Dorm Sweet Dorm!

Furman’s campus is so beautiful. You can’t really go wrong with where you end up dorm-wise. For freshmen, there are five residential buildings: Blackwell Hall, Manly Hall, Geer Hall, Poteat Hall, and last but not least, McGlothlin Hall. I say last but not least because I am a little biased as I lived in McGlothlin (or McGlo as we called it) my freshman year. The five buildings make up South Housing (or SoHo as we call it — yes, Furman is so big on acronyms!). SoHo is surrounded by the Soccer Stadium, Plyler Hall (the science building), Hipp Hall (the business and education building), and Trone Student Center. As you can tell, it’s a very central spot on campus, which is great for freshmen to get adjusted to college life and Furman’s campus.

“But what other living options are on campus for freshmen? What if I don’t want to live in SoHo?”

First of all, you can never go wrong with SoHo! Each building has it’s own little quirks and perks. All upperclassmen always tend to speak fondly of their freshman dorm building. I know when I’m giving tours on campus, I love pulling around the SoHo circle and pointing out McGlo as I share some of my fun freshman year stories.

However, there is another option for incoming freshman called the Engaged Living Experience. The Engaged Living Experience is an opportunity for freshman to build community by living on the same hall as other freshmen who are taking the same class in the same program. There are different interdisciplinary programs that are apart of the Engaged Living Experience such as Healthcare Today and Politics & the Human Soul. One of the best perks about the program is that participants get to live in the Clark Murphy Complex (or CMC), which is the residence building typically for sophomores only.

The dorms in CMC are suite-style, so you share your own bathroom with the dorm next to you. This is a sweet deal if you’re not as keen to the communal style bathrooms in SoHo (which I promise are not even half as bad as people make them out to be!).

“What about after freshman year? What are my options then?”

Before I get into extra options, let me explain the basics of the residential options.

Sophomore Year!

Sophomore year, as I previously stated, students live in Clark Murphy Complex with suite-style bathrooms and the roommate of their choice. My sophomore year my roommate was in a sorority, so we lived on her sorority hall with some of her other pledge class sisters. I didn’t really find it to be an issue that I wasn’t in a sorority at all. I thought it was fun to see all there decorations and get to know some of them!

Junior/Senior Year!

Junior and senior year students finally get to live in an apartment in North Village! Yup, that’s right! Their own apartment including their own room, kitchen, and balcony or patio! There are four students in an apartment and the way the apartments are set up allows two roommates to be on each side of the apartment with their own bathroom to share. As a junior, I have absolutely loved my time in the apartments. Cooking my own meals, decorating our living room, and being able to host more friends has been a blast.

Other Options!

The Greenbelt Community is an opportunity open for sophomores, juniors, and seniors that focuses on sustainable practices. They are small cabins by the Furman lake that hosts sixteen students. Students in the Greenbelt community have their own kitchen and other features that support sustainable practices like solar thermal hot war, solar tube lighting, and smart technology to monitor energy and water usage. Living in the Greenbelt is paired with taking a one-credit source each semester to further explore sustainability. I had a couple friends living in the Greenbelt community and they loved having their own little bubble where they could cook, hang out, do homework, and interact with other students interested in sustainability.

The Language Houses offer students the opportunity is grow in their chosen language by immersing themselves in a living option where they are challenge to speak only in the foreign language. They host a series of events to further grow in the culture and language. They also live with other students who are learning the language in order to further build community. There are language houses for Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. One of my close friends lived in the Japanese Language House her sophomore year and really enjoyed growing stronger in her Japanese skills.

 

All in all, Furman has a variety of living options besides the residence halls. Being 100% residential can seem intimidating to incoming students and their families, but rest assured there is something for everyone on campus. One of my favorite parts of being 100% residential is that all of your friends are guaranteed to be within walking distance of you! It’s been such a sweet part of my Furman experience and has really allowed me to meet so many people, both upper and lower classmen .

Best,

Angel:)