Which Honors Dorm?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Ohio State University
1

<p>Trying to decide between the four Honors Dorms- Bradley, Siebert (both on South campus), Taylor Tower (North campus), and Lincoln Hall (West campus). </p>

<p>I’ve heard that North campus is more quiet and South is more sociable. Anybody have personal experiences they’d like to share? I’m mainly concerned with the areas surrounding the dorms and how close they are to my classes/activities (English major). </p>

<p>Leaning towards Bradley at the moment, although it supposedly doesn’t have air conditioning but I’ve heard that they’re installing it soon.</p>

2

<p>May I first ask why you want to live in honors dorms? You mentioned that you are interested in having a social life, which although it is entirely possible in honors dorms my personal experience is that many of the students in them are very shy, neurotic, and don’t expand their friend base very far. Again, this is ONLY from personal experience but the idea of living in an honors dorm is just as bad sounding to me as living in an upperclassmen dorm. If you truly have a social life, 99% of people will live in a house or apartment by junior year. </p>

<p>First and foremost Bradley sucks. I hate that dorm. Never lived there thank God, but I don’t even like visiting friends down there much. South campus is more sociable, but that’s not to say you can’t meet a whole lot of people on North.</p>

<p>Taylor Tower is even worse. WAY WAY WAY too quiet. Avoid at all costs.</p>

<p>Siebert is okay. Still, not my favorite by any means…but I prefer North campus (and yes I quite enjoy partying).</p>

<p>If you are lucky enough to get one of the towers on West Campus next to the stadium I would recommend those.</p>

<p>My personal favorite dorm is Blackburn House in North campus. I’m biased of course because I spent a short time there, but it is right across the street from the majority of classes. Most of my classes are in North Campus and I’m not a science major at all. It is much worse to have to drag yourself across campus in the snow from the South end than to be a quick 3-4 minute walk from anywhere.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>Out of Steeb, Mack, Stradley, Park, Baker East, and Smith, which is probably the best dorm for two girls who are serious students but like to go out on weekends? Me and my roommate don’t want a crazy party scene but we don’t want something too quiet either.</li>
<li>Can non honors students live in honors dorms? </li>
<li>If they can, between Siebert and Bradley, which one is better?</li>
</ol>

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<p>Avenlea, I don’t know a single thing about any of the dorms you listed…which is probably a bad thing. Most students at OSU would be considered “serious students”, so every dorm is going to surround you with very intelligent people. If an applicant isn’t intelligent they will not get in to Ohio State.</p>

<p>I’m assuming that because you mentioned two girls, you are wanting to live with a friend? Again, I highly discourage this based upon my experience with others that have done this. It never works out like it should. Again, your call, but if you truly want to immerse yourself in college and meet people it’s best to not live with high school friends.</p>

<p>I don’t think non honors students can live in honors dorms, but I am unsure. Siebert is better than Bradley, but either way they are as is indicated…Honors. This means they are generally very very quiet and less than generally social. I have more experience with Bradley and I hate it there.</p>

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<p>Not everyone is intelligent and even “smarties” can party…dd is an honors student and lived in Siebert last year and Bradley currently. Only difference is Siebert is more freshman and rooms are bigger as a rule. Other south dorms mentioned are freshman, and not scholars or honors housing. Honors students can request a non-honors roomie. Provo’s posts are incredibly biased and general in their sweeping statements of hate and unsocial characteristics of honors students in Siebert and Bradley. I would say dd had a floor of less social students only in that they respected the private space of their dorm and no partying in rooms…could study with door open which was nice when cold outside. She felt that other floors were more social than hers. Main point…these dorms have huge turnover of students each year so you are at mercy of who requests and then gets assigned to each dorm. Unlike Provo, dd did not like the towers, too far away from everything else and students tend to socialize only with other dorm friends because of their location away from everything else…but again, not like that is always a bad thing. dd does not socialize much with her Bradley hall mates only because she has lots of friends who moved off-campus and her friends are from other connections, a common theme in dorms with mostly upperclassman…students who live there are not relying on their dorm for their social outlet. I think the truest statement made to us on our tour was that students tend to become fiercely loyal to the area where they lived and will never believe another is better…a true testament that OSU students will make friends and make the best out of the situation they are placed in…and not blame their dorm assignment or categorize students only because of where they live.</p>

<p>As far as AC, not sure who is getting it, know the parking lot in front of Siebert has been dug up as the university installs underground cold water flow to south dorms…when slated to be done?</p>

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<p>I’m actually not living with a friend lol I don’t even know anyone at Ohio State, I’m from Maine. I found a roommate (one roommate) through ■■■■■■■■. I called today and apparently I can’t live in honors housing, so I guess Siebert and Bradley are out.
We’re both psych majors and serious students, and we didn’t make honors just because of our class rank but we want that kind of environment. What dorm is probably the best for us on South? I’ve heard about Mack, Steeb, Stradley, Mack, Park, Baker East, and Smith…which one of those is the best in terms of living space and living environment?</p>

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<p>I would definitely check housing.osu.edu for dorm info like room size and layout options, you can pick room numbers from a dropdown menu and see dimensions of different rooms for each dorm. Mack has some scholars programs housed there…the building is gorgeous and dd says rooms have neat architectural features. Baker West has music/arts students but don’t think you have to be one to live in either. Park/Smith/Steeb/Stradley are kinda known as the party dorms…for some weird reason Stradley has a strangely high percentage of students who drop out. dd loved visiting friends here and seeing the social atmosphere of the dorms, kinda missing that in her floor but glad to have the quiet around when it was needed. I think they are connecting Steeb and Smith and then Park and Stradley will also be connected…also heard they are converting all the bathrooms from community to privates in same area…one advantage of Bradley. Instead of one large room with 4 toilet stalls, 4 shower stalls and 4 sinks there are 4 private bathrooms with toilet/sink/shower all opening on a common hallway that has a large mirror and outlets so you can dry hair, etc without waking roomie, for example.</p>

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<p>Why does BHLC have to be in Taylor Tower? Sounds like a cool program, but based off what I’ve heard (and read here) and looking at Taylor on a map…it looks like it would kind of suck. I’m not a complete party animal or anything like that, but </p>

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<p>is something I want to avoid.</p>

9

<p>The post by ddd928 is right. I am biased to North Campus because in my short one living in the dorms I was there. I did love it though, which is why I’m recommending it. I’m posting based on my own personality. I am in an Honors program, I get mostly A’s, but I am definitely a socialite, i party and HATE extremely quiet dorms. This is mainly because I like to know a lot of people. Through classes I’ve made friends from all over campus and I’m giving you my opinion as a current student and from the experiences of friends that are current students.</p>

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<p>I just appealed to get into Honors while I was at OSU - does anyone know if I can still live with a non-honors roommate if I request an honors dorm? When I called them told me two non honors kids couldn’t live in an honors dorm, but I figured I could request a non honors roommate…</p>

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<p>I know lots of people who enjoyed living in Bradley.</p>

<p>I lived in Lincoln. Originally I applied for south, but changed once I did an overnight on West Campus. It was great, I really loved the suite setup. I’m still friends with all the people I roomed with, years later. It is far from the high street scene and the main oval, though, but quite close to the fields and the RPAC if that appeals to you. I kind of liked the more peaceful surroundings, and enjoyed watching the band practice on the fields outside on weekend mornings. </p>

<p>If you’re an English major, most of your classes will be in Denney Hall. (Though they’re changing that somewhat, so it’s possible they may be elsewhere.) But honestly… everything’s pretty close. Walking further across campus is not a big deal in my mind, but maybe I’ve been here so long I’m desensitized to walking long distances lol.</p>

12

<p>I’m so confused about where to live!</p>

<p>My roomie is non honors so she’s worried that if we live in honors, she’ll be one of the only non-honors people. But, we’re both scared that if we live in non-honors, it’ll be too loud and people are going to be obnoxious. Plus, choosing between non honors dorms is SO HARD :stuck_out_tongue: </p>

<p>I have no idea what to do.</p>

13

<p>I’m having a similar problem. </p>

<p>I’m in honors AND going to major in business so it should be a no-brainer that I live on North campus…but I don’t want to live on North haha. </p>

<p>I’m not a super party animal but I certainly want a dorm that leans towards the lively side. If I want to study, I can go to the library. </p>

<p>But I don’t my roommate or half of my floor to come in stumbling drunk 4+ nights a week.
Maybe only 2-3 :)</p>

<p>And walking from South to the business building is gonna be a *****. Not gonna mind it in the fall/spring, I could probably ride my bike, but trudging through the snow for 15 minutes is gonna suck.</p>

<p>so any honors guys wanna room on south with me? haha</p>

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<p>Living in North campus does not mean you won’t have a lively dorm. I lived in Blackburn, a very very short walk up Woodruff Ave from my business classes and I had a very friendly and outgoing floor and most people didn’t even drink. a lit were honors students that were not in an honors dorm. If you are going to be at the business school it’s much better to live on north campus</p>

15

<p>I’m a second year and I lived in housing on south campus (because I figured I had to walk to class…engineering is on north…, but I wanted to be near the party!)</p>

<p>I know people who lived on each part of campus and has loved it all for different reasons. I was in Siebert, and because I was stuck in one of their quads with 3 random roommates… it was not the best experience, but my floor was lively and doors were always open, although our dorm was not so nice/new (although canfield i’ve heard is one of the worst on south). I’d definitely recommend not doing random, and instead finding a roommate on the Facebook osu accepted student discussion board or something along those lines because the lame questions that they asked for sorting random roommates really didn’t get at the core of anything and really screwed me over. </p>

<p>The people who I know to live in Lincoln have loved it because its a nice little community, although you meet people differently there than you do on a traditional dorm, but I know a lot of people who have loved it (and a few who haven’t). </p>

<p>I currently live on north in an upper-classmen dorm and its really quiet, but big. I already have friends, so i’m not missing out on the social dorm aspect, but I know a lot of people in Taylor as freshmen who have loved it, plus for the first quarter, everyone is generally social and wants to meet everyone else anyways. </p>

<p>Sure there’s the thought that all honors kids in honors housing are boring nerds, but there are a lot of honors kids who like to party hard (and just a few of those boring nerds).</p>

<p>I’d recommend bradley (it was my top choice, but i didn’t get it) if you want south.</p>

16

<p>I lived in Lincoln (honors dorm on west campus with suite-style set up), and I really loved it. I thought our living spaces were a lot nicer/ larger than a lot of other dorms. I didn’t like my roommate terribly much, but I became close friends with some of my suitemates, and the people on my floor. </p>

<p>The suites in Lincoln usually contain around 9-10 people in four bedrooms total (three doubles, one quad/ triple). You share a bedroom and a computer/ study room with your roommate(s), and then a large bathroom and common room with your suitemates. Having one room to sleep in, one room to study in, and one room to socialize in was really nice. </p>

<p>There are six suites on each floor, so just under 60 people per floor, with an equal amount of guys and girls. Most suites kept their common room door open, so when I was bored, I would wander over into another suite’s common room to hang out. I’m a social person, and there were always friends from the floor, both guys and girls, to go out with on the weekends. </p>

<p>That being said, there were generally one or two suites of people per floor where the majority of the people living there were anti-social or overly strange. It does seem to be true that honors dorms have more socially-awkward people, but ultimately, I liked being able to make friends with similarly intelligent and studious people. </p>

<p>Also, despite being in business, only one of my classes freshman year was actually located in the Fisher College of Business. I took mostly GECs (two calc classes, two science classes, a couple social sciences, two econ, etc.), and thus had classes everywhere on campus. It didn’t matter that my dorm was far from the business buildings, because I never had to walk there.</p>

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<p>It may be getting late to pick and choose since housing applications are made available based on the order in which acceptance deposits are returned. If you haven’t applied for housing yet, there may be a lot of people ahead of you for your preferred dorm/area. My neighbor’s son did his housing application in April and asked for anything on South, but ended up assigned to a dorm on North instead. He wasn’t Honors though…</p>

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<p>yeah ddd928 is definitely right. my boyfriend lived in steeb and hated it and transferred to baker. he described steeb as “freshmany” and told me to avoid at all costs.</p>

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<p>Ok so here’s my question: unless I decide to do this John Glenn learning community, I want to live in an Honors dorm on south. Which one would you recommend? My boyfriend says he has no idea. I’m getting the impression that it is totally based on who gets put there and that they are really similar. Is this correct or am I missing something? Unfortunately I need to decide soon on housing.</p>

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<p>@kouklamou92: your boyfriend thought a dorm was too “freshmany”? What did he expect? Is he a sophomore with a superiority complex or something? Look, the fact is that while almost every freshman lives in the dorm, most leave and get a house or apartment their second year. Some decide to stay in the dorms again, but from my experience a lot of people end up regretting not getting out. Anyone that is a junior or senior that still lives in the dorms is lame and is denying themselves the real world experience of being a rent paying adult. Sorry, but every dorm feels “freshmany”. Dorms are in fact for freshman. *sorry, rant over. It’s just unbelievable to me that someone would categorize a dorm in such a way. Maybe I’m missing the actual context.</p>