<p>We are very excited, my son was accepted to FSU for fall 2014. We visited the Housing site and saw there are many choices. Most appear to be the same with 'Suite-Style Halls'. Which would best accomodate an incoming freshman with proximity to the classes, dining and newness??</p>
<p>A proud future Nole Dad!!</p>
<p>The “best dorm” question gets asked all the time, and the answer I give is always the same anymore: it depends. </p>
<p>Your son is likely to have classes all over campus. A centralized suite-style dorm (such as Wildwood) would probably work well in that case. </p>
<p>Close to food would probably be one of the renovated east-side dorms, such as Landis/Gilchrist (if he’s in Honors), Broward, Reynolds, Bryan, Cawthon, etc. will be good, although Salley on the west side is located literally next to one of the dining halls. </p>
<p>As for newness, many of the east-side dorms were recently renovated (Gilchrist’s renovation was just completed in 2009- my dad’s old company actually was the one that finished that project). Wildwood and Degraff I believe are still the newest freshman dorms, opening about six years ago. </p>
<p>Most of the suite-style dorms are pretty much identical, and it just comes down to personal preference regarding location, whatever the special “quirk” of the building is (Bryan Hall requires the Bryan Hall LLC, but it’s the oldest dorm on campus, I believe; Landis/Gilchrist are for Honors, Reynolds requires the wellness agreement to not smoke/drink). </p>
<p>Personally, I lived in Wildwood my freshman year. It was still almost brand new, it was centrally located (10 minutes walking to basically anything), and it was suite-style.</p>
<p>I was looking at the dorms and I madly fell in love with Sally, if coming in as a freshmen would you recommend this building ? …
And also are the room assignments based on first come first serve, or is it like seniors get 1st pick, than juniors, etc ?</p>
<p>The vast majority of students on campus in dorms are freshman. Goes by priority number. You keep the same priority number each year, but returning students I believe have priority. I thinks alley is one of the oldest bldgs. My son was in wildwood for freshman year. Really liked it. Close to stadium, theater(he’s a film student) and does not require a meal plan which was the deciding factor.</p>
<p>Actually, a lot of things have changed with Housing. Returning residents no longer use priority numbers to determine their housing. Instead, it’s based off the number of credit hours earned, so in essence for returning residents (who can already apply to live on campus next year, they just can’t pick their specific room yet) it is seniors get first pick. </p>
<p>There’s about 5300 spots in campus housing available (in theory) to freshmen residents. This number may change a bit this coming year, as Housing is working on a new complex to replace Dorman & Deviney with four new suite-style buildings. Depending on whether the buildings currently being built can open on time (I believe Fall 2014 was the target), and whether Housing closes down Dorman or Deviney as planned will impact the number of spots on campus. </p>
<p>Salley Hall is a different suite-style building. It’s old, although apparently Housing does not feel like it is in need of any major overhauls or anything. The bedrooms are pretty tiny, and the study area is not much larger. Basically, all you will have room for in the bedroom is to sleep, and your part of the study area is basically just your desk. I wasn’t ever a fan of that setup, but if you like it, then there’s nothing really wrong with trying to live there.</p>