Please describe freshman quad housing.
- In the freshmen quad, often there are two smaller rooms sharing a private common room. Are the two smaller rooms most often both doubles (i.e., 4 students share the common room and sleep 2 in each small room), a double and a single (i.e., 3 students share the common room), or both singles (i.e., 2 students share the common room), or any other scenario I did not name?
- In the freshman quad, are bathrooms usually single sex or co-ed or a mix? What about in Mission Park?
(Fun History Fact: When I went to Williams back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, during my first year I lived in Lehman West, which used to be a freshman dorm. Mission Park was housing for upperclassmen. I had a three room triple-- two students in a double and one student in a single all shared a large and beautiful common room, with a working fireplace.)
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Not sure how relevant this is, but my kid did a summer camp at Williams. There were 2 very small doubles (bunk beds) that shared a common room. Bathroom was shared with several more rooms and was single sex. Nice to have the common room, but the dorm room was tiny, with very little storage and very little head room for top bunk. Bathroom was good though
Bathrooms in Mission Park are usually not coed. I’m not sure about bathrooms in Frosh Quad…and as for the room situation, it could be any of the situations you mentioned. FQ, in general, has an almost even split between doubles and singles IIRC
Not sure that first years still live in the Frosh Quad. My son lived there twice, once as a first year and once as a Junior Advisor, both times in a single in Willy C. The entries were arranged vertically, with two rooms per floor. My son’s floor had one tiny double with bunk beds and one even tinier single. The double and single shared a fairly large common room.
Mission is newer and larger. I believe all the rooms are singles. The common rooms are shared by several rooms.
All the bathrooms were co-ed at the time.
Thank you all for the details!
D is currently a first year in Sage (on the quad). She is in a double and shares a common room with a single. It seems like this is the most common arrangement. They share their bathroom with the guys next door, so 3 girls and 3 guys share the bathroom. I wondered about this but D assures me that it’s been just fine. It’s a small, nice bathroom, and only one person is in there at a time anyway. Entries are arranged vertically, typically with 2 floors of guys and 2 floors of girls. The bathrooms are shared between entries, hence sometimes coed and sometimes single sex.
The common rooms are a life saver as the dorm room itself is pretty small. They were able to unbunk their beds by moving their desks out to their common room. It also gives them a window on each side of the building for a cross breeze in warmer weather. The JA’s common room serves as the entry common room.
D likes the location of the quad. She says it’s very convenient and centrally located.
You can check out the floor plans on the Williams website. Rooms with 2 closets are doubles. https://student-life.williams.edu/student-housing/first-year-residence-halls/
Love that your common room had a working fireplace!
D is currently a first year in Sage (on the Quad). She is in a double and shares a common room with a single. I believe this is the most common arrangement. They share their bathroom with 3 guys in the suite next door. I wondered about this but she tells me it’s just fine. It’s a small, nice bathroom and really only one person is in there at a time anyway. The entries are arranged vertically, typically with 2 floors girls and 2 floors guys. Sometimes the bathrooms are coed and sometimes single sex.
The common rooms are a life saver as the dorm rooms are small. D and her roommate were able to unbunk their beds by moving their desks out to their common room. It also allows them to open windows on both sides of the building for a cross breeze. The JA’s common room serves as the entry common room.
D likes living in the Quad - she says it’s convenient and centrally located.
You can check out the dorm floor plans on the Williams website: https://student-life.williams.edu/student-housing/first-year-residence-halls
Love that your common room had a working fireplace!
Frosh Quad is about half singles half doubles, entries arranged vertically, floors all coed. Technically, the bathrooms SHOULD be single-gender for the first years, but that rule has been bent a bit recently for logistical purposes. The location of the quad is probably its biggest advantage over Mission - frosh quad is basically in the center of campus while Mission is over in one corner (although the walk between the two is like three minutes, so how much of a difference can there really be?) The rooms are tiny in frosh quad, something like 70 square feet at times. Mission’s rooms are all 98 square feet, which is a significant upgrade. The big advantage of Mission, besides the larger rooms and almost-all singles, is that there’s a dining hall INSIDE the building that is a true life saver over Winter Study. Everyone who lives in Mission says it’s vastly superior, and everyone who lives in Frosh Quad says it’s a no-brainer that Frosh Quad is better. In reality, they’re both good options, and the bigger decision is whether you want a single or are fine with a double. If you KNOW you want a single, pick Mission. If you KNOW you want a double, pick Frosh Quad. If you don’t care or aren’t sure, then put whatever.
@jersey454- thanks. Do you get to indicate whether you would prefer Frosh Quad or Mission?
@TheGreyKing Yes, on the housing questionnaire you can indicate dorm preference (Frosh Quad or Mission) as well as single or double. D didn’t have a dorm preference, but indicated she preferred a single. She ended up in a double in the quad, so the preferences are not always honored.
Dorm preferences on the questionnaire probably don’t matter at all, I indicated double in frosh quad but got single in mission. Others I know indicated single in frosh quad but got double in mission (yes, mission doubles do exist)
My kid requested a single in Mission (which has tons of singles), and he got a single.