hmm mcgill..

basic facts first:

• it's a FEMALE dorm!! so guys..we dun welcome u (check out boss/hamerschlag..it's right opposite us!!)
  
• along margaret morrison street..resnik house (taste of india!! T_T||) right across the road, along with west wing and gesling stadium and university center and.................
  
• we have the sorority girls on one side and welch/scobell/henderson on the other, farther down the street you'll see our great margaret morrison carnegie hall on the right side and the college of fine arts building on the left, even farther down you'll reach the door steps of doherty hall.

things to take into consideration:
*our neighbors...the housing options brochure you'll get TELLS you that mcgill has a quiet environment. THAT IS, IF YOU DON'T MIND THE S******* GIRLS HAVING THEIR ONCE-A-SEMESTER (perhaps??) MASSIVE CHANTING OF HOW-HAPPY-THEY-ARE-TO-BE-IN-THE-S*******. period.

• room conditions after a long summer...DO NOT expect to see a decent looking room when you just arrive. DO expect dirty mattresses (possibly with blood stains) and maybe even a greasy drawer (like mine). the surfaces will definitely be dusty (for some reason, i find dust in mcgill to settle pretty quickly and easily, not sure about the other housing), so be prepared to do some cleaning..maybe a few hours of living in disgust, but eventually you'll get used to everything and find this a great living place!
  
• carpet cleaning exercise..not sure how you want to move about in your room. the floors are carpeted. it was possibly dirty. it then gets dirtier. you try vacuuming it. the vacuum cleaner doesn't seem to work. it is still dirty. so..i always wear my shoes around...slippers are recommended.
  
• change machine..you'll need 4 quarters to wash your laundry and 4 to dry them. no quarters? use the change machine!! so you put in your dollar bill...it gets rejected. you try again...still it gets rejected. no way, i'm gonna try it one last time..._tick_ the 'lil red light is lit. it says, "TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE WHEN.."
  

NOTE: resolution is to go to boss to change quarters..apparently, their machine DO work.

• stairs...if you like exercise, you do great here. mcgill has 3 floors in general. but keep in mind that there's a ground floor when you first step in, where the kitchen, washing machines, dryers, tv and vending machines are. so if you're on the first floor, you'll feel like you're living on the second floor. if you live on the second floor, you'll feel like you're living on the third floor. if you live on the third floor....you know what it feels like now, don't you?

my personal advice:

• if you're an archi major...consider mcgill as one of your top choices. coz for the coming 3 years, your studios will be in margaret morrison. you dun want to walk a long distance ALONE in the middle of the night.
  
• IF YOU ARE COMING TO MCGILL AND RESIDING IN ROOM 208, DO THIS ASAP: go straight to housing services or online to fill out the maintenance request form. report that your heater is not working. becoz it never did.

--anyone who wants to hear about specific personal experiences are more than welcome to email me: ryantan@cmu.edu (ryan, that's me)
--anyone who wants to disagree with me are, too, more than welcome to do so.

P/S: THERE MAY BE A HUNDRED THINGS THAT'S GOOD ABT MCGILL...I JUST POINTED OUT THE DOWN SIDES OF IT. SO DON'T FEEL NEGATIVE AFTER WHAT I SAID. MCGILL IS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE IN, SOMETIMES MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER HOUSING ON CAMPUS THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE...or so, i heard.

--the above comments are absolutely and totally personal to ryan. it does not represent the overall community over here in mcgill. who knows? ^_^ they may think otherwise.--

Okay, this page is waaay expired. But I shall just add on to it anyway.

I am currently living in McGill?. In fact I'm sitting IN McGill? typing this. Well.. For girls, I strongly suggest considering McGill? (I mean, guys can CONSIDER to live in McGill? but they just can't get in).

Downsides: McGill? faces a disgusting seriously lack of facilities. All we have is a TV and kitchen and the TV isn't even LCD. And we have a VCR player. A VCR PLAYER!! HOW RETRO IS THAT!!! I mean compared to Donner and Welsch (God I can't even spell its name) and Henderson we definitely lose hands down. No pool table, no public piano, no gym (heck, only Henderson has that).. BUT!!

McGill? is an all girls dorm.. Which means you probably will feel more comfortable around here. Especially if you are as chorlo (in other words not very feminine) as I am.. Haha. That also mean that we are generally more considerate towards one another. You can have other people blasting music in other dorms when you're trying your best to concentrate cough*henderson,donner,catherdalmansion*cough but in McGill? that usually doesn't happen.

BESIDES~ Why would you want guys in your dorm? It does not make you, any more happening that other coed dorms. If you are that concerned about it being an all girls dorm, just think about it.. Hammerschalg (all boys) and Boss (floors 2,3 are all boys) are like encompassing McGill?.

But then again, quality over quantity.

And I must say that the study lounge is awesome. It's often quiet, or else the other people in here will be my friends. It's the best study lounge I've seen so far and it is so condusive for.. well.. studying! I can sleep in here.

To make up for the lack of facilities, donner is just on the opposite side and there's a gym just 2 mins down the road. I mean if you're going to workout a 2mins walk shouldnt make that much of a difference.

TOILET: I am typing this in a special section because I don't know if 2 rooms sharing a toilet is exactly the most pleasant thing, compared to communal toilet. Sure everything's so convinient.. And you dont have to walk like 1-2mins down long hall ways to get to the toilet. You aren't discouraged to shower because the shower is just right there.

But, you really wouldn't want your suitemate hogging the toilet at 915 for her morning beauty shower while you are scrambling to go to class which starts at 930. (Don't worry, I never make it at 930). And it's a horrible experience for your suitemate to lock the door on one side and forgot to unlock it, leaving you as good has having no toilets.

If you ask me though, I would think that having your own toilet pwns the communal toilets because it is super convinient. Also, you get more privacy with what you want to do, which to me is rather important.

I really like this place despite the lack of facilities. Maybe because McGill? is a small dorm and I get to be pretty close with my friends, compared to bigger dorms where you barely know each other. Hope to see you in CMU! (RYHMED!)