By now I would guess that all y’all have gotten your dorm assignments. This post will be an introduction to:

• some background on dorms at UCLA
• the types of dorms we have

and my next post will cover…

• meal plans
• roommates
• some of the cool things we have on the Hill
• my dorming experience

Ok, so first off, UCLA guarantees on-campus housing for three years, and we are working on guaranteeing a fourth (at which time we will be the only UC to do so). About 10,000 students live on the Hill each year, which is more people than some towns! Holy cow. Of the students living on the Hill, most are first-years. In fact, over 95% of freshmen live on campus. All dorms at UCLA have co-ed halls and buildings, meaning that girls and boys live together on the same floor, although in Residence halls, bathrooms are not unisex. All the rooms themselves are restricted to the same gender. A new policy called Gender Inclusive Housing was just set in place to change this, but I’ll talk more about that in my next post.

Although UCLA does not organize their dorms into interest-specific communities, there is an opportunity to live in one of six themed communities that center on certain exciting topics. These are limited to one floor each and do not make up a large portion of the dorms at UCLA.

Now on to types of dorms! There are three types of on-campus housing at UCLA:

1. Residence Halls
2. Plazas
3. Suites

Halls are what you would imagine as a typical college dorm experience, very social, doors open, can be sort of messy. Halls are tall, high-rise buildings with long floors. Each floor has two bathrooms, one for boys and one for girls. The bathrooms have many showers, toilets, and sinks, so you rarely have to wait for one if you live in a Hall. This type of dorm is the most social as Halls house mostly first-years (and you have the least amount of privacy). Most importantly, Halls are the least expensive.

Plazas are a beautiful thing / the best option at UCLA / amazing / my favorite type of dorming option, but don’t let my bias influence you. There are two types of plazas: ones with a shared bathroom and ones with a private bath. De Neve and Sunset Village both have private baths meaning that each room has its own bathroom. Hedrick Summit and the Reiber buildings have shared baths, which means that two neighboring rooms share one bathroom (although each room has its own designated sink). Sure, Plazas might be less social than Halls, but that’s why you go out and meet people in student clubs and in your classes and at the gym. This option is more expensive than living in a Hall, but less expensive than living in a…

Suite! Sweet! Ok, so finally we have Suites. They are basically for students who want to live in an apartment but also want to live on campus. Suites are HUGE. They have two bedrooms, a hallway, a bathroom, and a living room (not to mention like five closets). In all honesty, ten people could live in a suite. I recommend this option to people who:

• liked UC Santa Cruz but chose UCLA (the Suites are outdoorsy)
• like walking
• wouldn’t mind living in a motel
• are mildly anti-social (Suites are the least social of the three dorming options)