Future Student: Best dorm for my situation

Matt92x

Member
Dec 19, 2009
251
8
18
Rochester, MN
Hey guys,

I had a post earlier this year about visit and community info and i got some really good feedback, so I've decided to come back for some more advice.

I need to pick a dorm very soon and need some help choosing the best one for my situation so here it is.


-Math Major
-Wants to attend as many fball/bball games as possible
-Wants to play intramural bball and fball


So if you guys have any ideas for which dorm is the best to get all three of these done with the least amount of travel, that would be great.

Thanks,
Matt
 

jdoggivjc

Well-Known Member
Sep 27, 2006
61,625
23,880
113
Macomb, MI
Hey guys,

I had a post earlier this year about visit and community info and i got some really good feedback, so I've decided to come back for some more advice.

I need to pick a dorm very soon and need some help choosing the best one for my situation so here it is.


-Math Major
-Wants to attend as many fball/bball games as possible
-Wants to play intramural bball and fball


So if you guys have any ideas for which dorm is the best to get all three of these done with the least amount of travel, that would be great.

Thanks,
Matt

Old RCA (Birch/Welch/Roberts). While it's not nearly as short of a walk to Carver that Friley/UDA is, it's hardly unreasonable, either. You just take the path through the woods that passes the Knoll and the MU and you're right on campus. You're also just across the street from Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium, and you're about a 5 minute walk from the Rec.
 

clone26

Member
Jan 30, 2009
552
7
18
DSM
www.explorethemetro.com
Hey guys,

I had a post earlier this year about visit and community info and i got some really good feedback, so I've decided to come back for some more advice.

I need to pick a dorm very soon and need some help choosing the best one for my situation so here it is.


-Math Major
-Wants to attend as many fball/bball games as possible
-Wants to play intramural bball and fball


So if you guys have any ideas for which dorm is the best to get all three of these done with the least amount of travel, that would be great.

Thanks,
Matt

Maple-Willow-Larch
 

Tank

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2008
2,307
104
48
Niceville, FL
Old RCA (Birch/Welch/Roberts). While it's not nearly as short of a walk to Carver that Friley/UDA is, it's hardly unreasonable, either. You just take the path through the woods that passes the Knoll and the MU and you're right on campus. You're also just across the street from Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium, and you're about a 5 minute walk from the Rec.

Maple-Willow-Larch


+1 on both

Stay away from the towers!
 

hawkeyeh8r

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2010
2,159
46
48
36
Ames
MWL would be my choice. youre right across the street from hilton and youre closer to JTS than in old RCA. the orange bus also picks up right in front Maple and drops you off in front of carver and beardshear in the winter if you dont want to walk. i lived in the **** hole called larch. if you dont want to spend the couple hundred extra on maple id go with willow
 

azepp

Well-Known Member
Dec 9, 2009
3,964
140
63
Ankeny
Union Drive. You're going to be walking to class way more often than to a sporting event. You'll want to be close to Carver. Unless you're disabled, you won't have any problem making the occasional trek to Iowa State Center or your intramurals.
 

rahtotheames

Active Member
Aug 3, 2006
711
33
28
don't go to school all you dreams will be crushed by the man. if you ignore my advice, live in wallace/wilson so you can wallow in your loneliness
 

Trainer

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2009
1,682
354
83
As an old BWR resident I can tell you I had the time of my life there. I don't really know what MWL has that BWR doesn't besides air conditioning. The rooms in BWR put the rooms in MWL to shame, much bigger. Your rooms come with a desk, rolling computer chair, loft, dresser, rolling cabinet, and a walk in closet. It is a all men dorm, but there is a all girls dorm right down the street. It is maybe 100yards away from mwl so there is not much difference between walks to games. And there is a large courtyard where everyone plays frisbee, and football. I HIGHLY recommend BWR!
 

rahtotheames

Active Member
Aug 3, 2006
711
33
28
Union Drive. You're going to be walking to class way more often than to a sporting event. You'll want to be close to Carver. Unless you're disabled, you won't have any problem making the occasional trek to Iowa State Center or your intramurals.
the new state gym will be done next fall btw its going to be big enough and state of the art to hold the olympics i heard
 

cyclonedave25

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Jul 10, 2007
21,447
11,169
113
Chicago, IL
UDA is going to be closer to your classes, more than likely. I wouldn't worry about living close to JT or Hilton since those events don't happen as much as class and you can take a 3 min bus ride to get to the sporting events.
 

cyclonez7

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
6,577
1,999
113
Ankeny
Maple has been great so far this year! It's better than Willow or Larch in my opinion. Nice being close to the stadium and there's a dining hall downstairs. Also, it's close to the rec building if you like to play basketball or workout. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to class, but I enjoy the walk. The bus stops right in front of Maple too, so if you're in a hurry you could just take that.
 

cycopath25

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2006
5,957
1,271
113
(307)
I lived in Towers my freshman year then moved to Birch (Dana) for my soph. year. I loved Birch Dana. BWR has some older rooms, but they have some of the biggest rooms on campus.
 

cstrunk

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2006
14,453
4,866
113
38
Longview, TX
Friley.

Short walk to Carver/Pearson where I'd imagine you'll have a bunch of classes. State gym and Beyer hall are very close and being remodeled. UDCC there has a pretty good selection of food. Plenty of buses go right by Friley as well, so there won't be a problem getting a ride over to Hilton, JTS, or the intramural fields by MWL. I would definitely recommend being close to classes over being close to the Iowa State Center.

There's a great community of people in Friley. A/C rooms. You won't regret it.
 

AirWalke

Well-Known Member
Aug 7, 2006
7,040
1,625
113
Des Moines
Old RCA is the way to go! The dorms that I did see at MWL were way smaller, and Friley is a much longer walk from all the athletic events. With the great weather we've had so far for football, the walk from Friley is not bad at all. But trust me; you will appreciate the shorter distance during the winter walking back from basketball games.

Linden has the best positioning out of all the old RCA dorms -- right across the street from the Orange route pick-up, and is the closest to Hilton and Jack Trice. And like others have said, the Orange route is a great route into campus, so you never have to worry about walking too far during the winter to get to your building.

Friley should be your second choice if you prefer a shorter walking distance to your classes instead of sporting events. Whenever I visited friends that lived there, I was blown away by the community. That can't be said for ALL of the floors there, obviously, but at the very least, most of the floors in Friley are very fun to live in.
 

jdoggivjc

Well-Known Member
Sep 27, 2006
61,625
23,880
113
Macomb, MI
To those who lived in Friley dissing on Old RCA because "it's soooo far away from campus", listen - I lived in both Friley and Old RCA. Quit acting like the walk from Old RCA is comparable to the walk from towers when in reality the walk to Carver is only 3-5 minutes longer from Old RCA than it is from Friley. Being that close to the rec and Hilton and JTS easily makes up for the extra 5 minutes walking to class.
 

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