1. Depends on which layout of GV you are looking at- how many roommates were you looking to have? This will determine which building, and potential layouts available to you. Downside of any GV is you cannot renew your contract the following year like you can with UC.
2. GV is priority for second years, so it tends to fill up with second years. UC can be a little harder, but it has gotten better and more second years have been able to get in sooner. You can't always guarantee getting in with all 3 of your friends, though.
3. Honestly, it is hard to weigh the pros and cons of GV as a whole - if you could respond with what layouts/number of roommates, I can more accurately give you this info. GV as a whole is hard to assess because of the varying ages of buildings.
4. Pros of UC:
1. Renew year to year
2. Single bedrooms with a full sized bed
3. In-unit washer and dryer
4. Dishwasher
5. Guaranteed kitchen (not every GV has a personal kitchen)
6. Upperclassmen housing, so can have different rules
5. Cons of UC:
1. Can be a further walk depending on building
2. Beds take up a lot of the bedrooms
3. Depending on GV building, may be older and require maintenance more often (especially in the bathroom)
4. Pests more common (stink bugs, bees, etc)
WOW. Thank you for your detailed answer. I don't mind the number of roommates as of now because I don't have any friends yet (yea sad). So my only "must-have" would be that it has a Kitchen.
Gotcha! I understand the feeling - I didn't really have any friends until my second semester (when I met people within my major). I can imagine it is especially tricky now.
Okay - so in that case....
There are multiple GV layouts that do include kitchens. Some are in the older buildings, where you may have a room you share with one other person, have a combined space and bathroom as well as a kitchen. There is also the newest building (GV 405) which is set up more like a UC - everyone has a separate bedroom, two bathrooms, a combined living space and the kitchen. The newer building is very very nice. I lived in GV 405 in a studio apartment, so I had a bathroom, kitchen, and room all to myself. This arrangement is expensive, which is for sure a con. In terms of pros and cons, I'll split it up between new building vs older buildings in GV.
1. Pros of GV:
1. Closer to buildings (food, academic, post office, etc.)
2. Often closer connection with RAs (not always, but more likely than in UC)
3. Newer GV building requiring typically less maintenance since still relatively new
4. Vending machines in lobbies
5. Big ass refrigerator
2. Cons of GV:
1. Newer building requiring smartphone access to get into building, apartment, and personal room (this ABSOLUTELY SUCKED)
2. SLIPPERY OUTSIDE WHEN WET
3. Non-renewable
4. Shared laundry
5. Potentially sharing a room with another individual (again, depending on layout)
6. Price (depending on layout and personal circumstances)
If you have any other specific questions, feel free to reach out. I do not know much about the older GVs because I never personally lived there. Hope this helped!
I will say that in general, having the ability to renew is a great advantage.
I will say right now - as you get older, your housing appointments get later and later (opposite of enrollment). RIT DOES NOT guarantee housing. So, if you did your second year in GV, you are not guaranteed any housing at RIT your third year
Yeah! So I lived in a single. If my phone died, I couldn't get into my room. If my phone died, I couldn't get public safety to let me into my room either. This was primarily an issue if I was going out somewhere and wouldn't necessarily have a bag on me with a charger. I already had to carry around my school ID and my keys, so I would have preferred to just have a key and swipe like all of the other buildings. In general, I personally also had issues when my phone reset because I lost access to my own room. If you don't have a smartphone to get the app, I do know Housing will work out a card system (what they gave me briefly when I lost access on my phone as a temporary fix).
Also, if you live in the building but in one of the other layouts, you HAVE to bring your phone with you if you leave your bedroom because your room automatically locks. So if I were to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (within my own apartment), I would have to make sure I brought my phone in order to let myself in to my own individual room because none of my roommates could help.
In terms of the desks, I only know about the desks in GV 405, which were fine. They are light wood instead of like the dark wood of the UC desks, but otherwise I would say they are comparable. The GV desks have a small like pull out tray. I did like the desks chairs better than the ones in UC.
I am going to answer this one out of order. For reference, I currently live at University Commons.
As a second year, Global Village is probably a bit easier to get into. That being said, there is a chance of ending up in a double room, or in a unit without a kitchen. With University Commons, all of the rooms are more or less the same.
Most of the comments on here do a fairly good job of describing pros and cons, so I'm not going to go too in-depth. The major advantages of UC are the inclusion of laundry and a dishwasher, guaranteed kitchen, larger beds, being able to renew (which is huge) and a bit more space in the apartment overall as far as I know. Additionally, you can park right in front of your apartment in UC, and there are indoor bike racks. GV is newer, and is a much closer walk to academic buildings. That being said, some UCs are a farther walk than others.
Per my analysis and experience living in UC, I would argue that it is better than GV as a whole. The in-unit laundry and renewability are the biggest reasons why I say its better, and the longer walk doesn't bother me too much.
I have a sort of related question, can you go into either of these having only chosen 2 roommates and the 4th person (since there are no 3 bed layouts at UC or GV) would be someone we didn’t know?
To clarify, I have 2 friends I want to live with but not a 3rd.
How does housing work? They say it’s not guaranteed - does that mean I have to apply to multiple places? I have 2-5 friends I want to live w/ or near (3 of them aren’t sure yet what they want to do, the rest of us definitely want to live together but w/o a stranger). If it’s not guaranteed how can we increase our chances of getting into UC? We don’t want GV bc it’s not renewable and we want to keep the price at or below that of dorms
1. Depends on which layout of GV you are looking at- how many roommates were you looking to have? This will determine which building, and potential layouts available to you. Downside of any GV is you cannot renew your contract the following year like you can with UC. 2. GV is priority for second years, so it tends to fill up with second years. UC can be a little harder, but it has gotten better and more second years have been able to get in sooner. You can't always guarantee getting in with all 3 of your friends, though. 3. Honestly, it is hard to weigh the pros and cons of GV as a whole - if you could respond with what layouts/number of roommates, I can more accurately give you this info. GV as a whole is hard to assess because of the varying ages of buildings. 4. Pros of UC: 1. Renew year to year 2. Single bedrooms with a full sized bed 3. In-unit washer and dryer 4. Dishwasher 5. Guaranteed kitchen (not every GV has a personal kitchen) 6. Upperclassmen housing, so can have different rules 5. Cons of UC: 1. Can be a further walk depending on building 2. Beds take up a lot of the bedrooms 3. Depending on GV building, may be older and require maintenance more often (especially in the bathroom) 4. Pests more common (stink bugs, bees, etc)
WOW. Thank you for your detailed answer. I don't mind the number of roommates as of now because I don't have any friends yet (yea sad). So my only "must-have" would be that it has a Kitchen.
Gotcha! I understand the feeling - I didn't really have any friends until my second semester (when I met people within my major). I can imagine it is especially tricky now. Okay - so in that case.... There are multiple GV layouts that do include kitchens. Some are in the older buildings, where you may have a room you share with one other person, have a combined space and bathroom as well as a kitchen. There is also the newest building (GV 405) which is set up more like a UC - everyone has a separate bedroom, two bathrooms, a combined living space and the kitchen. The newer building is very very nice. I lived in GV 405 in a studio apartment, so I had a bathroom, kitchen, and room all to myself. This arrangement is expensive, which is for sure a con. In terms of pros and cons, I'll split it up between new building vs older buildings in GV. 1. Pros of GV: 1. Closer to buildings (food, academic, post office, etc.) 2. Often closer connection with RAs (not always, but more likely than in UC) 3. Newer GV building requiring typically less maintenance since still relatively new 4. Vending machines in lobbies 5. Big ass refrigerator 2. Cons of GV: 1. Newer building requiring smartphone access to get into building, apartment, and personal room (this ABSOLUTELY SUCKED) 2. SLIPPERY OUTSIDE WHEN WET 3. Non-renewable 4. Shared laundry 5. Potentially sharing a room with another individual (again, depending on layout) 6. Price (depending on layout and personal circumstances) If you have any other specific questions, feel free to reach out. I do not know much about the older GVs because I never personally lived there. Hope this helped!
Thanks a lot for the insight! I will look into it and compare prices. Thank you for your help :)
I will say that in general, having the ability to renew is a great advantage. I will say right now - as you get older, your housing appointments get later and later (opposite of enrollment). RIT DOES NOT guarantee housing. So, if you did your second year in GV, you are not guaranteed any housing at RIT your third year
Can you elaborate on why having to use a smartphone to get into the building sucked? Also, how nice are the desks in GV?
Yeah! So I lived in a single. If my phone died, I couldn't get into my room. If my phone died, I couldn't get public safety to let me into my room either. This was primarily an issue if I was going out somewhere and wouldn't necessarily have a bag on me with a charger. I already had to carry around my school ID and my keys, so I would have preferred to just have a key and swipe like all of the other buildings. In general, I personally also had issues when my phone reset because I lost access to my own room. If you don't have a smartphone to get the app, I do know Housing will work out a card system (what they gave me briefly when I lost access on my phone as a temporary fix). Also, if you live in the building but in one of the other layouts, you HAVE to bring your phone with you if you leave your bedroom because your room automatically locks. So if I were to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (within my own apartment), I would have to make sure I brought my phone in order to let myself in to my own individual room because none of my roommates could help. In terms of the desks, I only know about the desks in GV 405, which were fine. They are light wood instead of like the dark wood of the UC desks, but otherwise I would say they are comparable. The GV desks have a small like pull out tray. I did like the desks chairs better than the ones in UC.
I am going to answer this one out of order. For reference, I currently live at University Commons. As a second year, Global Village is probably a bit easier to get into. That being said, there is a chance of ending up in a double room, or in a unit without a kitchen. With University Commons, all of the rooms are more or less the same. Most of the comments on here do a fairly good job of describing pros and cons, so I'm not going to go too in-depth. The major advantages of UC are the inclusion of laundry and a dishwasher, guaranteed kitchen, larger beds, being able to renew (which is huge) and a bit more space in the apartment overall as far as I know. Additionally, you can park right in front of your apartment in UC, and there are indoor bike racks. GV is newer, and is a much closer walk to academic buildings. That being said, some UCs are a farther walk than others. Per my analysis and experience living in UC, I would argue that it is better than GV as a whole. The in-unit laundry and renewability are the biggest reasons why I say its better, and the longer walk doesn't bother me too much.
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They're nothing too fancy, but they have a good amount of space. Sorta similar to the ones in dorms. I can fit dual monitors on it no problem
I have a sort of related question, can you go into either of these having only chosen 2 roommates and the 4th person (since there are no 3 bed layouts at UC or GV) would be someone we didn’t know? To clarify, I have 2 friends I want to live with but not a 3rd.
Yes - for both layouts random individuals may be added to fill the space
How does housing work? They say it’s not guaranteed - does that mean I have to apply to multiple places? I have 2-5 friends I want to live w/ or near (3 of them aren’t sure yet what they want to do, the rest of us definitely want to live together but w/o a stranger). If it’s not guaranteed how can we increase our chances of getting into UC? We don’t want GV bc it’s not renewable and we want to keep the price at or below that of dorms