William and mary dorms?

[Anonymous]

Junior DC loved W&M. The chief complaint about it on the college forums seems to be the dorms-- that some are not air conditioned and some are actually roach infested. Can anyone talk about your DC's experience? While we do not want to make a decision based on aesthetics, being physically uncomfortable in the freshman housing could certainly negatively impact the college experience, so the online reports give us pause. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Can't speak to the current roach situation, but I spent 4 years without air conditioning in W&M dorms. And believe it or not, I lived to tell the tale.

Seriously, school lets out in early May. It is really only an issue for the first month of the fall semester. Then, yeah, it's hot. Your Snowflake won't melt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't speak to the current roach situation, but I spent 4 years without air conditioning in W&M dorms. And believe it or not, I lived to tell the tale.

Seriously, school lets out in early May. It is really only an issue for the first month of the fall semester. Then, yeah, it's hot. Your Snowflake won't melt.

+1. I survived dorms with no air conditioning in the mid -90's - you know, back in the dark ages. . A box fan in the window did the trick.

[Anonymous]

I went to W&M and the trick is to have allergies. Then they'll let you put in one of those window units.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to W&M and the trick is to have allergies. Then they'll let you put in one of those window units.

Nice! I will have to remember this for my kid.

[Anonymous]

I don't think I had AC in college. In DC.

[Anonymous]

Yep, I also went the allergies route and got myself a nice window unit. Dorms in general there are pretty crappy, even the new ones, since they didn't spring for a decent architecture firm. But if your kid likes everything else that should be pretty far down on the list of things to worry about, IMO. It won't make or break their experience.

[Anonymous]

Rare to have AC freshman year. Either get allergies or get a roommate with them, then you can bring a window unit.
Dorms are generally outdated with gross bathrooms there, but at least it's an awesome education!

[Anonymous]

Ouch! Sounds unpleasant. Is this true at other schools? I know UVA has some unairconditioned dorms, but we weren't shown inside during the tour. The other schools we visited were private and had nicer dorms. Of course this shouldn't be a deciding factor, but DC is 17, and creature comforts are a lot more tangible to a 17 year old than quality of education (which is frankly pretty hard for parents to assess, too). I would feel sleazy asking a doctor to certify allergies when DC has not had allergic symptoms for many years. Is that really common?

[Anonymous]

Some of the best colleges have some of the worst dorms. My dc did a summer program at UVA and many of the dorms are old, gross, and not air conditioned. He also came home with quite a few bedbug bites (in clusters and lines, so unmistakable) and we had to quarantine his stuff and deal with all of that when he came home.

Applications are not going down

[Anonymous]

Yeah, you might have survived 10 or 20 years ago, but temps are going up (global warming) and now they really do need air conditioning.

[Anonymous]

Ha ha your kid will be spending time in the library, not the dorm!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the best colleges have some of the worst dorms. My dc did a summer program at UVA and many of the dorms are old, gross, and not air conditioned. He also came home with quite a few bedbug bites (in clusters and lines, so unmistakable) and we had to quarantine his stuff and deal with all of that when he came home.

Applications are not going down

DD just finished her first year at UVa - brand new (opened this year), beautiful air conditioned dorm...and bedbugs. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, you might have survived 10 or 20 years ago, but temps are going up (global warming) and now they really do need air conditioning.

Oh please! People who choose colleges based on dorms are morons.

[Anonymous]

DD LOVED WM all four years she was there. She lived in at least one un airconditioned dorm. She never complained about it, in fact, I think it was her favorite year. Big room, great view and terrific location.