Spring Break
Students should remember benefits of living on campus
Scott Dennis
Issue date: 2/3/09 Section: Forum
Soon the legions of current Oregon State students will descend upon the UHDS Web site to book housing for next year. Mice will be clicked, spears shall be shaken and shields shall be splintered. Students who have already decided to room with a friend or their current roommate may opt to have some fun with the Roommate Matching Service, knowing that it doesn't really matter what they say now; maybe when the site asks them to list their hobbies they'll mention piñata worship, jellybean sculptures and, of course, trying to take over the world.
After the issue of choosing a roommate has been resolved, students will then have to decide whether to reside on or off-campus. I know that many veteran students like to move off-campus as soon as possible, but before you do I advise that you think about what such a move entails.
It's kind of like planning a vacation to some popular resort; I'll use Walt Disney World as an example. The on-campus residence halls are like Disney's on-property hotels, located in the midst of the action. If we follow this curious analogy and apply it to the Oregon State campus, we might say that the individual halls correspond in some weird way to WDW's own vacation dwellings. In this comparison, Weatherford could be classed as OSU's Grand Floridian, prominent and stately - the upper crust of the housing pie (which tastes like coconut, by the way). Sackett would be our equivalent of Disney's Contemporary hotel as one of the oldest dorms on campus and riddled with interesting relics of its storied past.
The hotel/dorm parallels could go on and on. But what exactly are the benefits of staying on-property? Like staying at a Disney hotel, staying in an OSU residence hall frees you from some of the more troublesome aspects of college.
I already mentioned how staying on campus gives you easy accessibility to the school. You can walk to classes easily and don't have to worry about biking or driving to campus and finding a place to park.
After the issue of choosing a roommate has been resolved, students will then have to decide whether to reside on or off-campus. I know that many veteran students like to move off-campus as soon as possible, but before you do I advise that you think about what such a move entails.
It's kind of like planning a vacation to some popular resort; I'll use Walt Disney World as an example. The on-campus residence halls are like Disney's on-property hotels, located in the midst of the action. If we follow this curious analogy and apply it to the Oregon State campus, we might say that the individual halls correspond in some weird way to WDW's own vacation dwellings. In this comparison, Weatherford could be classed as OSU's Grand Floridian, prominent and stately - the upper crust of the housing pie (which tastes like coconut, by the way). Sackett would be our equivalent of Disney's Contemporary hotel as one of the oldest dorms on campus and riddled with interesting relics of its storied past.
The hotel/dorm parallels could go on and on. But what exactly are the benefits of staying on-property? Like staying at a Disney hotel, staying in an OSU residence hall frees you from some of the more troublesome aspects of college.
I already mentioned how staying on campus gives you easy accessibility to the school. You can walk to classes easily and don't have to worry about biking or driving to campus and finding a place to park.
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