obinnadaone

I visited the University and Carman was awesome. Go for there.

ccl11

what was so awesome about it?

nogardder

Which dorm should I pick if I want to meet the best looking girls?

Shraf

can anyone say one track mind?

but to answer the question its equally distributed and will be the luck of the draw whether hot ladies end up on your floor....of course whether they will wanna hook up with you is a whole different issue.

Skraylor

if you want a higher concentration of slutty girls go for carman tho. i think that's what you really mean at least.

Xyrus

is furnald really that bad for first-years? i've heard it's the nicest building by far, but nobody there has any friends or what? and how bad/good is john jay as a building, compared to furnald?

Shraf

furnald will afford you the most comfortable living situation...there is a full kitchen in the common area, carpets, clean spacious bathroom (the handicap shower stall is wonderfully large with a removable showerhead). However though, the ameneties do come at a price....you share the floor with only about 25 people...half of whom are sophomores...so you will only be exposed to about 12 freshmen on your floor rather than 40+ on a typical JJ or Carman floor. This is a big deal since making friends out of your floormates is pretty important and will open up your social network or at least give you lots of acquaintances for the rest of your college career. Furnald is also not a party dorm....it is actually one of the quietest dorms on campus and has the feel of a Broadway or River (i.e. an upperclassman hallway style dorm with mostly singles) where most of the people go elsewhere to party or have any fun for that matter. On the other hand the other strictly freshman dorms (JJ and Carman) have alot of social activity going on and many chances to meet people. In my year of living in furnald as a sophomore i didnt see alot of interaction going on between the freshmen on our floor and even less interaction between the freshmen and the sophomores...bottom line if u pick furnald you are trading a slightly more comfortable living condition for a much less amusing social life. Not to mention you will never use the kitchen since you'll have a meal plan!

John jay is a bit run down and dingy in some respects...especially the bathrooms but thats really the only downside....that and the rectangular rooms that makes them feel even smaller than they are. On the up side the floor lounges are nice, the building lounge is also very nice (and has a piano...i dont play but i know alot of ppl do), you dont have to go outside to get to the dining hall (this will be VERY important in the winter), nor do u have to go outside to get to JJ's for a late night meal (fourth meal if you will), the campus views from the higher floors are unparalleled....if you are on a high floor facing campus you will never have a better view again in your undergraduate career at columbia, and finally socially JJ provides the chance to be social and interact with alot of freshman (who are of course most open to interacting and meeting new people) while giving u the option of being able to go back to ur room and be alone if you need to (esp if you happen to have a gf....or random hookups if you so choose).

Xyrus

excellent, thanks very much Shraf

Satina189

How's the closet space in John Jay? Are they about half the size or smaller than the ones in Carman like in http://www.wikicu.com/images/d/d5/CAdoubleclosets.jpg ?

Skraylor

my closet is maybe 3 feet deep by 5 feet wide? something like that.

also, JJ isnt ALL dingy. its really like 1/2 of them are bad, 1/2 arent. like 5 is nice but 6 has like paint peeling off some of its walls.

Shraf

JJ closets are also built into the wall rather than being a standing wooden unit...plus u'd only have half of the closet in the pic cause in carman you'd be sharing your room with someone else. In JJ instead of those drawers next to the closets u get a little stand-alone unit with three drawers.

also u wont really realize the dinginess of the JJ bathrooms until you experience bathrooms in nicer dorms...i used a JJ bathroom last year and it was def alot worse than i remembered because the ones i used since then have been superior....its def not a reason to shy away from JJ though.

Denzera

Much of what Shraf says (except the dining hall / JJ's place) can be said about Carman, too. And there are advantages to Carman that make a good argument for it, like (1) You, your roommate, and your two suitemates are the only ones sharing your bathroom. (2) That bathroom, plus your suite hallway, becomes a de facto storage space, (3) The soundproofing is better because it's actual bricks and mortar between you and next door, not just wallboard, (4) the closets are HUGE, rivaled only by the space you get in a Hogan room if you're a lucky senior.

His impression of Furnald mirrors mine. Freshman year, it was worth the tradeoff to me to get the most social experiences, even at the cost of privacy spring semester when I had a gf. For one thing, living with a roommate is a great life lesson for people. Basically, you'll have 3 other years to get peace and quiet and privacy, but freshman year, exploring your new world should take priority imho.

Shraf

i'm gonna have to disagree with that since approx 200 sophomores end up in singles and the other 1100 end up in doubles. Also exploring your new world can mean different things to different people. For example it was very new to me to have a room of my own. My whole life i had shared a room with my older brother...he even lived at home when he went to college....so it was def very new to me to have my own room and everything that comes with it...including doing whatever with whoever whenever i wanted (if you catch my drift)

Xyrus

ok, just one more thing, when you say the soundproofing isn't so good in john jay...how bad is "not good"? is it never quiet even when you're in your room? will i be able to fall asleep without earplugs?

Skraylor

hearing things between walls is hard. the only time sleeping becomes a problem is if people are right outside your door. that is where most of the sound leakage comes in.

but really, if people are outside you just have to ask them to move, its not a big deal. also, its kind of funny because you can hear arguments in the hallways thru doors so you have to watch what you yell to, say, someone on the phone = )