@Midwestmomofboys @NJDad22 @tkoparent @collegemom2b22
Hey all! S24 already accepted after ED1 and we are going up next weekend for the last admitted students day and are also socially meeting up with his sports team and coaches then.
A few questions we were hoping to get answered so we know what to look for during the visit (parents: feel free to ask your kids!):
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Any experiences with the various first-year housing options? S is leaning toward a double with a teammate. Is there a way to avoid a triple or quad (ie by going in with a roommate for a double)?
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Anyone knows if the kids get to rank their preferences for dorm or is the dorm assignment completely random? Do athletes tend to be put in particular dorms and is one or another first-year more convenient to the athletic center and/or parking?
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For athletes who move in early, does anyone know if items can be shipped to the school somewhere that is quickly accessible upon arrival or does everyone pretty much bring everything in their cars? The mailroom at our D’s college can take a month to deliver… hoping not the case at Denison.
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How easy or hard it is to get the classes you want first semester? Any recommended strategies for first years when requesting classes? S was thinking of doing the required first-year writing seminar in the second semester instead of the first semester in order to do languages/math sequence while still fresh from HS and also explore his major during the first semester.
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Any experiences with the Advising Circles for first years? Helpful?
Apologies for the many questions; please feel free to rope in other Denisonian families or students you know here.
Thanks in advance!
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Congratulations to you and your S24! I really hesitate to respond to many of your questions, as a lot has been changing at Denison this year and some of my know-how may no longer have much value. Among other changes, Denison has done away with the old June pre-orientation, when most students met with advisors and registered for classes. Now that will all take place in August. The dorm situation has also been changing as the rolling renovations continue, although I imagine that doubles will still be the norm and they still won’t be grouping athletes together. Advising Circle was helpful, no reason not to do it. Two sources I would recommend to you: First, the First-year Enrollment Guide, which is updated each year and includes a great amount of detail. First-Year Enrollment Guide Class of 2028 | Forms & Policies. And second, the Denison Parents and Guardians page on Facebook - they will have the most up-to-date information, and there are photos of dorms, etc. It’s a helpful group.
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I asked my son, who graduated a year ago, what he thought about the dorm question. He suggests your S24 take a look at East Quad, where two (?) of the dorms that used to be reserved for soph and junior year are now open to first-years. East Quad is very convenient to the Mitchell Center. At least back in the day four years ago, he didn’t get to pick a specific dorm, but there was a questionnaire that enabled incoming first-years to express some preferences. He lived in Shorney, which is one of the two biggest first-year dorms (along with Smith), and he liked that because he got to meet a lot of his classmates quickly. (Although it was a bit of a pit at least back then.)
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My daughter had the time of his life socially and academically at Denison. I can’t speak much to the dorm situation as my daughter had a single all 4-years. She was able to pick her dorm location the last 3 and was always able to get one of her first 2 options. In terms of questions 4 & 5. Daughter said she never had problems getting the classes she wanted the only challenge was as a premed/science major her afternoons were generally taken up with labs which meant her classes all needed to be scheduled in the morning. She also had positive things to say about advising circle both taking it as a freshman and being a peer advisor Junior and Senior years. Four years on the hill will pass so quickly, I hope son enjoys every minute of it.
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Throwing a couple of things out.
-New parents of 2028 kids cannot join the Denison parent FB group until August, which is maddening, to say the least.
-On the admitted students’ day, the housing people had a table set up near the Shorney and Smith dorms. I asked specifically if we could rank dorms, and she said no, but that seems in contrast to what I read on the website
-She said they tried to split up the athletes, even though most want to be in Crawford - since Crawford is a stone’s throw from the athletic center and the other dorms are a long walk.
-None of the freshman dorms have A/C. The first floor dorm rooms have an added security screen.
-I think both the S dorms and Crawford are equally convenient for dining, as there is a dining hall on either end of the campus.
-There is also an option for a quiet floor and that would likely land one in the S dorm area.
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There is a new Class of 2028 Parents Group on Facebook that you can join.
Those are run by Humans of University - which is really a bot. Whoever they are, they start groups at every college every year.
That’s too bad about the FB group - I don’t think it was that way before. Regarding housing, as I recall S19 was given a questionnaire that allowed him to state general preferences - big vs. small, prefer quiet dorm, etc. He chose big and ended up in a double in Shorney, so I can’t recall exactly what other preferences could be checked. I also don’t recall whether students are able to specify a particular roommate, as he just completed the roommate questionnaire and was matched that way. Top floor of Shorney with a roommate who wasn’t really ready for college wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was kind of the quintessential first-year experience and he figured it out. The next two years, he was in a triple on South Quad with one of his teammates and a nonathlete friend. So two athletes, one not, two frat guys, one (my son) not. South Quad is about as far away from the athletic center as you can get, but they learned to love it during sophomore year and elected to stay down there for another year. South Quad has spacious lawns and is very close to the village. As a senior, he was in a quad apartment with three non-athletes, all non-Greek, one female, three male. That’s all very Denison, encouraging students to cross boundaries. It’s part of what attracted S19 to Denison - he’s always had a phobia about cliques and groupism - and he had a fabulous experience, academically, athletically and socially.
Edited to add: One thing to consider for athletes is proximity to Slayter. It depends upon the team and training schedule, but my son’s team often had difficulty getting to the dining hall in time for dinner, and they dined a lot at Slayter. I understand the school may be changing caterers, so things may change in the future, but that was the situation at least through last year.
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I guess they don’t want to be inundated with lots of questions. I know on my older son’s parent FB page that prospective parents are let in very early (even before they commit). The downside is that those parents hear all the complaining parents, which could be problematic.