Is there any way I can get a single room at McMaster? I really dont know what to expect out of residence but do I get my own room lol

You have to get an early choice in the lottery.

Mac's residence works on a lottery basis. Everyone who meets the cutoff has their names put into the system, and then you are randomly drawn. The closer to the start you are, generally the better chance you get at picking your top choice.

You can rank the apartment style (Bates) or suite style (Mary Keyes) residences high on your preference. These residences have a series of rooms (two to six, dending on which res and which actual room) where you get a single room in a shared suite/apartment room (it works the same as an apartment building does with more than one bedroom).

However, living in Bates and Keyes is not as good as you may think.

I dont understand? What's wrong with single rooms?

The thing is I'm a bit of an early person..like really early...I have a messed up schedule..lI sleep early..I wake up real early to study and do other things..it's a brown thing I guess hahaah! Let's leave it at that..I dont want to be a distraction to my roomate lol

In suite and apartment style residences its much harder to meet people because there are no common areas on your floor (the only common space is with your apartment/suite mates). so to meet people you have to enter someone else's apartment/suite.

whereas in traditional style residences there is a common room that all people on that floor (and others) have access to at all times. getting to meet others and socialize is a hell of a lot easier because you don't have to enter someone elses space/have permission.

there are single rooms in traditional residences, but most of them are reserved for upper year students.

and lots of people wake up early to study (I was waking up at 5AM for my exams this term). and if you are in a shared room, there are common study areas you can go to if you don't want to bother your roommate by studying early.

I wouldn't worry about waking up early. If you get up really early like 5am then most likely your roommate won't even notice since they'll be sound asleep. As long as you leave the room light off (small lamp on your table you can turn on for example instead).

Res rooms come equipped with said small lamp.

Originally Posted by lorend

You have to get an early choice in the lottery.
The closer to the start you are, generally the better chance you get at picking your top choice.

I dont get what you said here...

If you get randomly selected in the lottery near the beginning (ie. they pick your name out of the hat and you're #1...) then you get first dibs on your choice of residence. So if you really wanted to get into Keyes, being picked near the beginning means you get a better chance. If there are 800 people in the random draw, and you're picked #799 then chances are all the 'good' choices are taken and you may have to settle with a residence you weren't thinking on choosing. However, it all comes down to your level of involvement and the friends you meet in residence that makes it fun, and not the amenities inside, right?

Speaking from experience, yes.

I got my last choice for residence type (it used to be by room type when I was in first year), but had an amazing time. Probably much more so than if I had got my first choice, from others who lived in the style of residence my first choice was.

okay second question: can we choose our roomates..like I have a friend from school..can i choose to be roomates with him

*sigh*

It's all explained in the residence info you're given (or, if you go to the link it's explained).

You can choose to live with someone of the same gender. But you both must list each other as roommates, and rank your choices as identical.

But that doesn't mean you may not be put into a triple even if you requested to live with someone.

Hey I lived in a single this year and just to let you know its not all its cracked up to be. By the end I would have preferred being in a double because I was really bored and lonely in my single.

Also the only way you can really get a single in first year is if your final top 6 average is 95%+. Mac gives you a single if this is a case. Other than that all the singles are for upper years.

hmm Im just worried I'll lose focus with a roomate..but its okay Im gonna try to be roomates with a friend..we'll see what happens

That can actually be worse sometimes...

How are special accomodations done? are they thrown into the lottery or done before hand?