Marquette University to build $96 million dormitory, demolish McCormick

[warriorchick]

One thing I never realized until I left Marquette and started working for other universities is how rare the sophomore live on requirement is. It is also uncommon for universities to not allow juniors or seniors to live on campus. It is also uncommon to have freshman only and sophomore only buidlings. Marquette residence life is very unique. I wonder if some of those things will start to change as they move forward.

That would be really terrible for the students.  It is bad enough that there is a mad scramble for apartments in October of their sophomore year.  Imagine having to worry about that as a freshman.  You have barely been on campus a month, you haven't even figured out who your friends are, and on top of all the other stressors of adjusting to college life, you have to find a place to live for the following year?

I am pretty sure that there are no plans to change the sophomore requirement. If there were, they would  just knock down McCormick and not bother to replace it with anything. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

That would be really terrible for the students.  It is bad enough that there is a mad scramble for apartments in October of their sophomore year.  Imagine having to worry about that as a freshman.  You have barely been on campus a month, you haven't even figured out who your friends are, and on top of all the other stressors of adjusting to college life, you have to find a place to live for the following year?

I am pretty sure that there are no plans to change the sophomore requirement. If there were, they would  just knock down McCormick and not bother to replace it with anything.

Oh I agree about the freshman live on requirement, that should never change IMHO. But I could see the sophomore requirement changing so the university could increase enrollment without building new housing. Don't know if that will ever be in the cards.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Schroeder has always been sophs, would be surprised if it went frosh. If the new building is basically replacing the population of Straz (honors frosh and sophs), I would expect that Straz will become frosh...along with Abbottsford, Carpenter, Cobeen and O'Donnell. Mashuda, Carpenter (I believe Carpenter has always been a good mix of frosh/soph), Schroeder (and new dorm) would be the sophs dorms.

Just a guess.

Schroeder as a Sophomore dorm.  I got a story with that one. 

My 9th Floor McCormick wing mates along with a few 12th floor people who hung us with decided we would all pick rooms on 9th floor of Schroeder Hall.  Of course where anyone ended up depended on your lottery pick.  (One group of guys decided to pick a triple in McCormick instead.)  Most of the group had decent picks and picked a room on the right wing of the building.  Myself and another friend had terrible lottery numbers and fortunately managed to get on 9th floor but the far left wing.  We both ended up with unknown roommates who happened to be Juniors.   We couldn't figure out what the heck Juniors were doing in Schroeder?

My roommate was whacked.  He constantly blared country music which is the only form of music I can't tolerate.  He installed this huge lighting apparatus over his desk that was so bright we dubbed the "Milwaukee lighthouse."  The weekend gatherings were in Schroeder, so one of the McCormick triple friends would stash beer earlier in the week in my room.  He came to pick-up one Friday evening and I wasn't back from class yet and the Junior roommate told him "Well that can't be my roommates because he's not 21 yet, and that would be against dorm policy!"

My friend across the hall, his Junior roommate rarely even came to his dorm room.  His roommate rarely even slept in his bed.  We hatched a plan for the never there Junior to switch with me.  When my friend finally caught up with him, he knew who my roommate was and thought him a nut and refused to move in with him.  However, he did agree to move to upperclassmen housing.  Maybe Carpenter was the upperclassmen housing?  Problem solved.

By October 1, I relocated across the hall with my friend.  My short-term roommate didn't understand why either despite explaining we were good friends from McCormick Hall.

The other part I could not understand was there were a few freshmen on our 9th floor in Schroeder?  Why? 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Does Marquette still have co-ed floors?  That is also pretty unique these days.

They did when I graduated in 2011. I haven't heard anything about it changing. But you're right, definitely uncommon, even among religious universities. The gendered visiting hours is also an archaic rule IMHO.

[mu03eng]

So the press release said that freshmen and sophomores are going to be in that building.

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that they will move the Honors program from Straz to here, and those will be the only freshmen that live there.  If I were MU, there would be no way I would let rando frosh move in and trash a brand new building.

So, what's going to be the new freshman party dorm?  Carpenter? Schroeder?

I'm betting Schroeder goes freshman, why give freshmen anything nice plus it is the most "protected" and centrally located of the dorms.

East and new McCormick would then be sophomores and maybe honors freshmen, everything else stays the same.

[mu03eng]

Oh I agree about the freshman live on requirement, that should never change IMHO. But I could see the sophomore requirement changing so the university could increase enrollment without building new housing. Don't know if that will ever be in the cards.

I think Chick's point was(and I agree with it) that to secure sophomore, non-dorm housing overwhelmed freshmen would need to start doing that in a month after they show up on campus.

I made a bunch of friends on the 5th floor of McCormick over my freshmen year and we all decided to get a floor on east sophomore year and it was ridiculously awesome....wouldn't have happened had I had to make decisions in October.

[Coleman]

I'm betting Schroeder goes freshman, why give freshmen anything nice plus it is the most "protected" and centrally located of the dorms.

Location is a good point.

Disagree on the other point.

Half the reason for a new dorm is stay competitive in wooing freshmen who are expecting top-notch living facilities. I'd be surprised if they have a shiny-new dorm and then tell visiting prospective students they won't be able to live there.

[GGGG]

That would be really terrible for the students.  It is bad enough that there is a mad scramble for apartments in October of their sophomore year.  Imagine having to worry about that as a freshman.  You have barely been on campus a month, you haven't even figured out who your friends are, and on top of all the other stressors of adjusting to college life, you have to find a place to live for the following year?

I am pretty sure that there are no plans to change the sophomore requirement. If there were, they would  just knock down McCormick and not bother to replace it with anything. 

My employer started letting sophomores live off campus a few years ago as enrollment has increased.  About 70% choose to still live on campus.  Most simply don't want to live off campus...or their parents want them to.

[Coleman]

Thinking about this, it would make everyone's life a lot easier if MU just opened up all dorms to all sexes and years (freshmen and sophomores).

Leave half the space in each dorm for freshman and half for sophomores. Floors are still by gender. If you really want, leave one all-boys and one all-girls dorm, Cobeen and OD, otherwise, just open everything else up. You can do honors floors or nursing floors or whatever in any dorm you want.

Just let people pick the dorm they want to live in by lottery, and leave it at that. I'm pretty sure this is how it works almost everywhere else.

[warriorchick]

Location is a good point.

Disagree on the other point.

Half the reason for a new dorm is stay competitive in wooing freshmen who are expecting top-notch living facilities. I'd be surprised if they have a shiny-new dorm and then tell visiting prospective students they won't be able to live there.

If waiting until their sophomore year to move into the nice dorm is a deal-breaker, then that kid has serious issues with delayed gratification, and I am not sure he would be the kind of student Marquette would want.  They would already have the problem of not being able to let every freshman live there, so what is the difference?

Give the nice dorm to the kids who, statically speaking, are way less likely to trash it.

[mu03eng]

If waiting until their sophomore year to move into the nice dorm is a deal-breaker, then that kid has serious issues with delayed gratification, and I am not sure he would be the kind of student Marquette would want.  They would already have the problem of not being able to let every freshman live there, so what is the difference?

Give the nice dorm to the kids who, statically speaking, are way less likely to trash it.

This

Basically, if a student is picking a school based on how nice their freshmen dorm could be they have an issue with long term planning and not a great fit for what MU should be pulling in.

[jsglow]

I'm anticipating little change in the rules when the new towers open in '18.  Do note that some dorms do combine Frosh/Soph now.  Mashuda comes to mind.  As to how those dorms will be allocated, anyone's guess.

Over the years the university has received feedback regarding the relative success of the current model.  I'd not anticipate any change in the rule requiring Sophomores to live in university student housing.  It may be that upperclassman housing is expanded but with several new apartments as well as fraternity/sorority houses coming online that's that might not be the case.

[reinko]

If waiting until their sophomore year to move into the nice dorm is a deal-breaker, then that kid has serious issues with delayed gratification, and I am not sure he would be the kind of student Marquette would want.  They would already have the problem of not being able to let every freshman live there, so what is the difference?

Give the nice dorm to the kids who, statically speaking, are way less likely to trash it.

By this, you mean this, right?

[Coleman]

If waiting until their sophomore year to move into the nice dorm is a deal-breaker, then that kid has serious issues with delayed gratification, and I am not sure he would be the kind of student Marquette would want.  They would already have the problem of not being able to let every freshman live there, so what is the difference?

Give the nice dorm to the kids who, statically speaking, are way less likely to trash it.

The difference is huge. If you are touring and the guide says that freshmen can live in a brand new, well-appointed building, vs. living in Carpenter Tower or Schroeder, its going to have a huge appeal.

I'm not going to get into it about whether its right or wrong or the "type" of student for MU. If you have a brand new facility, you need to use it to woo students. If that means an honors only dorm for freshmen and regular sophomores, that's fine, but you need to use it as a lure for incoming freshmen.

By the way, sophomores are just as likely to damage a building as freshmen. Schroeder maintained just as much damage from our floor as McCormick did. Do you think 18 year olds undergo some drastic transformation in a span of a few months?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

They did when I graduated in 2011. I haven't heard anything about it changing. But you're right, definitely uncommon, even among religious universities. The gendered visiting hours is also an archaic rule IMHO.

Yea, that visiting hours thing needs to go, it never stopped people anyways. I was with my sister doing a college visit at Iowa and almost every dorm there had Coed floors. When I would go visit Illinois and SIU I would always stay with my female friends and it was never an issue. It's just silly to be honest.

[drewm88]

That would be really terrible for the students.  It is bad enough that there is a mad scramble for apartments in October of their sophomore year.  Imagine having to worry about that as a freshman.  You have barely been on campus a month, you haven't even figured out who your friends are, and on top of all the other stressors of adjusting to college life, you have to find a place to live for the following year?

I am pretty sure that there are no plans to change the sophomore requirement. If there were, they would  just knock down McCormick and not bother to replace it with anything.

For us (class of '10), you had to apply around Labor Day weekend to get the best apartments. By November, a lot of places that weren't signed for would offer deals to get you in. It was stupid.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

For us (class of '10), you had to apply around Labor Day weekend to get the best apartments. By November, a lot of places that weren't signed for would offer deals to get you in. It was stupid.

It was rough. I didn't think I was going to come back my junior year so I had to do a mad scramble in June to find somewhere to live. Luckily found a decent studio but theres definitely thay stress.

[keefe]

Imagine having to worry about that as a freshman.  You have barely been on campus a month, you haven't even figured out who your friends are, and on top of all the other stressors of adjusting to college life, you have to find a place to live for the following year?

I remember that a key requirement for filling out our ten man house roster was the "Does he have a killer stereo?" criterion. Lack of a proper sound system could be overcome by the "He has a hot girlfriend" factor.

In the College of Engineering the former was almost always a given while the latter was somewhat more problematic.

[real chili 83]

Schroeder was frosh and sophs back in the day.

Some sophs were nuts.  Keefe, remember the kid on 10N....dad was a 3 star admiral.  He got caught firing a roman candle down the hallway one day.  He also had a samurai sword, and ran down the hallway slicing a few ceiling tiles. 

Ahhhh, those were the days.

[keefe]

Schroeder was frosh and sophs back in the day.

Some sophs were nuts.  Keefe, remember the kid on 10N....dad was a 3 star admiral.  He got caught firing a roman candle down the hallway one day.  He also had a samurai sword, and ran down the hallway slicing a few ceiling tiles. 

Ahhhh, those were the days.

Pete Eggert. Crazy mofo.

[real chili 83]

Yup.

Had some killer 901's though.

He also had a decibel meter in his room.  He could get the sound up to 120 decibels with ease.  The amp would start clipping at about 125.

[Billy Hoyle]

If waiting until their sophomore year to move into the nice dorm is a deal-breaker, then that kid has serious issues with delayed gratification, and I am not sure he would be the kind of student Marquette would want.  They would already have the problem of not being able to let every freshman live there, so what is the difference?

Give the nice dorm to the kids who, statically speaking, are way less likely to trash it.

I was given a tour of Schroeder as a HS senior (1993) as it was just renovated. I never saw the inside of McCormick until MU Preview but I knew I wanted to live there.  The same thing happened at other schools - I saw the renovated or new dorms which were actually for upperclassmen. I guess it's a carrot: "come here and eventually you'll get to live here."

One thing I remember from a tour at Evansville, 23 years later, was how the phone in the renovated dorm was on a swivel - it was shared between two neighboring rooms. I thought that was rather strange.

[KampusFoods]

8 pages about dorms and no "superbar" post from WadesWorld. Are we in the hidden section of scoop? FWIW I care 0% about where this topic is posted. Carry on.

[rocky_warrior]

Well...I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread...but apparently O'Donnell will not be open next year...

http://www.marquette.edu/orl/res/reshalls/odonnell.shtml

[jsglow]

Well...I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread...but apparently O'Donnell will not be open next year...

http://www.marquette.edu/orl/res/reshalls/odonnell.shtml

I think you're the last to know rock.