as a whole is trying to do a lot for students, what was good in my day is only better now.</p>
<p>one thing to consider is safety. the lakeshore dorms are nice, but walking around that side of campus during the night is not always the safest. one girl was abducted/raped at 8pm while walking to her dorm. please be careful!</p>
<p>Also read the past UW posts for 2006- a lot of good info about dorm searches. I heard they caught the guy, who also attacked someone off campus. Also, remember, regardless of which dorm you live in you will be using the rest of the campus, I wouldn't avoid lakeshore for that reason. From a 2 second sound bite from son in Liz it seems like the guys in the dorms will look out for their dormmates, an advantage of coed dorms. In other words, don't hesitate to ask guys you know for an escort if you don't use the campus services (especially easy these days with cell phones).</p>
<p>where are most of the undergraduate classes located at? The Southeast campus? Also, how long a walk is it from lakeshore to Southeast?</p>
<p>The building depends on your classes. Use the Res Halls website to check the distances by clicking on an individual dorm, then the table. The campus map is interactive- click on a building to get which dept is located there, some classes are held in other buildings, though.</p>
<p>I will be a biomedical engineering major..I have noticed that the engineering buildings aren't close to ANYTHING. Lakeshore dorms, however, appear closer; is this a figment of my imagination? Looks like there is a 6 lane highway in between the dorms and the engineering buildings as well.. -sighs- Dorm suggestions? Not a party person..</p>
<p>Yes, engineering campus is also on the west end. There is a walkway across the mass of road. Many first year required classes such as math and physics will be in Van Vleck and Chamberlain, but live where you want to, not close to a classroom building as you will be going from one building to another during the day. You get excercise by walking (could you tell there are many hills?). Think of it this way- at home your parents may not have chosen to live across the street from the workplace, but chose a house in the neighborhood they wanted to live. UW campus is big, but therefore has many different neighborhoods, so you have many different options. Consider city vs lakeshore, highrise vs low, oldest vs old vs new, floorplans, etc. Everyone can eat in every location, you don't need to go back to your dorm area for meals, the whole campus is your territory. Also, you may not get your first choice dorm so be prepared to live in others. Make a list of your priorities and rank the dorms according to best fit- I spent time living on lakeshore but had friends in Barnard, built in 1913 or so, not my style, but I spent a lot of time there, while I was closer to walking out to Picnic Point...No matter which dorm you get you will have the advantage of being on campus, closer to classes than other options and a good way to start your life at UW. Good luck.</p>
<p>I second wis75 post. I recalled walking (or should I say running) up and down the Bascom Hill between classes for the first 2 years. </p>
<p>I recommend the south east corner for quick access to foods on State St, Union, gym and the crowd and still a short bike ride from Engineering. I am not sure about bioengr majors, but ECE folks definitely camp inside CAE labs 7/24. ;)</p>
<p>I recommend Lakeshore for the ambience- beats waiting for elevators just off a busy street and no big deal to walk to places on/near campus. A real stress reliever to be close to the lakeshore path.</p>
<p>What are people's opinions of the cluster style rooms (Ogg and Smith) compared to other rooms? Are cluster for mainly upper classmen? I just returned from a visit to Madison and really liked the location of the Lakeshore dorms but also like the newer buildings of Ogg and Smith. I am not sure what to do myself. Any tips would be great.</p>
<p>-Side note, if you are thinking about going to Madison next year and are visiting campus soon, check out a hockey game. As soon as you see the student section in action you will fall in love with the school. The amount of school spirit was amazing.</p>
<p>Are any of the dorms exceptionally far away? I was looking through the booklet and Smith seems nice but on the map it seemed a little out of the way.</p>
<p>Only for ag and engineering majors. UW has good free bus system.</p>
<p>Remember to look at the distances tables for each dorm you like and decide which part of campus you want to be closest to, as well as which style dorm- city/lakeshore, highrise/small...best interests you. Keep in mind that you may not get your first choice if it's popular, so pay attention to your ranking order. Each dorm building has its own character, there are pros and cons to each.</p>
<p>How is Slichter for freshmen? Is being in a small dorm a good way to get to know people, or is it too limiting? My son is pretty quiet and says he does better in smaller groups. I guess I'm also wondering what fraction of the students in a dorm like that would be freshmen. (I know Bradley is all freshmen, but no guarantee he'll get in there.) Any help or recommendations would be appreciated.</p>
<p>The size of the dorm won't matter for getting to know people- every dorm is composed of "houses" of around 50-80(?) people- one floor or more depending on the building (2 floors in Liz-men and women, whole buildings in Kronshage...). With hall bathrooms (single sex) he'll see people on his floor/in his wing. Around half the people in the dorms are freshmen- they are allowing 50% of the rooms for signup by returning residents now. At least one dorm is upperclassmen only (Tripp-mostly singles). Don't worry about your son being stuck in a dorm with mainly older students. BTW, I lived in Slichter eons ago, by choice (things have changed since then but are better). Have your son check the individual dorm info online- you can see room layouts by looking at the lofting guides plus any diagrams given and there are distance tables to campus places for each dorm. Also, parents can access just about everything online along with the general public- go ahead and check the catalog, timetable, housing etc. pages to learn things your son won't tell you. Remember to open PDF files for online booklets. The important thing to remember is that one might not get their first choice of dorm, so pay attention to the rank- there will be a chance in the spring to revise rankings so don't panic about choices already made. A nice thing about the dorms at Madison is the variety as well as the different locations, although it makes it hard to choose. Food service- can eat anywhere on campus so no need to plan to get back to the one closest to your dorm. Again, check out the web pages.</p>