A potential hurdle for students who want to live on BGSU’s campus is choosing a residence hall. For Joshua Maxwell, associate director of the Office of Residence Life, the decision should meet each student’s needs, which can differ from person to person.
For instance, one student may want to live in a residence hall with air conditioning, while another student may have problems relating to financial insecurity, so they might choose the cheapest dorm.
“I came from a low socioeconomic status family when I came to college, so to find the cheapest residence hall was the most important to me,” Maxwell said.
He said students should not consider the most important criteria, but rather consider what criteria is most valuable for them. For example, some students may value the cost of the dorm and its social life, while others may value how important it is to be close to their academic building.
“The best residence hall for one student may be the worst for another, and someone’s worst hall might be the best hall for others,” Maxwell said.
For example, Centennial Hall might be the best dorm for some students, but it might be the worst for others due to the price. Ultimately, if students become unsatisfied with their choice, they have the option to request a new room.
“The room change process and the room change selection does not end unless the students want it to,” Maxwell said.
He said Residence Life will continue to do whatever they can within their power to address each student’s needs, going through room change requests and beginning the process according to the desire of each student.
“For some students, it doesn’t matter which hall they are living (in), it is more important about the person that they are living with,” he said. “Focus on what you can control like engaging and getting to know your neighbors, involving the hall council or doing activities to join the life of the building and doing things to make the dorm feel more like home as opposed to a place where you just go to sleep. That is the ultimate thing that we want students to experience with the on-campus life.”
Laila Jewlett, a freshman early childhood education major, recommends Founders Hall to on-campus students.
“Founders is relatively close to our friends and is overall a good location to where everything else is on campus,” she said.
However, she believes students should not worry about social life within their dorm.
“No matter where you’re at it’s just a place to sleep. You’ll make friends anywhere so incoming students shouldn’t worry about it too much,” Jewlett said.
Freshman health science major Kersten Seeley believes dorms are insignificant in the long run.
“My advice for those picking dorms is to remember it doesn’t really matter where you live because it won ‘t affect your college experience. In my opinion, choosing a dorm matters least because it’s really just a place you’ll sleep and doesn’t really matter,” she said.
