Did you (or your kid) pick a dorm based upon location, proximity to food, classes, gym, single v double, or other reason? For the class of '21, which dorms do you hope to get? If you are already a student, what were your top 3 choices and where did you end up?
My D 1. Max P 2. North 3. BJ location location location, and no communal bathrooms.
BJ has communal bathrooms.
Mine chose in this order: North, BJ, and South. Decision was based upon whether he liked the feel of the buildings, and proximity to food. 
He avoided Max because that’s where he had the bad experience with folks partying. Not saying it’s logical, but that’s how he chose.
Personal preference can’t be debated, but I should say communal bathrooms haven’t been a big issue (BJ resident here). These are within 50 feet or less of most rooms, so with a bathrobe and flip-flops the walk isn’t an issue. Each house can vote to gender two bathrooms at the start of the year (if anyone votes yes, we get gendered bathrooms on the first floor - where most first-years end up living). This was my first experience with communal bathrooms - ever - and I barely gave it a thought after O-Week.
In response to Sam-I-Am’s question, I chose BJ for 3 reasons:
- House culture: BJ houses are fairly close, and mostly live up to the quirky UChicago stereotype (though Snitchcock is in a class of its own). That culture was one reason I chose UChicago, so I wanted a dorm where it was alive and well. Which it still is, in most dorms, but North and Max P seem more mainstream. South is a middle ground of sorts, and I don't know where I'd rank Stony Island or I-House.
- Location: BJ is close to Woodlawn, which has one of the South Side's strongest communities of activists. As a policy/politics person, this appealed to me. As a social science major, I expected (rightly) lots of classes on the south face of the quad, which is just across the Midway. BJ is also close to Cathey (IMHO the best dining hall, though Baker is a close second) and Midway Mart (good for midnight snack runs).
- Singles: BJ and Snitchcock offer lots of singles, and since room&board rates are the same for all first-years the extra cost is minimal.
For that matter, I thought all dorms except MaxP and Stonybrook had communal bathrooms, no?
I believe North has some apartment-style rooms as well, but don’t quote me on that.
Stonybrook doesn’t have communal bathrooms, but walking from Long Island to get to class isn’t much fun in the winter. I’ll take the Midway. 
North and South both have apartments.
Originally D fell in love with Stonybrook because of its space and bathrooms, and that lasted up until I saw its distance from campus and explained how much she would be walking for food and classes during the Chicago winters.
Now her top pick is MaxP.
It’s Stony Island, not Stonybrook.
North, Max P, South - requested a single as well. He put his deposit in prior to ED II release so he has his fingers crossed it was early enough for a single.
He really like North and Max P from his overnights as well as proximity to Ratner and Baker.
Pretty sure D will get MaxP since it fairly large and I was only talking about MaxP for communal bathrooms.
Thanks for the info, all above! Will a UChicago ID get a student through the door of any dorm at the university? Or does a student need a local escort to visit a dorm other than their own?
@Sam-I-Am you have to be signed into other dorms.
D17’s order: Snitch, BJ, North. Her main goal is decent and accessible dorm food.
@HS, signed in by a resident or the UChicago student just signs a book?
@Sam-I-Am a resident has to sign you in
Looks like she’s going North, Max P., South. She’s going science, so she wants to be on the north side of campus, but Snitchcock sounds a little too intensely “UChicago stereotype” for her.
Shame Chicago tore down Woodward Court. Gave you a feel what a minimum security prison must be like! (And my favorite rooms were called “coffin singles”. Someone once pointed out that prisoners did get more space!).