The recent completion of Prince Frederick Hall made it possible for some Freshmen Connection students to live on campus this fall.
When freshman Jared Ross received his spring admittance to this university, he reached out to a friend in the Freshmen Connection program who lived in the University View last year.
“I saw that on-campus [housing] was available now, and he told me to definitely take the opportunity because it’s a much better social experience,” Ross said.
Through the new opportunity for Freshmen Connection students to request on-campus housing, Ross was placed in Oakland Hall with other Freshmen Connection roommates.
“It’s nice to be around everything, be where everything is,” the computer science major said. “I enjoy just having the close access to all classes, activities going on and not having to take a bus to get anywhere in a reasonable time … also not having to cook your own food all the time.”
This semester, the Department of Resident Life placed 488 Freshmen Connection students in dorms. But on-campus housing was not guaranteed, which left 142 Freshmen Connection students on the waitlist for fall housing, said Michael Glowacki, assistant to the Resident Life director.
“We basically treated them like any freshmen. We didn’t hold out special assignments for them,” Glowacki said. “We don’t have one building where all Freshmen Connection [students] have been assigned. They’ve been integrated throughout our housing program.”
Resident Life tried to pair Freshmen Connection students with fellow Freshmen Connection students this year because of their similar class schedule and program.
Freshman biology major Jennifer Sabol was placed in Cumberland Hall with a random sophomore roommate, surrounded by a majority of regularly admitted students. Not having any say in her roommate or placement wasn’t ideal, she said, but she’s happy to be living on the campus, and thus far, her living situation has worked out.
“A lot of other people complain about it, but I think it’s really great because while everyone else is at class in the morning, I can stay in my dorm and have all my stuff sprawled out and it’s completely quiet,” Sabol said. “Otherwise when everyone’s back on the weekends, there’s no difference between us.”
Senior individual studies and psychology major Lili Notovitz was in the program when she entered this university, but at that time she only had the option to live off-campus in the fall.
“I lived in the View the first semester freshman year,” Notovitz said. “I did not really enjoy it that much. I thought Freshmen Connection was distant. It didn’t really have much connection to campus life.”
Looking back, Notovitz said if she was given the opportunity to live on the campus, she would have taken it.
“There’s this quintessential, defining moment when you go to college for the first time, and you really want to have that experience of people who are on the same page as you,” she said. “I think when you’re off campus, you’re almost deprived of that experience.”
Notovitz moved on the campus for her second semester of freshman year, which she said gave her a better experience. Living in an apartment felt more isolated and more of a graduate student experience than a freshman experience, she said.
Senior government and politics and history major Emily Richardson had a similar experience to Notovitz’s, but she said she isn’t convinced that living on thecampus will make a significant difference for students in the Freshmen Connection program.
“It wasn’t the living separately for me, it was the opportunity to engage on campus,” Richardson said. “Once I was able to start taking normal classes, I could engage in extracurriculars.”
But if she had the chance to live on the campus as a freshman, she said she would have.
“I’m not under the impression I would enjoy the dorm, but it’s a very communal experience and unique to college,” Richardson said.
Despite the new on-campus option, about half of this fall’s 912 Freshmen Connection students chose to live in off-campus housing, decided to commute or didn’t receive on-campus housing, said Anne Baum, Freshmen Connection program manager and advisor.
But for Amanda Paull, a freshman enrolled in letters and sciences living off-campus in the View with other Freshmen Connection students has been a good experience so far. She said she considered living on the campus but didn’t act fast enough and the spots filled up.
“We looked what the View was, and it was amazing, and it was unlike what most freshmen got to experience,” said Paull. “And the View is all-student housing and has biggest concentration of Freshmen Connection students, and I really liked that. You get to know a lot of people in your classes and you get a community.”
The opening of Prince Frederick Hall enabled Residence Life to offer on-campus housing for Freshmen Connection students more easily, Glowacki said, which is something they have been hoping to do since the program began.
“It’s not like we saved some sort of disaster, but as we talked to parents and families, anecdotally, we hear, ‘Yes, we think it’d be better for our students to be on campus,’” he said. “We think they belong on campus. We think housing off campus is really more suited to a junior and senior student.”
