By: Johnny Congdon
Staff Reporter
jjcongdon@crimson.ua.edu
You know that old saying that your grandma says every time you come over for Thanksgiving dinner,”home is where the heart is?.
Well the results of a Capstone News Now UA Student Survey seem to bear the phrase out as many freshmen have moved into a on campus residence hall. If you haven’t noticed yet, UA is a rather large campus and has about 36,000 undergraduates. To house all of these students, the University has 14 on campus housing and residential communities. Last week, I went to the Ferguson Center and polled 50 random students. I asked where they lived on campus and then asked them to rate their dorm 1-10. 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. In addition to their ranking I also asked them to give me 3 adjectives to describe their dorm. I was shocked to hear the variety in their answers. I used a complex mathematical average system equation to find a composite final score for each dorm on campus. The following were the result:
1) Presidential Village: Score: 8.2
2) Bryant Score: 7.8
3.) Blount: Score: 7.5
4.) Somerville Score: 7.45
5.) Harris: Score: 7.33
6.) Lakeside: Score: 7.25
7.) Ridgecrest: Score: 7
8.) Tutwiler: Score: 5.85
9.) Riverside: Score: 5.66
10.) Parham: Score: 5.5
11.)Friedman: Score: 5
12.) Bryce Lawn: Score: 4.85
13.) Burke: Score: 4.75
14.) Paty: Score: 2.5
Numbers don’t lie, but the top and bottom of the power rankings wouldn’t surprise most students. For the most part students raved about the brand new dorms located just off the Black Warrior River. Paty was at the bottom of the power ranking and although the smell of Raising Cane’s chicken is enticing, it’s old structure and cramped space lands Paty Hall a last place spot on our power rankings.
The adjectives I received from students ranged from boring, lifeless descriptions such as “ok, sweet, and cool” to colorful, adjectives full of life and meaning such as “luxurious, dynamic, and sophisticated.” Some students had fiery opinions on their new home and others were completely indifferent when it comes to their new living quarters. What we learned from doing these power rankings was that each dorm has its own “nooks and crannies” and each dorm has its own culture. We look forward to seeing the transformation, or lack there of all the dorms on campus.
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