Let me start by saying compared to other colleges, Elon dorms will make you feel like Kings and Queens. Even the older dorms aren't that bad.
There are four possible neighborhoods for freshmen to live in:
- Global Neighborhood
- Colonnades Neighborhood
- Historic Neighborhood
- Danieley Center
I live in Global and highly recommend it. Global and Colonnades are the newest residential areas on campus--built in 2014 and 2007 respectively-- and are, in my opinion, the best places on campus for freshmen to live.
GLOBAL:
I live in the Global Neighborhood, and must say, it is AWESOME. Not only is my dorm beautiful, but you are in a fantastic location. Global Commons is right in the center of the Global Neighborhood, and the Great Hall is comparable to the library. (better, in my opinion.) So I study right in Global Commons, which stays open all night, and can easily and safely walk right back to my dorm, even if it's 2 AM, since it's so close. There's also Argo Tea right in Global Commons, so that's convenient. Plus, I love the way I have grown as a global citizen. There are Global Neighborhood events every Tuesday night, such as Global Dinners with guest speakers and discussion following, a global film series, and more. We even had a Global Neighborhood trivia night, which was really fun. The Global Neighborhood consists of 5 dorms, and the Resident Student Association actually calls them "houses," and tries to get the students to strongly associate with their house, as in the house concept in Harry Potter. There is a points competition between the houses, and each house gets points depending on how many people go to the Global events. So that's really cool, and I love it. You build a house pride and get closer with people not only on your floor, but on other floors of your dorm building as well. In terms of layout, there are double rooms, single rooms, and pod suite single rooms. Each double room is connected to another double by a bathroom. Singles have their own bathroom and you get a full size bed, as well as your own LG Washer and Dryer. Pod suites are two single rooms, with a small common living area space and a bathroom. There is a large common room, kitchen, laundry room, and study room on each floor. Oh! Depending where in the building you are, your room might be slightly different in size. For example, if you have a standard double room, but it is between two pod suites, you will not have to share the bathroom with another double, and your room itself is larger. (That's how my room was!) 4 of the 5 Global buildings have classrooms on the first floor, where many freshmen English and Global classes are held. They are always unlocked, though, so they're great rooms to study in late at night when you want to get out of your room, but don't feel like leaving the dorm. Lastly, I love Lake Mary Nell being right outside of Global- so although we don't have much of a quad, I can easily sit out by the lake and study, which is really relaxing. Lakeside dining hall is very close to Global, as is the gym, student center, and the performing arts center. COLONNADES:
The layout in both Global and Nades is very similar. Two double rooms, connected by a bathroom. If you have a single, you again get a full size bed. Woo! Apparently the double rooms in Nades are slightly larger than in Global, but I think it depends on the building. Names Buildings A and B are a year or two older than C, D and E; so the room sizes vary a tad. The windows in the Nades rooms are larger than the windows in the Global Rooms, but not by too much. Each floor has a large common room, laundry room and kitchen. Nades also has a gorgeous quad area outside, and is very aesthetically appealing with columns and covered brick walkways. Nades dining hall is right next to the residential neighborhood, and hands down is the best dining hall on campus. KOBC- the business school- is also right there, so if you're going to take a lot of business classes, Nades is a very convenient location. Colonnades houses freshmen, sophomores, and some juniors, whereas Global focuses on housing almost all freshmen.
*If you get on the first floor of Nades or Global, sucks to suck. You have to swipe into the hallways, so the first floor is pretty much divided into two halves, making a literal and figurative divide. People on the first floor say they struggle getting to know people on their floor as much and that there's not much community*
HISTORIC:
Although there are 5 buildings in Colonnades and 5 buildings in Global, each building is nearly identical. This is not the case with the Historic neighborhood, though. Smith and Carolina are right next to each other and very similar; they are hall style dorms with double rooms and communal bathrooms. Smith is all boys and super rowdy. And Carolina is all girls, and also rather social; there's a certain reputation Carolina girls have.. If you're not a big partier and typical girly girl, Carolina isn't going to be your environment. These two dorms are adjacent to the Academic Pavilions though, so you can crawl out of bed 5 minutes before class and still be on time. Also in Historic is West, another all girls dorm that is hall style with communal bathrooms; it's the oldest building on campus and is rumored to have a ghost. There's a nice common room on the first floor, though, unlike Smith and Carolina which have no common spaces. Elon does a good job of putting fresh carpeting and floors and the like in the older dorms to keep them remotely modern. No, they're not hotel luxury like Global, but they're not that terrible for freshman dorms in comparison to other colleges. HBB- Hook, Brannock, and Barney- are three little buildings that are connected and have suites, in a sense. You open a door from outside and there's a little hallway with a bathroom, water fountain and 3-4 double rooms. You get really close with the 8 other people you're living with, but in terms of meeting people you don't have a whole entire hall like most dorms. Some in HBB say they feel isolated. If you're a social person, though, just go upstairs to the suite above you, and introduce yourself; everyone's looking to make friends--HBB is as isolated as you make it. If you want to meet more people in the complex you can; you just have to take a bit more initiative. Virginia is a suite style building that's connected to West; the first floor common room is shared. Lastly in the Historic Neighborhood is Sloan, which is Jack and Jill style like Global. It's primarily two doubles sharing a small bathroom. I've heard mixed things about Sloan. Sloan is closest to downtown Elon where Acorn is, and is also directly next door to McEwen Dining Hall and the comm school. The one thing about Historic is you can't specify on your housing form which dorm in historic you want. You would just put Historic. The dorms in Historic are all so different though, so that kind of sucks, in my opinion. Even if you put you want all female housing, you can get either West or Carolina which are two completely different environments.
Everyone that lives in Historic says what the dorms lack in luxury is made up for by the great community.
DANIELEY:
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I don't even know what to say about Danieley. Danieley is the only dorm complex I've never set foot in. I've been in Daniel Commons, the common building for Danieley residents. That's where Qdoba is, and they just added an Einstein Bagel Bros. Elon also just added a huge rec center with basketball courts and a larger gym for Danieley residents. So that's good!! People in Danieley used to complain that the school didn't give Danieley any attention, but that has recently changed with the expansion of the common building. I don't know if the dorms have been renovated, though. Like I said when I was talking about historic, the college generally does a good job at updating carpets and beds. Danieley was built in the late '90s, so it's not that old. I believe there are 4-5 double rooms with a kitchenette area and bathroom. Danieley is the only neighborhood where there are no LLCs, which I believe is because LLCs are given top housing.. And although you'd think Danieley is newer and therefore better than Historic, the location is a major downfall. It's set far back on campus. To get to the Academic Pavilions where a lot of classes are, it can take 20-30 minutes depending on your walking pace. If a walk doesn't bother you, though, there's not that much bad about Danieley. There's even a biobus that takes you from Danieley to McMichael Science Center in the center of campus, which is convenient for cold winter days. The biobus tries to keep a strict schedule, but sometimes it's early or late, so it's only semi-reliable. Danieley gets away with the most parties of any of the freshman dorms, so I've heard. I have been in a Danieley apartment and those are actually really spacious and nice! Those are only for sophomores though; I'm just explaining the Danieley Flats for freshmen in this post.
Housing Deposits: Elon says if you apply ED and get your deposit in quickly, you have priority on housing. This is true for the most part, but not guaranteed. I have known a couple people that applied ED and sent their deposit in quickly, and have gotten their last choice housing. For the most part this does not happen, but I just wanted to let you know, there is that possibility, and I definitely have heard stories about it. (One of my friends applied ED, and had Historic as her last choice, but got put into the all girls dorm in Historic, called West, instead of her top choice, Global.) I personally applied Early Action, and did not put my deposit down until March. But I still got Global, my first choice! The reason for this is because I applied to a Living Learning Community in Global, and if you get accepted into the LLC, your housing is set. There are some really cool LLCs in global I suggest students applying to if they want guaranteed housing in Global. The LLCs in Global, off the top of my head, are: Creative Arts, International, Italian, French, Spanish, and Leaders in a Global World. There are LLCs in every neighborhood, so if you have your heart set on living in Colonnades for example, then it would be wise to apply to an LLC there.
Housing for upperclassmen is determined based on your cumulative GPA and how many semesters you've been on campus.
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