Quiet vs Nonquiet dorms

mom2012and14
Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:55:55 +0000

Talking to many CMU and non-CMU students/parents alike for years, I’ve heard lots of great and not-so-great roommate stories-- I think it’s fair to say that you can always find an isolated jack-ass anywhere-- not unique to CMU - … I honestly feel this much less likely at CMU simply b/c the students here are very serious about their studies. CMU enforces quiet hours during final exam week. On a regular basis, People will turn down the music, close the doors etc if requested-- it’s not animal house on the dorm floors anywhere – it’s CMU. Maybe at Pitt down the street…smile. The dorms however clearly differ in flavor - smaller dorms just don’t “rock” the same way as a large dorm doews-- fewer people --less noise by default - fewer people on the floor, over and under you…?

There should be no inherent differences between the types of people that cluster into the three large dorms–CMU students are diverse in their interests- and that diversity is exhibited in all the dorms. the only expected differences are in the communal vs. private bathrooms, and that Donner and Mudge have the on-site weeknight tutoring whereas Mudge does not. Morewood has on site food, Donner close to onsite food.

I am still also truly puzzled why Kate and BCO said that the people who selected quiet roooms/floors were so “odd” (After your posts, I have formed this picture in my mind of a floor full of nerdy-online gamers-who have never dated or don’t wash regularly and sit indoors 24/7)… but thanks for your very strongly-to-be-considered tips-- I read swingset and cmuguy’s comments as just wanting to have a quiet place to sleep and chill-- but neither sounded like a hermit…I’ll trust your judgment and pass that along to my S-- who isn’t a CC reader-- but he was thinking about Mudge or Morewood - I wonder how he would feel if he was placed on the quiet floor even if he didn’t request it? But if he got “stuck” there- it would be 1000x better than being at Oakland apts. – that would be awful! Thanks for continued good tips!

I ALSO posted this elsewhere - want to highlight again - b/c no one should have false hopes about Mudge …
EDs cannot always pull in RDs… According to housing, RDs with late deposit dates cannot bump those with significantly sooner deposit dates to get into better rooms. As I noted in a post a while back, students at our high school had requested each other but were unpleasantly surprised to learn they hadn’t been paired. Housing told them very clearly – that roomie pairs had to have a very close proximity in the dates of deposit to be placed together …so an ED most certainly cannot pull in anyone depositing in the last few days.
An RD pulled in by and ED cannot bump another ED for sure. In 2008, the housing group was literally filling spots and making decisions on housing by processing 2-3 deposit dates per day-- over a two week period they sent out housing confirmation to 1500+ students , it is easy to see why it goes in order. So the person processing would on Monday have processed all ED, Tuesday March 28, 29, Wednesay thru April 3, etc… so that if an April 3 was paired with an April 23-- the 23rd would not get paired in the choice dorm but held over until the person processed that date-- upwards of 600-700 people in front on the housing queue and they did not get bumped by the pull in.

With 100% certainty - -if as of today you have NOT already paid your deposit – you are not going to be living in Mudge or Morewood even if requested by an ED.
With 100% certainty- -if you paid your deposit April 30, May 1-- you are in Oakland apartments (unless you are disabled) or have a parent who is willing to get on the phone and be an exceedingly complaining parent…and probably not even then.

Likewise EDs should not be posting that they can pull-inanyone into their room from the RD pool-- it’s not true…and the ED should best be looking for a potential roomie from the ED pool – or may end up with someone they didn’t pick - that’s fine too- but it will be a surprise-- and if that’s not the intent-- then don’t pair up with someone who placed a late deposit either.