Do you have any concerns about living in res? Post them, and we'll get back to you about them.

I think the biggest concern people have in rez when moving in is:

1) Moving into a room with complete strangers
2) Those roommates being people that they won't get along with
3) Being stuck with someone you don't like

Ooookay. I have a few points to address everyone's concerns.

For those people who do not have a roommate that they already know, you may find it a little bit akward at first. However, lots of people moving into res are in the same position as yourself. Use welcome week to your advantage, and get to know your roommate(s) as much as possible. Ask them about themselves, but don't forget to ask about home, pets, classes etc. Once you break the ice talking gets a little bit easier.

If you're hungry, ask if they want to come with you to get some food. If you're going out to do something during welcome week, ask if they want to come along. The more time you spend doing things together, the more you can get to know each other and the less likely you will see each other as strangers, and more as friends. It won't be an instant thing, but after a few days you will get to know each other a lot better, which will be beneficial to how you will interact throughout the school year.

However, you have to be open to trying things. If you are asked to go somewhere with a roommate, don't automatically say no because you think you won't enjoy it. TRY IT OUT FIRST. If you don't like what you're doing, you can always leave, but to not go and try it out is to miss out on an opportunity. You will also have to respect that some people will absolutely NOT want to do anything, and that is okay too. In that case, you can talk to other people on your floor and see what they're doing.

Now time for stories: Three of my housemates lived together in the same res room, and have continued to be close friends. We're going into our fourth year, and have lived in the same house off-campus for three. I know lots of roommates who never met previous to MAC, and are now best friends. There is a good possibility that if you are willing to meet other people and socialize with others you will be very close to your roommate.

Now, not all roommates get along all the time. Personalities will clash, as will sleep schedules, socializing and lots of other things. If you have a beef with your roommate, talk it out. If you leave an issue unresolved it will only get worse.

For instance, your roommate goes to bed during the week at 9pm, and you don't go to bed until midnite. It is unfair of you to keep all the lights on, have music blaring, and people coming to visit you in your room. If you are in your room, you should respect your roommate wanting to sleep, and should keep the noise down. And if you want to socialize, you should go outside of your room to do so. The key to living with someone is to compromise.

And, if you are having severe problems, use a mediator. See at first if you have a friend or acquiantence in common, and use them during your discussion.

Also, talk to the CA on your floor; they go through two weeks of training (and lived in res themselves) so they know how to handle a wealth of issues. See what they suggest for you to do.

Now, there is also the possibilty that you and your roommate dislike each other a lot. The best way to deal with the situation is to be as civil as possible. Don't do things purposefully to piss them off, as they will do the same things to you. This is where floormates come in. Instead of spending time with your roommate, spend time with people on your floor. Instead of studying in your room, use the library or a study room in your res. And, as previously mentioned, talk to your CA.

From my experience, most roommates get along with each other pretty well. Spats do occur, but that's pretty normal with living in such tight quarters. And if the roommates didn't get along, they would be as civil as possible, and take refuge in other places when things got to bothersome.

I'm worried about THEFT. I am getting an expensive laptop for school and I want to know that if I'm out socializing that I don't have to worry about my roommates and/or their friends. Is there some way to lock it up?

There is nothing formal set up, no.

You could always craft something up, though.

Virtually all laptops have lock holes in them that you can insert a laptop lock into. These are widely available at most computer stores, and you then just loop the other end around your desk somewhere. A lot of people do this.

Incidentally, your roommate is probably the least likely person to steal your laptop, owing to the fact that you have to live with them... I guess there's the chance you could get stuck with someone with really unsavoury friends, but I'd venture to say that's not a likely source of theft, either, for similar reasons. Most thefts are likely due to external sources (probably external to the building), so the best defense is simply to lock your room door when no one's there.

Yup. During your first floor meeting your CA's go over this in detail.

i guess this isn't really about res but i want to make sure i stay fit during my first year so i'm interested in going to the gym for a run everyday...some places say that the membership is free because i've payed my supplimentary fees but other sources say i have to pay like 100$ for a membership..which is it?

The gym at Mac isn't free, you need to buy a membership. Rates vary on how many months you get the membership for. The gym at Mac is called The PULSE.

We will be posting about it on MacInsiders soon, so stay tooned. You can also visit the Athletics website at Mac for details.

I'm told that bedroom doors (always) have to be closed in residence. Is this accurate? If I'm in my room for instance, I can't leave my door open for random socializing?

I believe almost all the doors to residence rooms on campus are "Fire Doors", which means they are fire-resistant and give you extra time to escape in the event of a fire. Of course, they are only effective when closed. My CA's last year enforced the rule about keeping doors closed, but some friends of mine were allowed to prop theirs open because the CA's didn't bother enforcing it. Basically, just prop your door open and if your CA tells you to close it, do so.

Also, with respect to the concerns about theft, I brought a small filing cabinet (about 2 feet tall x 1 foot wide) which had lockable drawers. When I was going out for a longer period of time, I locked my laptop in there because it's a heck of a lot harder to steal that than just my laptop! In general, I also made it a habit to always have my laptop lock in use, so even if I had to step out of the room for a minute I knew it would be safe. Another good thing about having your own little lockable cabinet is you can keep all your valuables in there when you're not using them (iPod, camera, extra cash, etc).

Yes, all doors (in traditional at least; i'm not sure about bedroom doors in bates and keyes) are considered fire doors as you mentioned.

In nearly all cases I have come across, proping your door is a no-no. And, if you do it repeatedly, you will get in trouble. Your physical self can hold open a door for as long as you wish, however.

Bedroom doors in Bates and Keyes don't have automatic closers and so can be left open. The suite/apartment door, however, has an automatic closer and so can't be left open.

Basically, if the door has an automatic closing device, it's considered a fire door and can't be propped open. All the traditional-style residence room doors now have them (they were added to the older buildings in the past few years). Trust me, there was a HUGE battle between students and Mac surrounding this when it was first implemented several years ago. The Ontario Fire Code is a rather arcane and dense document, and the long and the short of it is that for the majority of the residences, they did not legally have to be installed. However, for some buildings (and areas within buildings) they did (it all depends on things like building height and hallway structure). So in the name of consistency (i.e., so the same rules apply to everyone), they just installed them everywhere.

Now, in one way, I guess you can't fault them for wanting to make things safer for everyone, but the impact on floor dynamics was pretty huge. That's not to say everything became horrible (you'll still have a great time), but it did change social dynamics a lot, and people have had to adapt. If you're already a really social person, you're probably not going to see much of a difference (although it does make it harder to find people to procrastinate with, heh). If you're more reserved, however, knocking on that closed door is a barrier that some people would have a hard time overcoming.

It's now just the way things are at McMaster; very few other schools have implemented similar policies. It was funny, when they first made the changes, they said that we were being resistant to it because we'd lived through both systems and so could see the contrasts, whereas incoming first-year students hadn't so they wouldn't know any better. I thought this greatly insulted their intelligence; after all, they would have friends at other schools, and they can, you know, think for themselves, too (as in, "gee, you know I could talk to a lot more people if I propped this door open"). I guess you'll have to decide for yourself if the marginal increase in safety outweighs the social drawbacks.

my concern,
as i've talked about before in the hedden thread is storage!
i was just wondering if you were allowed to rearrange the furniture in the room?

i'm the loft bed and am now planning on bringing an additional rotating locker-style storage unit,
which i hope my roomates will appreciate, as it has a full-length mirror on one side of it.

Now, my only issue is fitting it in!

You're allowed to rearrange the furniture in your room however you like, yes. And in Hedden, nothing's bolted to the floor or walls, so everything is movable. But, honestly, in a Hedden bunk and loft room you're not going to have a whole lot of wiggle room to work with. The arrangement that it's in when you move in definitely may be the best way for it to be laid out - indeed, it may be the only way that everything fits correctly. Still, if you come up with something that works better, by all means, go for it!

Also, you may want to wait until after you and your roommates have moved in to bring up that additional storage unit, so that you have a better idea of whether or not it will fit. I don't know if that's feasible or not since I'm not sure where you're coming from, but it may save the hassle of packing and unloading it on the very hectic move-in day only to find that it doesn't fit.