The housing application is open which means that it is time to find out which is the best dorm for you to live in your freshman year!
Layout
University of South Carolina offers three different layout options for our own campus housing. The first option is traditional style, where a bedroom is shared by two people and then a multi-stall bathroom is shared by the floor. Buildings with traditional style dorms are Bates House, McBryde, and South Tower. This is a great way to meet many people on your floor.
The next style we offer is the apartment style which is four individual bedrooms, two shared bathrooms and a shared living space and kitchen. This is ideal for people who need more privacy or have dietary restrictions and will want a kitchen to cook for themselves. You can find this layout at Bates West, 650 Lincoln, Green Quad, South Quad and Woodrow.
Another common layout is suite style which is a perfect in between of traditional and apartment. The layout is two double occupancy bedrooms that are connected by a bathroom. This style can be found in Campus Village, Honors, Maxcy, Capstone, Preston, Columbia Hall, Patterson and Women’s Quad. I lived with this layout in Women’s Quad and loved it!
The newest layout we offer is the POD Style, which is only available in one building of campus village. Each double occupancy room shares a bathroom, living space and kitchen with other rooms in their pod.
If you want to read student reviews on their experience in their dorms, read my blog post from freshman year.
Price
It is important to pay attention to the varying prices for each residence hall. Four new residence halls called Campus Village will open this Fall for freshman which is super exciting. Unfortunately, they will likely be the most expensive. The housing website provides a comparison resource so that you can see the semester housing rates side by side and find which best fits your budget.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/housing/rates-fees/index.php
Location
Are you the kind of student who enjoys the walk to class? Or do you roll out of bed late and barely make it on time? This is really important to consider because while all residence halls are walking distance to classrooms, some are noticeably further. It is also important to note the closest dining halls near each residence, so even if one is further it may have its own dining options while others don’t. Lastly, you can choose which dorm you want based on its distance from the college your major is in. For example, if you are in nursing, Women’s Quad is very close to your classes. However, you won’t be able to plan for Carolina Core classes because they are spread out all over campus.
Living Learning Community
Is it important to you to have study buddies living down the hall from you? If so, then you would like a living learning community! Different colleges are assigned to a dorm to allow students to form a community with their peers. However, students are not required to live in a living learning community. I was in the women in stem community even though my major is tourism management.
Good luck with your housing application and can’t wait to see you on campus soon!
