<p>Which residence halls are good for Freshman music students? If I understand housing’s web page correctly you must be accepted and accept the admission offer before applying for housing, however it is first-come first-served. If you won’t know the results of you music audition until mid-march it seems that music students who are admitted late will be out of luck when it comes to applying for housing, correct?</p>
<p>This year housing is done by lottery. As long as you get your housing in by May 1you will have equal chances of getting your request. For music, I would suggest the Urbana dorms. ISR is hard to get in because many older students stay there, but you can try, but that is very close. LAR, Allen Hall, Busey Evans, PAR, and FAR would all be better than the 6 pack (either Ikenberry).</p>
<p>My friends at illy stereotype Allen in particular as the artsy dorm. Second-hand knowledge, though.</p>
<p>the six pack is the best if you want to be social. Everyone parties there</p>
<p>My son will be a freshman in computer science. Which dorm(s) would be the best choice for him? He will have a lot of general college level credits, so most of his course load will probably consist of courses in his major.
He is looking for:
(1) most convenient to his classes - either shortest walking distance, and/or convenient transportation such as frequent campus buses, and/or least amount of outdoor walking (for the winter months!)
(2) pleasant atmosphere (ie, nice/well maintained room layout, good facilities, friendly atmosphere)</p>
<p>He is NOT looking for a party dorm. With that in mind, which are the party dorms (ie, 6-packs? and others), so that he can avoid them?</p>
<p>Also, he has received a brochure about “Private Certified Housing”. Are there any of these that are good (ie, better than dorms), and what are their advantages and disadvantages?</p>
<p>Here’s a thread I started that received a response or two:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/796919-private-certified-housing-vs-dorms.html?highlight=Restaurants[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/796919-private-certified-housing-vs-dorms.html?highlight=Restaurants</a></p>
<p>@mumoftwo: Based on what you said, your son should indeed avoid the Six-Pack / Ikenberry Commons area. These residence halls are party dorms in the extreme. Additionally, this complex tends to be socially homogeneous and unaccepting.</p>
<p>The residence halls in Urbana are a better choice in general. They’re relatively more diverse and inclusive. They’re generally healthier environments. Most students there drink, but usually not to the extremes of the residence halls in Champaign.</p>
<p>ISR (Illinois Street Residences) is generally the closest to Computer Science classes. However, it might not be that much more convenient in practice compared to PAR (Pennsylvania Avenue Residences) or FAR (Florida Avenue Residences), given that there is decent bus service from these areas to the rest of the campus.</p>
<p>All of the University residence halls are fairly basic in terms of room layout and facilities. In general, the private certified residence halls have better amenities but are significantly more expensive.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you, Balthezar and Take3 for your very helpful responses!</p>
<p>Per Take3’s response, could you clarify which residence halls are considered to be in Urbana and which dorms in Champaign? Since we are OOS and not familiar with the area, we were not sure which fall into these categories.</p>
<p>You’re welcome.</p>
<p>Champaign and Urbana are separate cities. The campus straddles the dividing line between the two cities, so some buildings are in the former and others are in the latter.</p>
<p>Champaign: The “Six-Pack” / Ikenberry Commons complex. Taft and Van Doren, which are next to the Six-Pack, are also located there.</p>
<p>Urbana: ISR, PAR and FAR. Allen Hall is also located there - it has a unique living and learning program. Busey-Evans and LAR are also there, although they’re irrelevant in your case as they’re for women only.</p>
<p>FWIW, I lived in an Urbana residence hall for one semester and a Champaign residence hall for another semester.</p>
<p>I lived in ISR my freshman year, and I can personally attest to the fact that it is very convenient to all of the engineering campus. I walked everywhere and it usually didn’t take more than 5 to 10 minutes to walk there, and 10 was when trying to cross a bunch of streets and get to the other side of campus, so it wasn’t bad.</p>
<p>I can also personally attest to the fact that it is not a party dorm (for the most part) and it stays pretty quiet, sometimes to a fault. It is (somewhat) appropriately nicknamed “I’m Socially ■■■■■■■■” for its lack of socializing, though that stereotype is played up more than what is really true. I got stuck with a crappy floor and hardly knew anyone on it the whole time I lived there, but I had other friends from other floors that I hung out with and their floors were much better, so it is also somewhat the luck of the draw.</p>
<p>Also, ISR has the best cafeteria out of all of the dorms, though if the new 6-Pack stuff is done (it wasn’t as of May, which was the last time I was enrolled), then I can’t comment on that.</p>
<p>None of the dorms are particularly nice or have a good room layout. They are all relics of a different age. UIUC takes a fair amount of flak for its shoddy dorms. The new 6-Pack may start to change that, but it is not what your son is looking for it sounds like.</p>
<p>Thanks again for everyone’s input!</p>
<p>MumOfTwo, consider either Henrick house, or, as is my son’s choice, Newman Hall, which is centrally located, I’d even say closer to most freshman classes than even ISR, which would be the dorm of choice as far as I’m concerned. But, with certified public housing, you can albeit for about 200 more a month ($6.66 a day) your son will get a private bedroom in a 4 bedroom suite with a shared bathroom/shower. The other thing that some consider a drawback is that all meals must be eaten in the CPH structure. With Newman Hall, you’ve got an atmosphere that promotes socialization without the excesses associated with the six-pack. Also, you’re shooting craps with the dorms in that you don’t know who your roommate will be, and even if its a high school friend, living with them in a confined, shared space can be a real issue. Overall CPH, although slightly more expensive, meets all of our prerequisites. It allows my son a private, much more quiet place to study and rest, but is close, ideally so in the case of Newman Hall, to most of his classes. It’s also more likely to be filled, IMHO, with kids coming to college to learn as opposed to partying for the greater part of a given week.</p>
<p>Newman Hall was also just remodeled so parts of it are only a year old. It is a good choice for certified private housing.</p>
<p>@imamiger - Consider Allen Hall. While there are a lot of art majors, I wouldn’t call it “artsy,” they need a better adjective for it. It just has a really diverse group of down-to-earth, open-minded, and friendly people. As for music, Allen hall has practice rooms equipped with pianos, and various drum rooms/pianos scattered around the building. I see SO many people with instruments around here, even though most of them aren’t music majors, and there are often concerts and music events held actually held within the hall. This year, as a guest-in-residence, we had musician Tim Eriksen and he lived at Allen for about 5 days, holding discussions about music, songwriting workshops, and musical performances. This is also one of the first halls to fill up though, so I recommend applying soon.</p>
<p>@mumoftwo - If your son doesn’t want a partying dorm, skip the 6-Pack in Champaign. ISR is probably the closest to the Quad and the engineering campus. It’s definitely not a party dorm and they have pretty nice facilities. </p>
<p>Allen is also close to the Quad and buses stop right in front of Allen that cover all sides of the Quad. I have no trouble studying at Allen since there are classrooms available for studying as long as no class is being held. On the inside, Allen looks pretty drab compared to the other halls, but there is a good balance between socializing and studying. </p>
<p>PAR/FAR is a bit farther than Allen, but they have a more frequent bus service than ISR. I hear that PAR/FAR is where most of the engineers end up so it’s usually quiet. I also notice that PAR/FAR has a irregularly high number of internationals compared to other dorms.</p>
<p>All University Residence Hall dorms are basically a box and no “layout” whatsoever. However, they are equipped with common areas, study areas, libraries, and computer labs, so most people don’t study in their room anyway.</p>
<p>To elaborate on boneh3ad’s comment, the brand new residence halls in Ikenberry commons will open for residents for the first time this fall. It’s the University’s way of trying to keep up with other school’s state-of-the-art residence halls. They should have classrooms to study in, but being in Urbana and right next to the 6-Pack, I expect the environment to get a bit hectic. Especially when they intend for the Ikenberry dining hall to replace the existing two 6-Pack dining halls. About the same distance from the Quad as Allen Hall. Overall, a shiny and impressive building, but the rooms are no bigger than usual and the atmosphere seems cold and intimidating.</p>
<p>As for private certified housing, they allow for more privacy since most of them only have about 5 people sharing one bathroom instead of an entire floor (though bathrooms have never been a problem for me) and larger living areas, some with kitchens. My friend lives at Illini Tower, which is close to the Quad, but he was randomly assigned roommates that often party and skip class, so I guess it’s the luck of the draw unless you find a roommate beforehand. There also seems to be a lack of socialization between dormmates in Private Certified Housing. The biggest drawback of PCH is the price, especially when considering that University Housing is already pretty expensive, but for some people, the privacy is worth it.</p>
<p>PAR/FAR is not where most of the engineers end up. ISR is where most of them end up. The other residence halls are roughly equal in terms of engineering with PAR/FAR having maybe a slight advantage. Of course after freshman year, most people move out of the dorms anyway, so it is only for a year.</p>