Yes this is definitely a draw for my son since the nuclear engineering program will be housed there (among other things of course). The only shame is that it won’t be there freshman year.
Seeing that the LLC apps open tomorrow, I’m a bit concerned. Since his decision is still weeks away, I’m wondering if that will hurt his chances to get into LLC if he doesn’t apply for awhile.
We are in same boat and will wait on LLC app until he commits. I would think there is plenty of time before they will accept people into LLC.
Really no matter where you live you are going to walk – campus is very spread out. Carrick and Reese are pretty nice and co-ed but older. Lots of chances to make friends there. I would try to avoid Hess Hall. It is called “The Zoo” for a reason. It might be nicer now than it used to be but when I was a student there (over 20 years ago) it wasn’t a great place.
Note that UT does have a trolly service so you can ride a trolly to destinations that are across campus. Walking is fine, but in the cold or rain ride the trolly.
Also, parking is usually a nightmare whether commuter or noncommuter.
Just returned from a UTK visit this weekend (did Engineering tour Friday and general tour on Saturday). Second visit.
For the purpose of this thread: Dorms, Orange, White, Dogwood Magnolia did feel like a hike to rest of campus and is indeed far from the engineering department. But they are also close to the dining hall (PCB?) that has the best hours and open on weekends.
After speaking with the engineering students, he applied to the Engage LLC as they made a convincing argument to join. The LLC does homework together and it seemed like a nice way to meet friends.
They are doing a lot of construction in front of Carrick, but many campuses we visited has a lot of that going on.
We liked to location of Brown the best.
Heading to Knoxville tomorrow with my son. Eager to see how far is far. 
@HappyNJ do you feel that’s the final destination for your kid? Were you happy with everything that they had to offer at UTK?
It is his clear #1 right now, but…
We are getting there slowly…
We squeezed in the last tour of the day today. I don’t think any of the dorms turned us off. Yes orange is on the other end of campus and it’s a bit of a hike, but wasn’t crazy far. And from what I can tell not all classes freshman year will be at the engineering end of campus anyway. If he chooses to apply for the LLC, he was pretty happy with Orange… Although he could also qualify for the crescendo (music) LLC which is in Brown. The suite style was very nice.
In case anybody else was anxiously waiting, we received our Financial package over the weekend. We went through the myUTK portal and found it posted. I believe the official letter will be sent through the mail.
So my son committed to UTK last night (yay), and I did e-check process to pay deposit. However, when trying to start the housing application process it will not let us proceed. Then I noticed that it could take up to 2 days for the ‘paid’ info to get to housing dept. Has anyone else experienced this? (Kind of thinking I should have just paid with credit card.) Anxious to get things moving.
Congrats @snakster for you and your son. What major and who ended up being his #2?
Nuclear Engineering Major; Applied Music Minor (bassoon performance). Outside possibility he still may try double major with Applied Music.
The last knockout went to Penn State (not getting into Schreyer sealed the deal, but honestly I don’t think it would have mattered either way).
If money was no object, then Wisconsin MAY have beaten out UTK (it certainly would have been #2 over PSU). But money is an object and UW offered no merit to him.
But the simple fact is that none of the other contenders were a half hour away from ORNL and the research opportunities it offers. That was a big element. And his music opportunities may also be best at UTK. Too bad they currently don’t have a Club Bowling team. He’ll work on that I suspect.
Hmmm Madison, WI weather versus Knoxville… NO BRAINER. Good call to your son.
Still waiting for email notification for housing contract. Supposedly after that is completed, THEN you can apply for LLC? Is that how it works?
Correct. One is needed for the other. FYI, we applied for the Engage LLC on 2/18 and still have not heard back yet. Housing deposit was done in October.
HappyNJ
We have not received an email about Engage either, but when I went on the housing portal and checked his LLC status it has changed from “pending” to “approved”. So you may want to look at his status.
Thanks both. It seems that now that the decision has been made, the work REALLY begins.
Still…waiting…
Well, still haven’t gotten the email they told us he will get, but he was able to go through the website finally. Feeling good.
Portal now shows “accepted” for his Engage LLC application. No emails, glad he checked.