Son just got accepted for Fall 2022
- Thread starter stateofmind
- Start date
Exactly on not everyone fits the “exciting” dorms. I think my experience throughout college sucked because I got stuck on an “exciting” floor in Larch. I didn’t drink and didn’t want to be around those that were. As a result I didn’t really make friends and had a tough time adjusting. Don’t try and force the normal college experience on someone.
I lived in Eaton and after my first year in the dorm, I would say that Friley had a more traditional experience.
Congratulations on your acceptance, Iowa State is an amazing university. My son is now a senior in Computer Engineering. He spent his first year in Birch, second year in Friley. Birch is smaller and is more of a community or family feel. He made friends with a group of guys that were also engineering students. They are all still friends today and are able to help each other with their classes. Six of the guys moved to Friley for the second year. My son didn’t enjoy Friley due to the size and amount of activity all day and night. Hard to find study time with all of the noise. All six moved off campus after one year of Friley. My son really enjoys living off campus. Ames is a special place.
I missed out on the dorm experience and rented a 3 bedroom apartment on Welch with some friends. Sometimes I wish I wouldn't have done that. My older brother talks about his years in Wallace like it was the best time of his life.
Congrats to him. My daughter just finished her freshman last year....lived in Freeman. She liked it. Like all dorms you are sardines in a can. Community bathrooms....no kitchen. She is off campus this year. Not that dorm life was bad.......but she wanted her own kitchen and bathroom. It is what it is so the pro and con answer is really based upon the individual and not the setting because some love it and some don't.
kcbob79clone
Well-Known Member
Yep. It's all about the person. Had a good friend who lived in Friley for 2(3?) years, became an RA (or whatever they are being called now) for his last 1.5 years. Loved the dorm life for some reason. Met his wife in the dorms, etc
I agree with this 100%.
My floor in Wilson was really out of control. Soccer matches in the common area between the elevators, music, drinking, drugs, trashed bathrooms, etc. I am sure that it really helped a few people drop out and that's not cool. Unfortunately, you can find bad neighbors off campus too.
I eventually got kicked out for hitting a Domino's delivery driver with a bottle rocket from a 7th floor window. These things happen.
Strongly recommend dorm life first 1-2 years. I did it 3 and it was too long. Then you'll have friends and can find an off campus living arrangement away from that craziness. Knapp Hall - R.I.P
So you were part of Matterson madhouse then...I was on Mashek and we got along great with those guys. Lamson on the other hand...not so much.
I loved the towers lived there 3 years, moved out for my senior year, then when a slight scheduling snafu caused me to need another semester, I moved back into the towers and my same room. This was in the 80's and the towers parties were pretty amazing.
My four that went to ISU were all in some kind of engineering. Aero boy and Electrical boy in Helser, Mech and Enviro in Friley. Aero major pretty happy that at least with 8:00 am Calc II that first semester, it was easy to get there in a rush from Helser.
kcbob79clone
Well-Known Member
75-79 in north Friley across from Helser and 8a classes were very doable. And yes 'Helser sucks!'
Every dorm has its own atmosphere and it's really a crapshoot what types of personalities get placed on a certain floor on a given year. I lived in the dorms for all but 1 semester in college, 1.5 as a resident and 2.5 as an RA and my final super senior semester in an apartment. My freshman year was by far my favorite floor. Was on 2nd floor Birch Hall in old RCA and we had a good mix of returning sophomores and juniors that had previously lived on the floor to go with a good group of freshman and was probably my most memorable year of college as you had some guys that knew how to have a good time while also took the freshmen under their wings and helped us get off to a good start. I took a RA job midyear my sophomore year in Towers and it was a completely different atmosphere out there but still enjoyed my time there. The strange thing was I basically hand picked my senior year assignment as RA and picked a floor in Linden Hall in old RCA and just after the start of the 2nd semester wondered why I committed to the 2nd semester. The building in general was pretty laid back but I apparently took on a floor of "creative minds" that did a lot of stupid things that stressed me out at times. I was a pretty laid back RA and basically laid out that if you wake me up in the middle of the night or was doing something stupid in plain sight that I couldn't ignore it I wasn't going to write you up otherwise I would look the other way or kindly ask you do to alter behavior I could write you up for.
I think living in the dorms for at least your 1st or 2nd years at ISU is very beneficial not only socially but also helps establish some responsibility and routines. When it comes to behavioral things too like underage parties and such I would much rather get written up by campus security than the Ames PD as getting caught with beer as a minor in your dorm room carries a lot less penalty than getting caught with it off campus by the PD. I remember one time I was a RA on weekend rounds and we had the ISU PD with us we walked by a room with a dozen people drinking with the door wide open so they had to check IDs. Not a single person was of age so they made them dump out all the beer and wrote citations and one drunk girl screamed at one of the officers "this is why I am not living in the dorms next year!" The officer calmly told her if this was an off campus party in an apartment it would have been Ames PD at the door and not campus police and the penalties for for underage drinking off campus are a lot more severe than they are when you get written up on campus.
I think living in the dorms for at least your 1st or 2nd years at ISU is very beneficial not only socially but also helps establish some responsibility and routines. When it comes to behavioral things too like underage parties and such I would much rather get written up by campus security than the Ames PD as getting caught with beer as a minor in your dorm room carries a lot less penalty than getting caught with it off campus by the PD. I remember one time I was a RA on weekend rounds and we had the ISU PD with us we walked by a room with a dozen people drinking with the door wide open so they had to check IDs. Not a single person was of age so they made them dump out all the beer and wrote citations and one drunk girl screamed at one of the officers "this is why I am not living in the dorms next year!" The officer calmly told her if this was an off campus party in an apartment it would have been Ames PD at the door and not campus police and the penalties for for underage drinking off campus are a lot more severe than they are when you get written up on campus.
My son was an AeroE major/grad. He lived in Maple his first year, Larch the next two (RA for most of it) and off campus his senior year.
Don't worry about paying the $330 admissions acceptance fee now. If he changes his mind and chooses not to enroll at Iowa State, the $330 fee is refundable as long as he informs the Admissions Office by May 1 of his senior year.
Since he's going into engineering I can say from experience that the learning communities they offer for dorm life are worth it. I was originally assigned to Towers, but was given the opportunity to join an electrical engineering hall in Friley, and it was great not only for the proximity to the engineering buildings, but also the exposure to my classmates and study partners right off the bat.
