Living on campus is a part of the archetypical college experience, and usually at the center of everybody’s “Remember in college, when,” stories. ODU’s on-campus housing will leave you with plenty of stories, but they will be a mixed bag of good and bad experiences. Because of a shortage of on-campus residences, ODU has a “lottery system” implemented to determine who will receive housing for the next year. Students are given a certain number of points based on class rank, behavior, GPA, student involvement and hometown. Those figures are tallied to give you a number that will determine your rank on the housing application list. Students with higher lottery numbers receive housing first. The bad thing about this is that if you’re a student who lives in Virginia Beach, has a 2.0 GPA and does not participate in student activities, you’re going to be pretty stressed about whether or not you have housing next year. The good part is that if you have a really smart and involved friend, you may not have much to worry about. He or she can “pull” you up on the list as his or her roommate for the next year, which also eliminates the stress of having a crazy, unknown roommate.
For the money, the dorms at ODU can be overpriced, and it seems like each dorm comes with a critical compromise. You can pay $2,500 per semester to stay in Powhatan, but you will probably have roaches. And tack on another $500 for a meal plan. You can stay in the The Villiage and have your own room, but you will pay $3,700 per semeseter. In between, there are the Quads, which are new, clean, and moderately priced, but they have paper-thin walls and come with one community kitchen for each hall to share. The freshman dorms are small and do not have kitchens, leaving you at the mercy of ODU’s cafeteria system, which tends to close on holidays and long weekends. Still, I haven’t spoken to anyone in college yet who just loved their university’s on-campus housing system, and for the first couple years, it is valuable to be at the heart of the University for the memories and learning environment.
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Campus Housing at Old Dominion University
erinfagan
Marine Biology and Oceanography '12
3.5
B
I Never Lived on Campus, but...
I have never lived on campus, but I hear very mixed things. On the one hand, a lot of people need the support that it provides. For people like me, AKA super neat-freaks, it can be a nightmare. Personally, I need too much freedom and require things "my way".
May 09, 2012
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Campus Housing at Old Dominion University
F
I Would Never Live on Campus If I Did Not Have to
It was loud, shared a bed room, overpriced, and the buildings were old. That was my horrible experience with on campus housing my freshman year. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do it all over again my sophomore year. I have to share a tiny bedroom with a roommate and two other girls are sharing the apartment as well. I would love to live off-campus but I would have to have a lease for 12 months. Old Dominion needs to replace the old with new!
Apr 27, 2012
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Campus Housing at Old Dominion University
Tmcle007
Political Science and Government '13
3.5
B
Housing
University village is the nicest with a lot of restaurants and vendors for convenience. Great for upperclassman and doesnt require meal plan. Housing process uses lottery system, not very popular method
Apr 23, 2012
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User rating for Old Dominion University - Campus Housing is
3.5 out of 5
based on 33 user reviews.
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