Hi all, So I came from England to study at Mac and absolutely love it, the main problem is that i don't live in residence. I wish i did so badly it seems like it would be so much fun for first year. One of the reasons i chose Mac was because it is very close to my families house in Ancaster and when i applied i assumed i didnt want to live on residence, now i am so regretting it.... I wish there was still room on rez it would be so nice haha. Anyways how was everyones first day?

Originally Posted by britishCanad

Hi all, So I came from England to study at Mac and absolutely love it, the main problem is that i don't live in residence. I wish i did so badly it seems like it would be so much fun for first year. One of the reasons i chose Mac was because it is very close to my families house in Ancaster and when i applied i assumed i didnt want to live on residence, now i am so regretting it.... I wish there was still room on rez it would be so nice haha. Anyways how was everyones first day?

Technically you can be placed in res for term II. Two people did it in my first year on my floor.

How to go about doing that, however I'm not sure.

You can? :O
Can someone please tell me more about this thing that involves being placed in residence for term II! I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to live on res. I honestly regret commuting so much! :(

Originally Posted by IbrahimH

You can? :O
Can someone please tell me more about this thing that involves being placed in residence for term II! I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to live on res. I honestly regret commuting so much! :(

Contact housing

http://housing.mcmaster.ca/Residence_Admissions/App_Instructions.html

Send an email... term 2 applications start in October... I think you can also be on a waiting list for term 1... best to send an email.

you can get into res right now too I think.

I know last year someone on my floor left for whatever reason and a week later a new person moved into their room (both first years).

You might be placed on a list though...

Also, rez isn't too great. The best part is that it's close to all of your classes, you don't have to clean much nor cook much. The worst part is that it's expensive and you get drunk guys running and yelling through the halls every couple of weeks.

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

every couple of weeks.

that's all you had to deal with? oh man.

It's really hit and miss with drunk people. It can really depend on your section of the building.

I know in Hedden on 3rd floor in my first year it was loud drunks all the time.

Last year in Whidden in my wing on 4th floor I found it very quiet.

All that said the drunkeness is usually only Thursday, Friday, Saturday. During the important times like exam time 24/7 enforced quiet hours are in effect. During the rest of the year if you can't sleep b/c of drunks ear plugs work well. If you find it too loud during the day to work or study there are tons of other places on campus you can look for a nice, quiet spot. Plus there are other floors and study rooms in basements of residences that you can go to as opposed to your room. You have some options.

Really though the loud drunks aren't too bad. When they get out of hand or any time you have trouble with the noise level or behaviour at night you can always call the CA on coverage pager and let them know. Its not as if unruly people have free reign in residence, the CAs are there to enforce rules and control things like noise level at night. There are quiet hours (I think like 11 pm to 8 am or something) so if people are breaking those and people can't sleep they can be asked to stop.

I didn't want to be on res, and for some people, that's hard to believe. People partying and keeping you up until 4 in the morning, your roomate having sex, people having loud enough sex down the hall that you can hear, and generally just not being able to study well in that kind of environment. Yes, there are classrooms and librairies to study in, but it's not the same. I'm happy I stayed off-campus.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

I didn't want to be on res, and for some people, that's hard to believe. People partying and keeping you up until 4 in the morning, your roomate having sex, people having loud enough sex down the hall that you can hear, and generally just not being able to study well in that kind of environment. Yes, there are classrooms and librairies to study in, but it's not the same. I'm happy I stayed off-campus.

Never experienced the sex parts. I think you just heard some terrible stories. XD

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Never experienced the sex parts. I think you just heard some terrible stories. XD

Most likely haha. I remember that thread about like... what surprised people in their first year, and like a good portion of it was about hanky panky on campus. xD

Originally Posted by feonateresa

I didn't want to be on res, and for some people, that's hard to believe. People partying and keeping you up until 4 in the morning, your roomate having sex, people having loud enough sex down the hall that you can hear, and generally just not being able to study well in that kind of environment. Yes, there are classrooms and librairies to study in, but it's not the same. I'm happy I stayed off-campus.

I didn't want to be in residence either ... kinda had second thoughts in September/October but overall, I'm glad i didn't.

I was at first disappointed when I missed the deadlines for rez, then hopeful about the waiting list. But when it got to July I figured I needed to start looking for a place ASAP. Luckily, I found a good one, but was still disappointed that I wouldn't get that "proper" first year experience. Then I found SOCS.

If you haven't been coming out to the events with SOCS so far you've been missing out, but its not too late to get involved. We have a lot of great events going on all weekend, that you should really check out. I won't go into to much detail here, but you can PM me if you're interested.

SOCS is basically the type of community involvement you would get while staying in res, with other people who live off campus. It can suck when you have long bus rides/drives, but there are a lot of bonuses as well. Its cheaper, you eat better food, you get to do your laundry for free, you get bigger rooms and beds, and above all you don't have to deal with drunk people. (Well, that depends on your room mates and neighbourhood, but its still usually less than res). You also get the benefit of SOCS having more upper year students, which is great when buying used textbooks or getting help with a course.

If you're intimidated by all the screaming people in orange jumpsuits, you can come out to the lounge (aka clubspace) after Welcome Week is over. You can also PM me if you don't know where that is.

I know of one or two bad residence experiences but thats it. I had a good experience in 1st and 2nd year overall and I enjoyed the convenience of it very much. If I had the money I would have went in for a 3rd year.

Today I had to wake up at 5:30 to commute to Mac for an 8:30 class. Last year I once got up at 8:13 b/c alarm didn't go off and I still got up and did my usual morning routine and made it on time for 8:30.

Yeah, my res experience wasn't that bad at all.

Oh wait, my residence burned down...

Originally Posted by theomicron

Yeah, my res experience wasn't that bad at all.

Oh wait, my residence burned down...

I know, some jackass did it