<p>how are the housing and residential advisors set up… I know at yale, they have residential college with deans and masters, but I forget about columbia</p>
<p>Your have an RA on your floor. Most freshman live in freshman only dorms so the experience is really different from a residential college.</p>
<p>But kids in the LLC (Hartley/Wallach) live in actual suites with common rooms so it’s probably the most similar to Yale’s setup.</p>
<p>“deans and masters” !, they probably exist, just never hear of them or see them, everyone has an RA (junior / senior / occasionally soph) on their floor. occasionally 2 floors to an RA. they do everything (which is often very little), which is the way it should be. they assume you to be sensible and independent - for some people sometimes that’s too much to ask :P.</p>
<p>there are 17 dorm buildings on campus. 5 of them house freshmen, 2 exclusively so. some are converted grad student housing, others are converted apartment buildings. the best housing on campus involves suites with large living rooms, 4-6 large singles, kitchens with dishwashers, and so on.</p>
<p>there’s no real philosophy behind it. As mentioned, there are RAs on every floor, and a chain of command for managing the buildings, including the housing assignments office who you’ll deal with every year as part of the Room Selection Lottery.</p>