<p>I've heard positive and negative things about all of them. But are there any specific dorms you'd advise to just avoid? I heard Dickinson is falling apart, but Mountainview is far away from the rest of campus. I just want to be someplace friendly and fun, so any advice is welcomed. Thanks!</p>
<p>I really like Hinman. Although it’s not as new as Mountainview, it’s right by everything and looks pretty decent. It also has a focus in community service and volunteering it seems like from the website.</p>
<p>the truth is most people end up liking their dorm community where ever it is they end up.
here’s a brief run down of info about them-</p>
<p>1) Dickinson – is the oldest of the communities and the only one inside the “brain’” (the loop that goes around campus – academic buildings and the union are also inside the brain). so it is very convenient to just about everything. Traditional corridor style - -double rooms on a corridor sharing a bathroom. In the next few years, they will be rebuilding Dickinson outside of the loop near where they are rebuilding Newing now. Last I heard, they expect that to be complete Fall 2013. It is probably the most maligned due to its age, but people who live there end up liking it just like those living anywhere else.</p>
<p>2) Newing – currently a mix of old and new – they are currently in the process of rebuilding Newing. One new dorm is complete. I don’t think others will be ready until Fall 2011. The old Newing dorms are traditional double rooms on a corridor with a shared bathroom. The new Newing dorm has (I think) three double rooms sharing a bathroom – so its sort of traditional corridor without the large communal bathroom. If you choose Newing, I don’t think there is any way to predict if you will get in the nice new dorm or one of the old dorms. Newing has the reputation of being where a lot of people involved in the frats live. The dining hall for Newing is not currently open – they tore down the old one are are building a new one – I don’t think its going to be open for next year either – which means walking to another dining hall to eat.</p>
<p>3) College in the Woods – most of the dorms have floors that are a mix of double rooms and suites. doubles share a floor bathroom, suites have their own bathroom. there is one newer dorm in CIW that is all suite. if you select CIW, I don’t think you can predict whether you will get a double or a suite. Some suites are 3 double rooms, some are a double and a designed triple. I think there are also some designed triples on the floor (ie larger rooms meant to be triples, as opposed to forced triples when three people are put in a room meant for two). Generally one of the more popular communities.</p>
<p>4) Hinman – all suites. Suites have 2 or 3 double rooms sharing a bathroom and a suite lounge. Hinman is right near the lecture hall. Reputation for being a little on the quiet side.</p>
<p>5) Mountainview – newest of the dorm communities (not counting the under construction Newing). Mostly suites - 2 or 3 double rooms – 4 person suite has one bathroom; 6 person suites have two. Suites are down right huge – both the bedrooms and the suite lounges. Also has a/c. They also have designed triples - don’t know how many of those there are. It is a hike from Mountainview to just about anywhere else on campus. It’s not that its “far” - its between Hinman and CIW – but its just a hike up hill. </p>
<p>Corridor style dorms have the advantage of being more social; suites tend to encourage people to stay in their suites. Advantage of the suites is the private bathrooms. Each of the communities have their own “traditions” and events which are fun. </p>
<p>New students always spend an enormous amount of time worrying about where the best place to live is, but the truth is that what will determine your dorm experience is the people, not the bricks – you can have a great floor in any dorm, you can have a less social floor in any dorm. And as I’ve already said, most people end up liking their dorm community – if they make the effort to.</p>
<p>(just a note – where ever I refer to “double rooms” – if they have to triple freshmen, doubles can end up as triples. I think that when there was all the tripling last year, they didn’t triple in Hinman because the rooms are smaller, but I can’t swear to that.)</p>
<p>I don’t know of any triples in Hinman, but they had a bunch of people living in the study lounges in the basements in Hinman.</p>
<p>just to clarify so people don’t panic – for fall 2008, binghamton found itself with many more people accepting admission than they expected so they ended up with A LOT of people tripled and even living in lounges – i think most of the people in lounges were moved out into regular rooms, but a lot of the triples lasted the entire year. that was by no means the norm – in fact i think admissions has been careful to try to prevent that from happening again. any given year there may be some tripling, but fall 2008 was unusually high. no guarantees it can’t happen again, but it certainly wasn’t typical. of course until people respond to the admissions offers there is no way to know exactly how many freshmen they are expecting for fall 2010.</p>
<p>They turned the individual floor lounges in CIW into designed triples. Or so I’ve heard. Those rooms are huge. </p>
<p>As for the dorms… I have friends from nearly every community (I live in CIW) and they all love them. It honestly doesn’t matter where you live as long as you’re roommates/suitemates are bearable. Just enjoy the community.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the in depth answers, I’m not really so worried about where I end up anymore.
Would you say out of the 3 choices you get for housing, you’d likely get one of the 3?</p>
<p>snahp33: Generally, yes.</p>