I can really only rank these dorms from my experiences with women of those dorms. I never lived in the dorm per se…however, I stayed in many a dorms in my life. Here’s what I know.

Earhart, Earhart was a women’s only dorm…I guess if you’re looking to group with females and make some good friends, this is a great dorm, in a good part of campus, close to Purdue West Shopping, and also close to Hildenbrand which has the nicest cafe on campus.

McCutcheon, a co-ed dorm with a co-ed cafeteria, the farthest away from classes you can get in terms of dorm rooms. Not sure I ever dated anyone from McCutcheon, wow…what’s wrong with me, perhaps I should go back and change that now.

Windsor, dated several women here, all female dorm, perfectly located, however, probably the oldest dorm on campus, other than Cary Quad, its the female version of Cary Quad. Probably the closest to classes you can get.

Shreve, Corrie would know more about this than I would, she stayed there here frosh year. Co-ed, good location.

Owen - As far as I know, this is where most freshman athletes live, might be a good way to introduce yourself to incoming freshman football players and provide me with inside information about the program. Never stayed there.

Meredith, used to be called the virgin vault, I never really felt that name was aprapos with my experiences there. Doug fell down the stairs there at 3 in the morning once. Nice little food market at the bottom floor, pretty old building, all women, nice front lawn to sit in and study.

I would suggest, if you don’t already have current friends going to Purdue, try and find out who they might room you with, I’ve heard great roommate stories, and I’ve heard stories that would make your toes curl up. Its a crapshoot. As soon as you find out who your roommate is this summer, try and arrange a weekend meeting with them, and get to know them before your first day on campus. I would choose an all female dorm to really be able to bond, and make some life long friends. I don’t think my wife would trade her time in the dorms for anything. The majority of her friends today are from the dorm and floor she stayed on.

Thats my $.02

K

Good advice Kevin.

Co-ed isn’t a bad choice either though.

If it were me doing it all over again and I could have avoided the quad I would have gone for a co-ed dorm.

Bonding with other girls is one thing…

But if your section of the floor is full of wonderful but shy women… you’ll not meet too many men right away.

After all in Kevin’s example Corrie made life long women friends in a co-ed dorm… so I wouldn’t discount them.

Shreve is probably a good bet, but it’s hard to beat Earhart’s location.

I think that I can add some insight, since I currently work at Purdue. Also, please note that University Residences is currently consolidating down to five dining facilities and they all are (or will be) very, very good in terms of food quality. Here is a link that explains that project:

http://www.housing.purdue.edu/HTML/CampusDining/DiningFuture.htm

Next, some of the facilities are being renovated in one or more stages, AC has been or is being added to most and some are going to be torn down completely. Finally, Earhart and Meredith are now co-ed. Shocking, I know…

Anyway, here is my list:

1.Earhart or Shreve (tie)

3.Windsor

4.Owen

6.Meredith and McCutcheon (tie)

Earhart has its own dining court, so meals are indoors and can taken while wearing PJs and no coat. The west wing has AC and there are a couple of pretty cool learning communities if Leslie is interested in that. Shreve has AC on both sides and is closer to the Co-Rec, though you go outside for meals. Shreve is also more co-ed than Earhart. Both have rooms that are basically identical in size and they are the same disatnce to campus.

Windsor has its own dining facility (opens this fall) and tons of old world charm. It is all female and pretty close to campus and the co-rec. No AC is a downer, though it is included in their renovation plans (I think).

Owen is across the street from the Fred and Mary Ford Dining Court (which has awesome food). Their are many student athletes that live there and it is co-ed too. The rooms are the same size as Earhart, though it has no AC.

Meredith has (really) small rooms and will be torn down someday, so it is not being renovated. Food comes from the Windsor or Earhart dining court. No AC as well. McCutcheon is so far from campus, it has its own area code. I generally avoid reccomending it unless the person is a die-hard Dairy Queen fanactic since there is a DQ across the street. McCutcheon is a good choice for students in Aviation, since you can actually walk to the airport from McCutcheon. Food for McCutcheon comes from Hillenbrand or Earhart.

Let me know if your neighbor would like some more info. I would happy to speak with her.

OK, so I logged in before I started my comment. The only issue is that I did not submit it for like 7 hours so I seemed to have been logged off. So anyway, the above comment is from me…

Darren

Wow great information Thank you!

I appreciate it, and I know Leslie does as well.

If you’d rather not register here please feel free to contact me directly and I can pas your email address on to Leslie.

You can reach me at:

doug @ dougmeade .com

(remove the spaces of course)

Ah Darren!!

LOL thanks for the info man.

I appreciate it.

… and Holy cow you have fesh blogs on your site!

I must go read them. Thanks again!