<p>I am a freshman majoring in Engineering.I wanted to know whether Jester West or Brackenridge is a better dorm ? Which of them has a more friendly environment ? Which has better food?</p>
<p>Brackenridge has no dining halls or restaurants within the dormitories. You’ll have to walk over to Jester or San Jacinto if you want a bite to eat. Brackenridge is a smaller dormitory and usually associated with upperclassmen. Jester is usually a more social dorm, housing around 2K residents. Brackenridge does have a kitchenette that you’re able to use, Jester lacks that. Jester does however have many different places to eat.</p>
<p>They’re both going to provide you basically the same amenities room-wise.</p>
<p>Isn’t food free in dorms ?</p>
<p>No. You get 1400 “dine in dollars” that can be spent in all of the various dining facilities around campus. The all you can eat places are the cheapest and where those dollars are technically supposed to be used, but you can always spend them at a more a-la-carte place with different varieties of food. Check out the DHFS website for more information.</p>
<p>also, the $1400 dine in dollars are part of the UT fee, so it’s coming out of your wallet.</p>
<p>Whoa, kid. You were born in 1992? God I’m getting old.</p>
<p>I think you need to research UT better, if you think that the food there is free. Not mocking, just trying to give you a reality check. Have you toured the campus yet? Looked at the utexas.edu website?</p>
<p>Actually I am an international. Is it $ 1400 per year or semester ?
Can you also tell me more about the 2 Dorms.</p>
<p>I know this is long, but this thread has everything you want to know about those dorms: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/569910-university-texas-dorms.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/569910-university-texas-dorms.html</a></p>
<p>This one is shorter and started by our lovely, but lazy Hookemhorns0: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/967597-dormitory-background-information.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/967597-dormitory-background-information.html</a></p>
<p>And to answer your short question it is $1400 for the school year (End of August to middle of May). If you do not use it all, it rollovers to the next semester you’re enrolled.</p>
<p>But for an international freshman ,what do you suggest ? I am majoring in Engineering, so I guess I will need my quiet time . They say Jester is real noisy ?
and do I need to buy a printer ? Or Does the university provide it for free ?
vacheespagnole, thanks for helping me out .</p>
<p>you can survive without a printer since you can print for free depending on what classes you take (if you’re taking chem classes, you can have 150(i think?) prints for free). add in the other free prints from other buildings, and you’ll be set. especially for engineering majors who have less typed papers to worry about.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Jester overall is noisier, but only in the public areas where everyone are. In your own room, quietness depends on your neighbors, and noisy neighbors exist in every dorm. But from my experience living in Jester last year, it really decently quiet on my floor.</p>
<p>I would suggest purchasing a printer if you already feel like you print a lot at home. Sometimes people don’t do that and the printer tends to be a waste of space in their dorm. The printer is useful if you’ll be up at 2 or 3AM still working on some last-minute fixes to a paper and are unable to just go to the library.</p>
<p>Even if you can’t get free prints, the university has a printing system and it charges you per sheet. I think it’s like .06 or .08 cents per sheet.</p>
<p>Your dorm being “quiet” is all going to depend on who’s around you. You may be on a floor that’s really quiet, or you may be on a floor that has a lot going on (noisy). It’s just all a matter of your neighbors. If you’re studying at odd times of the day, you’ll probably have to make-do with the noise, but if you’re studying when the library is open, you can always go there. There are also study lounges in the dorms.</p>
<p>As I recall from the past semester, the FAC is open 24 hours a day for your studying needs.</p>
<p>Also, if you want free printing, you can get it at Dobie in their computer lab. However, free printing is restricted to students who live in Dobie. I have never seen this rule enforced, though.</p>