Why Bowles is better than Units

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Despite all the poo-throwing on CC about how bowls sucks and how units are the best, I beg to differ. I'll make this short and simple. Here are the reasons why Bowles >>> units</p>

<p>1. Quad rooms. (Shared common area for studying and 2 adjoining small rooms with bunked beds.)</p>

<p>Remember at CalSo where you saw those cramped double and especially triple units dorms? well, a dorm at Bowles is three times bigger than a Unit dorm * And * it has interior lockable doors for more privacy.
picture: <a href="http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/images/bowles_quad.gif%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/images/bowles_quad.gif&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So every time you need to change your underwear, you can just go in the room, lock the door and do your thing. But in the Units, you have to kick your roommate out of the room and make sure he doesn't open the door before you're done. </p>

<p>Or I guess you can try changing in bed. But that would look pretty weird..</p>

<p>"Well just tell your roommate to turn the other way" you say.
Oh Really? Would you like it if I told you to turn your face into a wall and count to 30 (more time for girls?) every day?</p>

<p>"hurp-a-durp durp you do the same thing in bowles"
Look again at the room plan. Tables and beds are in separate rooms. That means when your roommate studies in the other room and you never have to bother him/her !! :)</p>

<p>Also bathrooms are semi-private too. You don't share with a whole floor.</p>

<p>2. Rooms with extra long twin beds, desks, dressers, mirrors, shelving, and closets.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure Units had no extra long twin beds or mirrors. </p>

<p>3. Library, TV lounge, and recreation room.</p>

<p>private library :D:D:D:D:D
no need to stay late in a campus library and risk getting mugged late at night.</p>

<p>4. super close to engineering building
I'm lazy. </p>

<p>5. downhill walk to class
a lot of advantages here. You can get up a bit later than usual.</p>

<p>*6. There's a bus stop right beside it *</p>

<p>There's a lot more advantages but I'm getting bored right now so...i'll add later</p>

<p>How the *$%^ does Lucyan write so much</p>

2

<p>Counterpoints:
I believe all dorm beds are Twin XL
Girls. (Which as a STEM major is nice to have outside of class)</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>I’ll agree with you here. The rooms are definitely bigger. My roommates and I just stayed in the room when we were changing our underwear though. Shouldn’t you be used to seeing other people naked by the time you get to college?</p></li>
<li><p>All of the dorms have extra long twin beds. There are 2-3 full length mirrors per room in Unit 3 (depending on number of occupants). Units 1 and 2 get a half sized mirror, but it’s really not that hard to buy a full length mirror for $5 at Target.</p></li>
<li><p>There are central buildings within all the units with designated quiet areas to study at. The Units also all have a main lounge with a TV, as well as lounges on every other floor to study/hang out at.</p></li>
<li><p>Not everyone’s an engineer.</p></li>
<li><p>Not everyone’s classes are uphill.</p></li>
<li><p>There are 1-2 bus stops next to each of the Units as well.</p></li>
</ol>

4

<p>Your points are all trivial ones that depend on person to person. In the end, the main points you listed for Bowles are negated by the inconvenience of being uphill, far from Durant where most people eat, and the fact people might have class across campus. The library isn’t usually good for studying because of loud noises from the nearby recreational room. I will add to your list by mentioning the dungeon, which is an almost-decent weight room. But again, this is countered by the fact that Bowles is so darn far from the RSF.</p>

<p>The CC opinion of Bowles seems to be polarized. Most negative, but there are the overly positive ones from those who loved it.</p>

<p>I lived there, and I met the people who loved it. For those who participate, a community forms between playing D&D and watching movies and other things with Stern girls.</p>

<p>But if you don’t do those things, like me, you’re stuck just knowing a few people. </p>

<p>Now onto the negative points. Honestly, Bowles, for me was just filthy. Disgusting. Everywhere. Seriously, I feel bad for the cleaning staff who are undoubtedly underpaid to clean that place. Part of this problem has to do with vandalism among other things. The sinks I used alternated between being fixed or being clogged. One day, it’s clogged so you call maintenance. Three days later they fix it, but then that afternoon it’s clogged again. Like ***?
Then there’s people who throw their trash in bathroom trashcans. Food rots. Rotting food is repulsive.</p>

<p>The facilities just suck. I don’t have to go into this. Everything is so old and inconvenient.</p>

<p>Finally, I didn’t think this would be a problem, but Bowles also has poor security. The monitor never checks ID and can only monitor one door. One of the door doesn’t close lal the way half the time. This problem culminated with someone breaking into my room last year and stealing my stuff. The lock on the door old, but no one bothered to fix it. It turned out you just have to slide your ID card under it to unlock it. We reported the break-in after the theft but it took maintenance almost a week to fix it. Like wow. No way I will ever go back.</p>

5

<p>@BerkeleyHopeful</p>

<p>It’s pretty ironic you call my points “trivial” then proceed to list your own “trivial” points. It’s all opinion at the end of the day.</p>

<p>I don’t care where I get my food. I have been eating oatmeal, milk, and eggs 99% of the time for breakfast FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE. And the food my parents make is mostly disgusting.</p>

<p>I am so used to living in disgusting places with rotten food and clogged sinks. You might not believe me, but no one in my family cleans until we really really have to. Also, guess what color our house’s floor is? It’s Gray! Solid Concrete. </p>

<p>What do you mean by the facilities are old? can’t you just buy a mini fridge, microwave, water boiler, etc?</p>

<p>On a side note, people still play D&D? isn’t that board game, like, 90 years old?
And aren’t you supposed to socialize to make friends lol? You can’t just wait in your room.</p>

<p>Oh and I’m curious- what did they steal? the thieves probably stole from everyone right? not just you?</p>

<p>@Aneeexp
There is no point going to berkeley if one is going to pursue a major other than engineering, math, economics, CS, and Science related majors.</p>

<p>I mean, if someone is going to be an psychology major, it’s just better going to a cheaper school</p>

6

<p>@dragoon</p>

<p>It’s all opinion at the end of the day.</p>

<p>…yes, but BerkeleyHopeful’s opinion comes from actually living there, where as yours does not. </p>

<p>This thread is pretty silly anyway. Housing is pretty much what you make of it, it’s awesome that you are going into your housing with such a positive attitude, but to say that Bowles is better than the Units without having experience in either one doesn’t make much sense.</p>

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<p>Well BerkeleyHopeful has lived there. I wouldn’t take his opinion as hearsay… I’ve visited Bowles several times and the walking uphill part is such a big hassle… Although the room is bigger, I think it’s much dirtier than the units (and do remember you’re paying more for Bowles; hence the bigger size). </p>

<p>It seems like Bowles was not managed that well and everything just go downhill from there. People who come in there don’t care at all about Bowles, so it’s pretty worn down (restrooms, hall way). Regarding security… it is like what BerkeleyHopeful said… we literally walked into the building and the security monitor just looked at us then looked back down to her laptop. It was so hilarious.</p>

<p>Again, I think you’ll enjoy Bowles if you’re entering it with a positive attitude.</p>

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<p>i lived in bowles my freshman year</p>

<p>aaaah all the fond memories… :)</p>

<p>jk lol it was ****</p>

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<p>^Lol (10 chars). </p>

<p>edit… lol I got warned for using asterisks… really? -face palm-</p>

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<p>when you guys talk about bowles, does it go same for foothill (which i am going to live in next year) :(</p>

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<p>@Dragoon
Yes, I will admit some my points are also trivial and their worth are totally incalculable. For example, pessimists might see the walk up hill as being tiring and a hassle while optimists might see it as a chance for exercise. As long as you can afford it and it’s safe and healthy, how much you like your housing is simply your attitude. But as I said, Bowles isn’t totally safe or healthy. The restrooms are simply filthy and if you even as drop your toothbrush on the ground, you’re putting yourself in danger of an infection. And again, I don’t find it to be as safe as the units where the doors actually LOCK and people actually MONITOR the entrances.</p>

<p>To answer your question, they stole all our electronic devices in the dead of night while we were asleep.</p>

<p>What does the age of D&D have to do with anything? I wasn’t implying that it’s uncool to play it, but merely that the Bowles’ community caters toward a specific personality that I didn’t have. Yes, you can certainly meet your Bowlesmen during the serenade, but I thought it was superficial and got old quick. Ultimately, I made my closest friends outside the doors in clubs and classes.</p>

<p>I just want to emphasize that if you made this thread because you truly are passionate about Bowles, then that’s all great. But remember that not everyone share’s your perspective, whereas I attempted to give a perspective that I find is more relevant on to the <em>average</em> incoming freshman who might be misled by your points.</p>

12

<p>@berkeley hopeful</p>

<p>I made this thread only because I got really tired of being asked if i was going to enjoy the sausage fest…</p>

<p>Seriously how am I going to reply to that??
-yes?
-no?
-maybe?
-0.o w Tf?!</p>

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<p>@icecream: Well you need to walk uphill for Foothill as well… but it’s much easier since the walk is gradual vs Bowles where suddenly there’s a giant hill lol.</p>

<p>Distance wise, Foothill is a bit closer to buildings such as Pimentel, Evans, Soda Hall, etc… Bowles is closer to Haas if I recall correctly. On top of that, Foothill (the dining common) is located much closer to Foothill than Bowles.</p>

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<p>Found some past posts about Bowles in the search function from previous years. 99% had positive reviews and the only people that gave a bad review were the people that lived in the units instead.</p>

<p>During Calso I was kind of panicky/ claustrophobic because the Unit doubles were really small. Now that I think about it, I’d be better in a bigger environment.</p>

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<p>Psychology graduates do better in the job market than those of the most popular undergraduate science major, molecular and cell biology (which is the most popular undergraduate major at Berkeley):</p>

<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Psych.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Psych.stm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MCB.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MCB.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;