<p>I am most likely going to UNC-CH next year and I'm overwhelmed with the housing options. From what I've heard about South Campus, I definitely want to live there. I want the true freshman experience and that seems to be where to find it. I also want to do potluck because I don't want the responsibility of finding the perfect roomate. I'd rather leave it to chance. Now I just have to decide which specific dorms to put on my application. Does it really matter? What are the differences among them all? Pros/Cons of each? I would appreciate any input, preferably from current students. Thanks!</p>
<p>Me 2. I have a question. I want to live in a suite...what dorms will they be...</p>
<p>Here's the skinny on South Campus: it includes Ehringhaus, Ehringhaus South, Hinton James, Horton, Craige, Craige North, Morrison, and Hardin. Horton, Hardin, Ehringhaus South and Craige North are all the same in terms of format and room structure. The other four are all high-rises, but they differ slightly more from each other, especially Morrison. Note that the suites in the high-rises consist of a suite hallway surrounded by four rooms of two people, which ends at one end in an outdoor hallway and at the other in a bathroom. The "suites" for buildings like Horton consist of two rooms, each connecting to the dorm hallway, with a shared bathroom between them.</p>
<p>The high-rises (minus Morrison):
+ very sociable atmosphere, suite-style and outdoor halls encourage socializing
+ suite-style bathroom setup gives you better access to bathrooms while still not having to clean them yourself
+ relatively large rooms in terms of square footage
- on South Campus; therefore, relatively far from classes/Franklin/etc.
- only about one quarter of rooms have A/C
- relatively ugly interiors; cinderblock walls and ugly tile floors</p>
<p>The non-high-rises:
+ A/C throughout
+ very easy bathroom access (one bathroom/four people)
+ somewhat prettier rooms/buildings
+ still large rooms
- less social atmosphere, closer to North Campus in this respect
- still far from North Campus in terms of distance
- have to clean your own bathroom</p>
<p>Morrison:
+ A/C throughout the building
+ fancy, redone interior (renovated last year)
+ relatively close to North Campus, compared to the rest of South Campus
+ social atmosphere, bathroom setup, room size of the other high-rises
+ "super suite" option
- limited availability (chances are, you won't get placed there)
- still somewhat far from North Campus</p>
<p>Super suites, in Morrison, are basically the same as normal suites, except that one of the four rooms is instead a lounge area, making the suite somewhat more like an apartment with three bedrooms of two people each. You do have to apply for them separately, and I think those are hard to get without having people in mind already, but I'm not sure.</p>
<p>So, those are the three general groupings. However, these differ from each other in location, obviously. Listed in order of convenience, from most to least:
Morrison, Hardin, Ehringhaus, Ehringhaus South, Craige North, Craige, Horton, Hinton James.
(a sidenote from gattican's girlfriend: you don't want to live in Craige unless you hate meeting other people and love walking uphill even more than everybody else). </p>
<p>An interesting aside: if this leads you to conclude that Hinton James is the least desirable dorm on South Campus, you agree with most people. Interestingly, this does result in many people having singles there, because so few people actually want to live there. So if you're a gambling sort and you want a single, you could go for it specifically. Also, Hinton James is probably the only place you will end up if you specifically request several suitemates. </p>
<p>In my opinion, Morrison is definitely the best option, but your chances of actually getting it are slim, due to competition from sophomores, etc. Beyond that, it comes down to philosophical differences among the different dorms of the two types. I'd recommend Ehringhaus among the high-rises and Hardin for the others, mainly just because of location, though Ehringhaus is also more sociable than, say, Craige.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, just ask.</p>
<p>Hey does anybody know whether the housing website virtual tours are working? Or is my computer just screwed up? I tried to do the virtual tour but it keeps on saying error or something.</p>
<p>Hopefully, I get errors with those quicktime tours. I don't know about you, but I'm using firefox. They make firefox crash the first time I try to open them, but when I reload the site and try again, they work. It's strange!</p>
<p>And gattican, thanks for the in-depth break down of the residence halls! I've already sent in my housing forms & I'm super excited to see where I end up.</p>