I will be a freshman next yr, so I'm looking for a dorm that is geared more for freshman than upperclassmen. I know there is a huge 'UT Dorms' thread here, but things are just all over the place there, and I have some personal preferences, such as:
-brighter lighting
-not too loud or crazy, but still sociable
-private or connected bath
-freshmen-oriented (as in a dorm that houses alot of the freshmen, as opposed to upperclassmen)
I don't know if you're a guy or girl, but if you're a girl - go for Littlefield! It's all freshman girls. It's really homey here. It's pretty laid back and sociable here. We have traditions.
Unless you're looking for co-eds dorms and/or are a guy. Dobie - yeah its nice there or so I've heard. For a freshman guy, I'm not sure what'd be best; perhaps Duren.
The only dorms with private/connecting dorms are Jester, Kinsolving (female only), San Jacinto, and Duren.
Duren has a lot of upperclassmen and a reputation of being a little less social, so you probably wouldn't like it.
Jester is the "social" dorm, but because of that, it can be loud/crazy at times. Honestly, it just depends on what floor you end up on and who your neighbors are - it's a bit of a crapshoot.
From what I've seen of it, Kinsolving is pretty nice. It seems like a slightly more chill version of Jester, so it's probably your best bet if you're female. It also has the best cafeteria on-campus.
If you're male, I'd say go with San Jacinto. All the rooms have private bathrooms, the building itself is really nice, and it's in a good location. The only downside is that it's one of the pricier dorms.
Edit:
Oh, and like other people have mentioned, there's also a few off-campus dorms you might want to check out. I don't know anything about them, though.
Last edited by classywire; 11-30-2010 at 11:38 AM.
^ everything classywire said is very true. San Jacinto seems to fit your description pretty well so long as you don't mind paying the extra ~1-2 grand over other dorms
I actually would prefer to stay in an on-campus dorm because I want to meet more people and be closer to my classes since it's my freshman year and everything will be new. And no, I'm not a girl, so Kinsolving is not an option for me. I've loosely narrowed it down to San Jacinto and Jester. So San Jacinto is obviously the better (yet pricier) one, right? But I've also heard that there are several remodeled rooms in Jester that are almost as good as San Jac rooms but much cheaper.
if you can get in, the honors dorms are great! i live in blanton and while it doesn't fit the connecting/private bathroom criteria (trust me, it's not a big deal!! i thought i would HATE it, but i'm actually fine with it now and i like not having to clean), it does all the others. it's very social and most people here seem very friendly and nice. plus, it's in a pretty good location - but really location doesn't matter, especially if your classes are spread all over campus like mine. i have class as close as the grg building and as far away as the social work building. haha
Does living in the honors dorm make you feel isolated at all from the other freshmen on campus who aren't in honors? That's kinda the feeling I have toward honors dorms, but maybe I'm completely wrong.
There are a few remolded rooms in Jester East, but not very many. You don't get to choose which room you get, so the chances of you getting one aren't very likely.
I live in the quad too and I don't feel isolated. I mean, think about it - if you live in Jester, you're probably not going to interact with that many people outside of Jester that aren't in your classes, same with San Jac, Duren, etc... While the quad isn't exactly the "hub" of campus activity that Jester is, there are hundreds of people out here - and anyway, if you really want to make friends on the other side of campus then just hang out there.
I live in the Quad and being in Honors, I do like being surrounded by many of my classmates, so it's great for me. I think that, save for Jester, most dorms aren't really that more sociable than the Quad. Also, if you aren't in Honors, then it's another cool way to meet people you wouldn't have otherwise and we have a bunch of random stuff all the time that a number of people actually participate in.
And the community bathrooms really aren't a big deal in the Quad. I pretty much died inside everytime I had to use a bathroom (even the private ones) at Jester because they are just really old, but the ones in the Quad are never busy, cleaned on a super regular basis and are nice. Only when I'm too lazy to walk ten steps do I wish I had a private bathroom.
Also, San Jac and Duren both feel pretty isolated location-wise, just because they are newer so are built on the corners of campus, but if you don't mind an extra few minute walk and the extra cost, then those are totally awesome, too.
i'm staying in jester right now and plenty of people make good friends from their hall mates. the honors quad may be just as sociable but you definitely won't be finding the same kind of crowd as you would in jester. as far as landing a remodeled room in jester, you have to land in Jester East first, then hit the right floors (i think there are 3 or 4 of them out of 14) so you shouldn't bet on it.
but what major are you? walking distance to class is a decent factor to account for
Jester's great for a social life because it's HUGE. I live there now and although I frequently refer to my room as a prison cell, it's really not so bad. Just don't move in and expect anything fancy - we usually have to file a maintenance request every month or so because nothing works right. However, on the bright side, I've met a LOT of great people that I wouldn't have met if I hadn't lived here!
Also, there's no hope for you getting a remodeled room - unless you're one of the athletes here on scholarship. Case McCoy lives on the fifth floor in Jester East - one of the remodeled ones. Eventually the whole place is supposed to be remodeled eventually, but there's no telling when that will happen.
