<p>My son goes to univ of Alabama and he lives it. His freshman dorm was amazing, he lived in a super suite dorm in a single room sharing a bathroom kitchen and living room. It was great. My daughter is a Hs junior and wants the same style of dorm. Do any other schools have dorms like this? My daughter really wants a single and shared living area. She wants to major in international business. Any help is much appreciated.</p>
<p>Some of the dorms at UW-Seattle have this arrangement. One of their older dorms, McMahon, has suite double and single rooms with suitemates sharing living area (with gorgeous view balconies) and shared bath, but no kitchen. Newer Stevens and Mercer have large shared living and full kitchens in each suite, and various permutations of single or double rooms, and private, double, or four-person baths.</p>
<p>However, incoming freshmen are not likely to get a single room, as they are in high demand and returning students have priority on dorm room selection.</p>
<p>Don’t get too hung up on dorm styles. At many schools the students are only there one or two years. It’s fine to include it on list of considerations,… just beware it’s usually not a 4 year factor. </p>
<p>Dorms at UT-Dallas are new and have suites with 3 single bedrooms sharing 1 bathroom/living area. (This is the only type of room setup in all dorms–everyone gets a single bedroom.) UTD has a good international business program/generous merit aid, too.</p>
<p>Second-year at the U. of Denver: Nagel Hall, top two floors. Four single bedrooms share a kitchen, living are, DR table, bathroom.</p>
<p>Having lived in both suites and rooms on a hall, I would recommend rooms on a hall to a freshman any day. Lots of colleges have suites, though sometimes only for upper classmen.</p>
<p>My D2 lived in a double room on a regular hall this year, and is in a suite this year. She liked the hall better… she is not a fan of all of her suitemates, and the noisy ones dominate the common area. Next year she is looking for a single on a hall as a junior, or a double with her same roommate on a hall. Remember as a freshman, she has NO control over her suitemate situation, it could be really good or really bad…</p>
<p>^^^ Some schools do give the students control over the suitemates. My daughter’s does, and she is with 3 others from her team in a freshman village. If you know 3 others you want to live with, you can. It is hard to know 3 others unless you met at an orientation or online or because of sports.</p>
<p>I agree that the suite life is not always so sweet. At DD’s school, it is $1000 more per semester than a room in a traditional dorm, no one cleans the suite, and there is no where to get away from the roommates without going all the way to the library or perhaps going to do your laundry. A full meal plan is still required for all freshmen so no savings there. Since my daughter is with teammates, they are together a LOT. Too much, if you ask me. My daughter has interests outside the team so begs off the family dinners, the shopping trips, the days at the beach, giving herself a break.</p>
<p>My other daughter is in a traditional dorm, with one roommate and a bathroom down the hall. One option at her school is a freshman interest group, where she would have been paired with someone in her major, on a hall with several others from her major, and then that group would have a block of classes together. DD said no, that’s too much time together and she was right. Her major is rather small anyway, so all the freshmen have a number of classes together, and she’s sick of them just from being together all day - she doesn’t want them in her dorm room too. Random roommate is working out, DD also joined a sorority and several other clubs, has two friends from grade school she runs into occasionally, and feels the balance is good. </p>
<p>AND someone cleans her bathroom!</p>
<p>Yes, D1 had a freshman interest group option (it was based around which freshman seminar they picked). Optional to pick that housing grouping, but she did. She said later it worked out really well because a lot of the students who selected it were serious about academics, which helped her find like-minded friends. In fact, quite a few of that group went on to graduate Phi Beta Kappa.</p>
<p>I think I’ve lived in every style of dorm there is at some point in my education, and I agree that for a freshman I’d recommend the dorm on a hall. And I’d add that if said dorm has automatically closing room doors, a brick to hold the door open is an essential accessory.</p>
<p>Door open = open to socializing even if I’m “studying”, please pop your head in anytime
Door closed = studying, leave me alone</p>
<p>I made more friends propping my door open than I did by any other method in college (except maybe joining an extracurricular theater company).</p>
<p>When I lived in suite or apartment style dorms, those were definitely nicer for hosting parties or having a date over, but the hall ruled the school for meeting new people.</p>
<p>DS freshman year had a double with interconnecting bathroom to another bedroom. It was very nice… but he didn’t bump into other students as much as he would have in a traditional bathroom-down-the-hall setting. He did say that many propped their door open, and that helped. </p>
<p>University of South Carolina has a highly rated (often #1) undergrad international business program and also has suites like the one you described. I am not sure whether freshmen can get that type of room though. </p>
<p>Case Western has those for Sophmores (used to be for all years, but now they have freshman dorms)</p>
<p>Many large colleges have private “dorms” that operate like on-campus ones but cost more and give kids more lux surroundings. Here in Texas, there are private dorms adjacent to both the UT and TAMU campuses. Since neither school can house all of their students, it was a niche that the private sector filled. </p>