patrook

Two questions regarding housing.

When do we get a housing application?

and...

For current students, which housing do you suggest for freshmen? (especially one from Southern California who is not really adjusted for Baltimore weather, and also wants a fairly social dorm)


EDIT: nevermind...got the first question answered already. but please post advice on the second question!

Phead128

AMR II. From what I've seen, in Wolman Housing, you get really really close with the people on your floor. Occasionally, you will have some people from other floors come down and join. In AMRs, there are less separatation in Wolman. In Wolman, you are gated between the buildings, between the two halfs of the floor, and in between the suites, and inbetween the rooms. A lot of separation. Too many doors, not as high social contact than you would experience in AMRs.

AdmissionsDaniel

patrook:
Are you part of the Johns Hopkins Class of 2012 Facebook Group? If you are enrolling freshmen, you should be. There is a ton of information about housing there including the opinions of over 20 current students. I'd also suggest these Hopkins forums threads:

Hopkins Forums -> Housing
AND
Hopkins Forums -> HOUSING
AND
Hopkins Forums -> Housing Information

Hopkins CRIBS should also help:
Hopkins Interactive >> @Hopkins >> Hopkins Cribs

patrook

thanks for you help!!

patrook

I mailed my housing app but it apparently did not reach them by today. will I prolly be placed in a triple room?

MasterMargarita

I know of like 1 person who was in a triple. So no.

YanksDolphins

Usually, you won't be placed in a triple unless you ask for one. The people who typically get triples are those who want want because it is cheaper.

tanman

It depends on the size of the incoming class. I haven't heard anything about how much (if at all) they've "overenrolled" this year. My freshman year, they overenrolled quite a bit, so a lot of the suites in Building A (mine included) started off with one triple. More than half of them were quickly detripled within a week or two as space opened up elsewhere, and some groups decided to stay in their triple because they really liked their roommates.

DorkAlert

hey people..to hijack this post...

I'm a transfer (Junior), what kind of housing should I look for? How do I go about this? I'm coming from a small LAC in middleofnowheresville so I have no clue what I'm doing.

AdmissionsDaniel

To add to the posts about triples:
The Class of 2012 will not be over-enrolled, therefore the number of triples will be minimal and probably only go to those students who requested a triple.

For DorkAlert:
I'd suggest posting your question about Off-campus housing for transfer students to the Transfer Exchange section of the Hopkins Forums:
Board Message

You are more likely to get an answer there from current Hopkins students who went through the transfer process in the past and can provide you with ample advice and resources.

tanman

AdmissionsDaniel, do we have an official final class size (minus the summer melt)?

patrook

thanks so much for the responses guys!!

triples seem pretty fun, but looked kinda cramped, so i really wanted a double. thanks again!

yanksyanks123

Housing is a tough choice, but as a rising soph. I can honestly say each choice has pros/cons.

Wolman - I lived in Wolman. The standard of living is very high (own kitchen, bathroom, larger rooms, AC - big plus in sept. and oct.) and you have a mailroom and some cardio machines in your building. You are also adjacent to charles street market. There are two major cons with wolman however. First is that it is far away from Cafeteria/rec center/other freshman dorms. Second is that Wolman is not very social for the most part (different floors seemed to have different levels of interaction) Wolman is where most athletes are housed, and you could very well end up in a suite where you have a roomate, and then both your suitemates are on a sports team, which happened for us. They were nice kids, but they only hung out with kids on their team and lived pretty crazy lifestyles. There is a stigma at Hopkins that athletes tend to mostly hang out with the other athletes, and most athletes live in Wolman. Wolman is also quieter, and I never needed to go to the library as I could easily study in my room.

A/B - A and B are very nice, but the room sizes vary greatly. My friend lived in a double which was HUGE, and his suitemate lived in the largest, nicest single I've ever seen. There is also a group of people I know in B who lived in a triple in a room which is smaller than my single for next year. But these buildings tend to foster a lot of floor unity, and they are very close (right on top of the cafeteria) to the rec center and freshman quad.

AMR - AMR is hit or miss. AMR is divided into roughly 20 houses, and you have a lot of interaction with the members of your house. Some houses I would've loved to have been in, whereas there were others I know I would've hated and been miserable in. This system has pro's and con's. Pros are that if you are not to social but want to open up more, you will automatically have a group of people to hang out with. Cons are that if you like doing things on your own schedule (like me) you may get pulled into doing things on a schedule you don't want to do.

One major difference between Wolman and A/B/AMR is that in Wolman you have a common room, but you are behind two doors to get to your room (suite door and room door) and so it just gives the feeling of being mroe partitioned off. A/B/AMR have hallways, which make floor interaction much easier. If you are somemone who makes friends easily, Wolman is probably your best option. If not, I'd go with A/B/AMR in that order. I just think the standard of living is much nicer in A/B than Amr.

Piece of advice - Do not live in vacation housing unless you absolutely have to. Most of these students are foreigners who tend to be very cliquish (i.e. - all the turkish students only speak with each other in turkish) and as someone who almost chose vacation housing I am unbelievably happy that I didn't.

yoed54

What is vacation housing?

tanman

Vacation Housing is a floor in Wolman (normally) that doesn't close during Thanksgiving or Spring Break. All other dorms shut down over these breaks since most people return home, but people from far away can't really return home for a 4-day Thanksgiving break. More info here