re air conditioning. Buildings in Seattle are typically NOT air conditioned. When son did a math REU at that UW the summer it was over 100 degrees they finally moved to the only air conditioned academic building on campus- the computer science building. When he moved there to work his first apartment was an upscale new apartment highrise- built without air conditioning. Definitely geographic. more important up north is the heating system.
UW-Madison’s Ogg Hall was always a bad dorm building, despite being a lot newer than many of the dorms- it needed to be torn down. They replaced it with a new building a block away and kept the name recently.
Forty years ago we had a phone in each dorm room, local service included. When son was at the same school just a few years ago the phones were still there but service had to be independently contracted for. Now there are no phones at all. In my mother’s day there were phone niches in the hallways- still there but empty now. Unfortunately the hills and brick buildings do not always mean good cell phone reception.
In my day meeting up with friends was a lot harder- you could be just down the hall temporarily and miss a call. There went that opportunity to get together spontaneously.
It’s not necessarily pre-packaged. I was a campus ambassador in college and they never told us anything specific to say about the A/C in the res halls, but I had to answer that question over and over because my Deep South college only had two res halls with air conditioning (and both were primarily upperclassmen). But this is exactly what I said, and that’s because it was true. I grew up in Atlanta; the heat is very unpleasant during the summer months, but the students aren’t there. So it really only was a problem in August and May, and everyone got a fan. September through April it was usually quite pleasant in the halls. I mean, what else can I say to reassure someone? The sort of carefree way in which I delivered the truth actually calmed down parents and prospectives more than a detailed explanation, because it assured them that I didn’t think about it the majority of the time.
I think all of this new building and amenities racing is ridiculous. College dorms aren’t supposed to be luxurious; they’re really just places for you to sleep, or at least that’s the way me and my friends viewed them. I spent most of my days out and about on campus, and only returned to my room when it was time to go to bed. We didn’t hang out in my room or even my dorm, either - we hung out in the student center (where we could see other friends by chance) or in the city my college was located in. And having a double is a bonding experience; I actually feel sorry for all the freshman who are getting singles right off the bat these days. I’m still friends with all of my roommates and expanded my college (and early grad school) friends by meeting people through them.
And it just increases the price of the residence halls, which makes college unnecessarily expensive.
It’s funny, when my daughter & I toured the school she eventually enrolled in, we were taken to the worst dorms on campus. Her expectations were pretty low: cinderblock construction, linoleum floor, microscopic double in a dreary building from the 50s. When she was later placed in a wonderful brownstone with suites – was that a nice surprise!
Our tours were a mix. University of Alabama definitely showed the nicest dorms - essentially 4 bedroom, 2 bath apartments (just missing a cook top) for honors freshman. GT was very small. DD saw honors housing at each school. In the end, her choice for a school had nothing to do with either the dorm or the rec center.
Based on my daughter’s experience and those of her friends, I think the traditional housing set-up of doubles/triples with a hall lounge is much better for freshmen than the fancier suite living arrangements. It’s so easy to become isolated in a suite made up of singles when you’re far away from home at a big school. That’s what happened to one of her good friends at Alabama. My daughter, on the other hand, made friends much more easily simply by keeping her door open and joining in with others on the hall playing marathon sessions of Settlers of Catan. Her dorm may not be as opulent as the suites at other schools, but it provided a chance for social interaction that, in my opinion, was much more important for a new freshman than air conditioning or a private bathroom.
My D is on the 4th floor in a tiny room (it’s a double) with slanty ceilings, no elevator, no air-conditioning, in a dorm built almost 100 years ago. She has had no issues whatsoever with the arrangement.
I do think the suite-style dorms can be isolating for freshman. My D wanted a roommate and would have been disappointed to have a single.
You should see the new freshman dorm (Tritton?) at Haverford, @zobroworld. LEED-certified singles with a really nice common area. Hands down the nicest dorm I’ve ever seen: http://twbta.com/work/haverford-college-dormitories.
I expect dormitories to be clean and in working order (and ideally to have AC since so many people have allergy issues), but I will never understand the fancy apartment-style suites for freshmen. Ideally, you’re forming a community, and that’s hard to do when everybody’s door is closed and nobody has any reason to ever leave their cushy room. Not to mention they generally cost a lot more than the more traditional dorm on the same campus.
Wow on that Haverford dorm, Lucie. When we toured, they showed us the absolute worst dorm ever. I have a high tolerance for stuff like that but it was truly condemnable.
^^ I agree. It’s not only more fair, it’s just smarter to keep the expectations of freshmen (and their parents) reasonable, especially if the cost of all rooms is the same regardless of location and amenities. I can’t imagine having only seen that beautiful Tritton dormitory at Haverford and then ending up in those unappealing Haverford College Apartments. Given how beautiful Haverford’s campus is, I’m kind of shocked they place freshmen in those. I just assumed they were for upperclassmen who’d forsake a traditional dormitory (albeit comprised mostly of singles) to live “off campus,” but apparently some freshmen are assigned there too.
We saw that dorm at Haverford. I move in next week. (I wish…)
My D says she doesn’t care if the dorms are bad. She only cares that she gets a roommate she gets on with. Being stuck with a bad roommate is her biggest concern.
The suite-style dorming was a big plus for D when we were looking at various schools. She did end up at Skidmore that has suites in most of their halls. Each suite has three rooms (two singles for sophomores and higher) and one double for freshman that turned out to be triples in nearly every case. The suites include a very large storage closet and double-sinked bathroom with private shower and private toilet areas. D requested a room change after the first semester (triple was too crowded for her) and was given a single. She chose her room for next year and has decided to share with a roommate, a girl she met this first year. The big upside to the suite-style dorms, or at least in our opinion, is the privacy of the bathroom, shared by only 4 or 5 students.