Can anyone comment on the apartment at Rosalind Franklin University? Would you recommend a first year student to live there? Is it more difficult to get a single apartment over an assigned double??? Any negatives in particular of living on campus? Is there any type of social scene in the apartments (aka parties) or is it a very quiet place overall? Since the first year is a lot of classwork/lecture, I think it is most convenient to live on the RFU campus. Plus save time and money with not having to commute to and from school.
I was recently accepted to Scholl and considering going there (class of 2012). I saw on the website about applying for housing. I was thinking of putting this information in now just in case.
From what I remember it was a mixed bag of students, from SCPM and from PA, CMS, Path, GRAD, etc. It was nice for the convienence of rolling out of bed at 745 am and walking into an 8am class in Pj's. It's especially nice considering most ppl struggle for parking because of all the student converging at the same time around 750am.
There is a social scene, but only during the weekends. The rooms are actually quite nice (2 bedroom suites with 2 separate bathrooms and a shared living room and kitchen) and honestly, they are really nice for student living.
I lived in 301 and bought a foosball table for my floor (2nd). I put it in the lounge area and had great times while studying for Path/Pharm/Anatomy/etc late at night, i'd knock on my neighbors door and tell him I needed a break. He'd oblige and we'd shoot foos for one game, then go back to studying. it was a great relief knowing other ppl were going through the same struggles as me and having friends there, right next door, really helped.
I remember, I was watching the NBC show ER one day and felt inspired to go to Africa after it. Immediately after the show ended, i ran to my other neighbor's door and told him I wanted to go to Africa. He happened to be from Ghana, Africa and we set up a medical service trip that year for my class. We were the only ones from the university to ever go to Ghana, Africa and it was really great sharing that experience with friends I met from my dorm (all 5 of us lived in the same building, 3 from the same floor!)
Most ppl recommend getting a single because of privacy. It's really up to you. There are more single dorms then double, but the double is cheaper obviously and I personally liked to make friends (I never really got the whole "dorm-life" in undergrad so I thought I'd try it out, I ended up loving it).
Probably the biggest negative was that it was ON campus. The dorms are pretty much quiet and contained, but after 2 years, you go crazy. Chicago is a nice city, but the university and school is about 40mins from downtown (40mins highway). You go crazy because it feels secluded and lonely. I really felt depressed my first year because of all the snow and grey clouds. The sun didn't come out for an entire month and I really began to miss home. It was good to have friends going through the same thing, and I guess that's why I loved it so much. It's really dependent on the relationships you make, not necessarily where you live.
Of course, weekends we always did travel to downtown and being that it was far away, really didn't stop ANYONE from partying after exams. Ppl stayed behind of course and studied day in and out, but that really wasn't for me.
HOpe that helps, good luck.
