Just got my housing assignment

iheartarizona · 05-15-2009, 01:37 AM

Hey everyone I just found out I got assigned to Coconino. Wondering if it worth it to try and get reassigned? My choices were all highland ave dorms and pima (i like newer ones lol) so I know those are full. If you know about Coconino I'd love some input/

Kyo*** · 05-17-2009, 06:03 PM

probably not, currently it is very unlikely that you will get reassigned. I am pretty sure that most dorms are almost full by now.

Another_Adam · 05-19-2009, 11:36 PM

Yeah, they're more or less all full according to the site. They've started a wait-list for the dorms, and even that would probably only land you in the larger dorms.

AtomicCafe · 05-20-2009, 09:33 AM

I'd say that, if you're unhappy with your dorm once you get there, THEN let someone know. For the first few weeks, people will be dropping out for various reasons, and that's when the waitlist will start moving. It's inconvienient for everyone involved if a person applies late, wants to switch a dorm to their first choice when it's full, and it turns out there's no problem with the assigned one.

iheartarizona · 05-20-2009, 07:23 PM

okay thanks everyone that really helps! Does anyone happen to know about Coconino specifically because other than the UA site about it I feel like I know nothing. It was built in like the 50s or something so it sounds pretty old. :-) And I'm fine with that as long as it's not disgusting or anything.

LadyZ · 05-24-2009, 09:29 PM

Luckyyyy. I'll be a freshman and I'm from out of state and I didn't get housing =[

Another_Adam · 05-25-2009, 02:10 PM

Have you talked to the school about that? My cousin is OOS and missed the housing deadline, but ended up getting into a school-sponsored apartment type thing. (This was a couple years ago, but still, can't hurt to check what your options are)

LadyZ · 05-25-2009, 03:42 PM

Yea I'm looking into one called College Place. It was on UA's website, so I'm assuming it's an acceptable place to live. Maybe I should call tomorrow. Thanks for the advice. I've never been to AZ and don't know the area at all, so I'm afraid of looking for apartments blindly

UAKid · 07-22-2009, 04:08 AM

I've heard sketchy stories from kids that live in College Place (ie party there every night). From my somewhat cursory searching, most of the near-campus off-campus housing places don't seem very good in quality so it's renter-beware.

But, i've been in Yuma and Yavapai which was built in the 30s and it isn't horrible since most of the places are remodeled every so often. I've also been in villa del puente (which is identical to posado san pedro and pueblo de la cienga), and while it has "modern" rooms and exterior architectures, they aren't that much more special except I did enjoy the abundance of study rooms. The only strange thing i noticed in Yuma was the in-room sink had separate faucets for hot and cold...still wondering how hand washing is supposed to work there

Stephac · 07-22-2009, 07:48 PM

Oh, I'm in yuma. Anything else I should know... other than the odd sink thing? How are the common areas? Which is best Yuma, Yavapai, or posada?

UAKid · 07-23-2009, 06:00 AM

I lived in Babcock Inn (still will be there again next semester), so my info is really just from walking through the places with friends. Another thing I noticed with Yuma is that it has a really really funky smell. I want to say almost like old urine, but that may have just been the area I was in. Yuma, I saw, also has a lot of similar common areas as PSP (posada) like a fairly large game room with pool and ping pong, as well as a "family room" couch area They also had a pretty large study area, with others like it on each floor. Other than that, it appeared to be like your typical dorm (no bathroom experience in these places). Yuma has built-in desks which can be somewhat annoying if you like to move things around (me!) or have your feet out on the other side (me again!).

It's really hard to say which dorms are better than others. The Highland dorms (all the new ones like PSP, VDP, etc) are obviously newer, but it's not like that means each room has a plasma tv in it. I lived in VDP this summer while taking classes and it was OK, but I wasn't blown away compared to Babcock which was a motel acquired by UA in the 70s. Lots of studies rooms and modern furniture in the rooms was nice though (Babcock only has 2 study rooms vs the 12 or so in VDP and really crappy desks). Yavapai seemed to be a pretty good balance of modern in an old building but I was only in there 1 time with a friend grabbing his iPod before we went to do some studying.

Ideally, the dorm decision for me came down to 3 criteria: 1) I didn't want community bathrooms and 2) I didn't want to spend a fortune and 3) The place couldn't have a crazy reputation. Community bathrooms are pretty annoying esp. in places like VDP which don't even have sinks in the rooms. I don't like having to get up, lock the door, and walk 30 feet to brush my teeth when it's 2 AM and I wanna sleep. And I don't need everyone's foot diseases in the shower. And for the third part, some places like Coronado have a rep of being pretty crazy at night.

Stephac · 07-23-2009, 12:27 PM

Ah, got it. Thank you, though. That's more information than I had before.

Just for future ref: Coronado has a crazy rep... any others?

UAKid · 07-23-2009, 03:07 PM

Babcock has the reputation of no one talking to each other (since it's like a motel, the "halls" aren't enclosed and the doors open to the outside).

Graham Greenlee has the reputation of "that dorm where the one girl got stabbed by her roommate" (you can google for the story).

The Highland places, in my opinion, deserve the reputation of housing a ton of foreign kids.

Yavapai I think is considered pretty chill (mixture of crazy and friendly)

Navajo-pinal has the reputation of everyone being woken up at 6 AM by construction right outside their window (since it's under the football stadium and they're building new dorms near there)

Other than those, I surprising haven't heard anything about other places like Pima, Hopi, and Yuma . So I think it's better to have no heard anything about a place you're living.

Stephac · 07-23-2009, 09:07 PM

All good to know, thanks.

AtomicCafe · 07-31-2009, 01:52 PM

I'm in Posada, so I'm biased for it. :P (Granted, still have never been inside of it, no matter how much I've been begging people.)

I've been in Gila and Yuma. They're practically identical and have sinks in the rooms. Rooms are average dorm size (newer dorms have larger rooms) and pretty cosy. I actually really like them, and they have a pretty good location. Of course, they start to stink REALLY bad about two or three weeks into the semester. Bring some sort of scented thingy to get rid of that. Lots of study rooms, but the AC is REALLY loud in them. (Like, deafeningly so if you're in one of the private study rooms.)

To the OP: What kinds of things are you looking for? That would probably help if you want opinions on the best dorm. Location, size, bathrooms, study rooms, parties...?