OT: Freshman Housing
My son will be starting his freshman year this fall at Michigan. Like many freshman (I believe it is currently in excess of 50%), I was “stationed” on North Campus (Bursley). Although North Campus may have its merits, I think it would be a better overall experience to be housed on Central Campus or the Hill thereby avoiding the North Campus bus trip.
I am wondering if there might be some strategy in filing out the housing application to increase the chances of avoiding North Campus. For example, on the housing application is there a combination of selections – room type (single, double or triple); corridor type (same or mixed gender); or bathroom type (shared community or non-community) that would provide a better opportunity to be selected to house on main campus? We have already dismissed as dishonest or impractical (i) faking up a medical or religious reason to live on main campus, or (ii) participating in an MLC (he’s not interested). Michigan Housing, Google searches and college confidential have been little help. It may be that he has to just take his chances with the lottery, but since it’s the offseason and there are many current/former students on the board with more recent experience than I have, I thought I would ask. Thanks in advance.
Edit: A lot of good advice in the responses. Many thanks.
I didn't go to school to get drunk and laid.
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Meeting new people, making new friends and having a pre-selected roomate freshman year are not mutually exclusive.
Besides, you'll have plenty of experience to meet new roomates and be annoyed with their habits for the remaining 3(+) years on campus.
I am still very good friends with my preselected roomate despite us not really "running in the same crowd" at college. I'm also really good friends with new friends I met.
College is what you make of it, and something such as roomate selection or non-selection doesn't necessarily need to change that. If you want to go in blind, go for it. If you don't, that's fine too - despite someone calling you weird on the internet.
I see Kareem Walker, Ahmir Mitchell, Brandon Peters and the other early enrollee's at dinner all the time here. EQ is the best dorm as far as living conditions go, the bathrooms, while community, are really well kept and the experience overall is akin to a hotel. And the SQ dining hall is only five minutes away!
For the OP: If your son really wants to live on Central Campus, the best way is to join a program like Honors or the RC, or have no preference for how large a room size because the bigger one's are almost all on Central. Honestly, North Campus isn't even that bad, it has the best library, best gym/req room and the parking is free. And while it is like 15-20min away from Downtown Ann Arbor, that just means it is that much easier getting there.
It really annoys me when people use a specific example from their life or their friend's life to persuade someone to do something a certain way. Just because you pre-selected your roommate and ruined the friendship doesn't mean it happens to everyone. Just because you went in blind and found your best friend ever doesn't mean it'll happen to the OP's son. It's a crap shoot, but a crap shoot with some odds on certain things. For starters, whether or not your son gets along with someone has more to do with your son's tolerance than the other person's differences. It's almost guaranteed your son will be roomed with someone who is very different in habits, hobbies, values, cleanliness, etc. Another thing, no matter what dorm he lives in there will be plenty of social life and opportunities to start his college career with a low GPA for which he will have to pay the price for years after that.
One thing that really bothers me about people who swear by staying on central campus because it's the hub is how closed-minded they can get. I can't believe I just read that someone thought going from central campus to north campus was "too far" to visit a relative. WHen you think a 20 minute bus ride is an eternity, I judge you to be so reluctant to expand your horizons that you aren't using college to the fullest degree.
Where do you live? As much as UM housing says it's random, it's no coincidence that the "Hill dorms" are heavily East Coast/suburban, North Campus has a lot of international students and so on. There is some consideration of who your child is and where they are from. I'd say you are going about it the right way, though, because trying to game the system has backfired on many people I know.
I'd of course recommend West Quad. Though North Quad seems to be very centrally located and the view from Mojo was always great (unless there is a building in the way now.)
Back in the day the bus ride between campuses sucked. 10 minute walk to the bus stop. 20 minutes for the bus to come, 15 minute ride and then a 5-10 walk accross the frozen tundra of North Campus. It was a cold year my frosh year.
Roomate thing is luck of the draw. I went in blind instead of with one of several friends in order to meet new people and got stuck with two loser sophomores in a converted triple. They choose the triple to save money and never left the room. I was basically homeless my freshman year. Still hate those guys.
I was in West Quad and it can be tough for freshmen since most of the building is sophmores and juniors who have established friendships. I was in William freshman year and it was crappy
Two years ago, my niece mistakenly selected "Substance Free" housing believing it just meant non-smoking. (Not a careful reader.) She was expecting to be placed on North but ended up in Markley and thinks that may have been the reason, although it may have just been luck of the draw. A quick Googling reveals that 28% of the dorms fit this designation. It may be possible to research where that 28% is. If the majority is on Central Campus, it ought to increase your son's odds of getting placed there, if he wants to go that way. Just a thought.
Attended UM from 97-01 and lived in dorms my whole time. Here's my rundown:
- Freshmen year - Markley in a double with a random roommate; I picked a learning community (forget what it was called back then, but I think it morphed into Michigan Community Scholars, or some such name), mainly to avoid a North Campus assignment. At least at the time - as other commentors mention - Markley was filled with east coasters. Whether that's by chance or whatever, I don't know, but my roommate and I were definitely in the minority in Markley as Michiganders.
- Sophomore year - I picked a single room in East Quad; nothing fancy - just went down and did it when my turn came to select a housing preference.
- Junior and senior years - I was an RA in East Quad.
I think your son has as good a chance as any to be in a Hill dorm - but with the closing of Markley, that changes the equation quite a bit. However, Stockwell is now co-ed, alleviating some of the deficit from Markley's closing.
Keep in mind that those Hill dorms come with their own inconveniences - you could be walking 10-15 minutes to your class versus a 10-15 bus ride to be dropped off essentially at your class, for instance. In the fall or spring, I guess it's a matter of perspective - but let me tell you, that walk to and from the Hill in the winter time is no joke; and that's coming from a West Michigan native. I enjoyed my time in Markley, but in retrospect, Bursley and the bus ride wouldn't have been that bad in comparison. And I don't think it's worth picking a learning community just to avoid Bursely.
Absent being in a learning community, a scholarship athlete, or a female requesting Newberry or Martha Cook, you really can't do much more than declare yourself open and hope for the best to be on Central Campus. I guess I'd just suggest rethinking Bursely for 1) in the event he gets assigned there, and 2) it actually may be better than the alternate (Hill dorms).
You can - or at least could in my day - swap rooms, although that depended on finding someone willing to swap assignments with you. I don't recall anyone I know of doing so. In the worst case scenario, I had been involved in a couple of roommate debacles as an RA that required moving someone; those are few-and-far between, and usually require a major incident or a series of documented incidents before Housing would green-light a move.
As a caveat, I don't know anything about North Quad as that came along after me. I've seen it; it looks nice. So if that's an option, take it - although I wish they would have kept the aesthetically pleasing Frieze Building North Quad replaced.
What's with all the Baits hating? I lived in Baits II my freshman year and loved it. Honestly the only really inconvenient thing about it was not having a dining hall, but with classes and activities on Central I ate down there half the time anyway. Having to take a bus wasn't that bad.
I applied together with someone who graduated a year ahead of me from the same high school, so they had sophomore status and were able to get the both of us to room together in West Quad. Was a nice way to get my preferred housing location. We were in Adams House, and then sophomore year I picked to room blind and stayed in West Quad but went to Williams on a co-ed floor, and made a bunch of new friends there too. It worked out well, but I agree with poster above. Adams house was filled with freshman, but Williams was not, and was groups of people who knew each other from previous year(s)
Also, you at least used to be able to game the dorm selection system to some degree, although at least the way I did it doesn't help you much since it's the opposite of what you want.
While it would have been nice to live on Central freshman year, the two things I was most concerned about were getting a single (not a roommate person) and getting a parking spot. Since getting even one of those on Central would be virtually impossible for a freshman, I decided to select as my top choice a single in Baits. At least at the time, we could select preferred room type, as well as location (Central (including the Hill), Bursley or Baits; I don't remember Northwood being an option, but it may have been). As I suspected, putting Baits as my top choice gave me priority over all the overflow freshman that tried but couldn't get Central, and I got exactly what I wanted: a single in the only dorm that had more than enough parking spaces.
So the takeaway is that you can, or at least used to be able to, game the room type selection by prioritzing an unpolular location.
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I went in "blind" and got put in West Quad (before the EQ and SQ renovations) and it was a blast. At the time it was the "athletes dorm" (with SQ as well to a lesser extent) and I had a blast living with a bunch of frosh in the building with a few sophs there. I was not jealous at all of my friends who had to leave Central at like 2AM on a SAT night to get the last bus to Bursley. Also lived by Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke.
My good pal lived in a 4 person converted suite in WQ his frosh year. I would pref those, I think they are all on Central Campus and they're huge.
Living in Bursley really wasn't that bad. The commute to Central Campus sucked but I made a lot of good friends in my hall. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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