Posts Tagged ‘dorm life’
Closing the housing market inefficiencies
For any intrepid comp-sci majors out there, I have an idea for the next Facebook.
Ok, maybe not Facebook, but a social marketplace for undergrad housing, which in the world of Columbia, is probably just as significant to all of us as a the thing called “life” that Facebook covers for the rest of the world.
Here’s my proposal: What if someone made a Craigslist/eBay-esque website that allowed people to buy, sell, or auction their lottery numbers? (Because who doesn’t want more complications in the housing process?!?)
But seriously, let’s say you’re a rising senior who’s just planning on snagging some Broadway singles with some friends. Easily attainable with even the worst 30-point lottery number. But what if you open up your housing portal and discover something like 30/43? Holy shit, that could get like, the underground laser tag arena in PrezBo’s house!!! (Or at least a Watt studio single!)
While that would certainly be nice, you aren’t necessarily dying for Watt, and you’d be more than happy with Broadway, so why not have the ability to trade your number to someone who’s prepared to sell one of their kidneys for their own kitchen and bathroom? More »
Writing up the RAs
And welcome back to another edition of, “Is it really worth $220,000?” This week, I wanted to look at another offender: resident advisors.
Follow with me while I do some FroSci back of the envelope calculations.
There are 5776 students in SEAS and CC, and if we assume 99% of them live on campus, that makes 5718.24 residents (we can count NFL offensive line prospect Jeff Adams as the extra quarter of a person.)
Divide that by the 119 RAs that WikiCU lists as being staffed, and you get a ratio of one RA to every 48 residents.
Let’s assume the average room and board to be $7,750 a year. Knowing that RAs get free housing, that comes out to a cost of $161 per student for each RA. Throw in the free dining meals that freshmen and LLC RAs get, the small payment they receive, and the funding it takes for Student Affairs to train them, and the cost easily exceeds $200 a pop. More »
Cool it, Columbia
How many times have you left open your window on your way out because your dorm room was too hot?
And then returned that night to find your room freezing cold, so you closed the window and went to bed, only to wake up in the morning drenched in enough sweat to make you believe you sleepwalked the entire New York City marathon route?
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The best not-so-legal dorm room pets
Didn’t get that EC suite you wanted? Depressed about living in a double? Dreading the thought of yet another year tossing and turning in an uncomfortable extra-long twin bed?
Never fear! There are thousands of crazy and wonderful pets that can brighten up even the darkest dorm room (read: dungeon). Okay, okay, even if pets aren’t technically allowed, you can dream. So, push aside that pet rock and give away your goldfish to your little sister, and get ready for the best (not-exactly-legal) dorm room pets. More »
We’re surrounded by criminals
Over break, as you probably know, there was a spate of burglaries on campus. Burglary is a serious crime. And these burglars should be punished, lock ‘em up and throw away the key, etc., etc.
But just because there are burglars running around campus stealing our stuff from our dorm rooms when we’re out doesn’t mean we should forget about a terrible crime that happens every day on this campus: My suitemate refusing to wash the dishes. More »
Assigning housing to Homer and co.
The authors in the Lit Hum syllabus are practically Columbia first-years themselves. But they are dormless. Where should they live? More »
Revisiting elevator etiquette with science
I can be impatient. I stick to the left lane on highways, always know exactly how many pages are left in a chapter, and didn’t wear a watch until this year because I couldn’t handle seeing the minutes go by in lecture. I walk quickly, I eat quickly, and I take absurdly long showers because, well, showers are great. But I’m getting off topic. The point is, I can be impatient.
Which is why this (fairly) recent Bwog post, about the efforts of a few freshmen to teach their fellow first-years a lesson in elevator etiquette, caught my attention.
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How to choose the right campus library for you
There are, we are told (by the Columbia Libraries website), 22 Columbia and affiliated libraries. We are not entirely sure what that means. We are sure, however, that there are many libraries on campus, that different study spaces meet different students’ different needs (differently), and that you may or may not have the time to visit all of the more popular choices to determine which is right for you. Do not worry, dear first-years. That is what we are here for. Read on (quietly, if you’re in a library). More »