the math cafe is very cool. Im just dissapointed that they hardly have any single residence rooms.

Yeah! I'm excited about May@Mac. Speaking of that, are there any seminars regarding choosing courses, the first day of payment, finances and all that @ Mac? If so, are there going to be held at May@Mac? What are the activities on May@Mac? Just wondering... Thanks!

---

McMaster Life Science 2012

May @ Mac is awesome. You can check out all the facilities and the different services on campus put on info sessions to teach you in detail how to sort everything out before you start at Mac. Paying your fees and registration will all be covered. They also have lots of academic advisors around for incoming students to meet with and they will suggest courses for you to take and advise you on potential second year programs. All the residences are open as well but they only show one or two rooms in each. So you may not be able to see certain rarer types of rooms. Also faculty members and current students will be around to talk to you about what it's like and give you some pointers. Mac @ Mac is great though you'll all have a great time!

Also if you guys are confused about anything after May @ Mac you can just post on here, us current students will help you out

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy

Yeah I visited Mckay during the fall campus tour. I liked it's size, and it's closeness to campus but the rooms looked TINY.
What are your thoughts on Hedden? How many people, room size, closeness to everything...etc.
Also, what are north-quad residences close to and what are west-quad residences close to?

Finally if you plan on living in a traditional dorm, what size meal plan do you suggest having...is regular enough or will I need more?

Really? Although I haven't been in McKay I hear the rooms are pretty big. Come to campus on May @ Mac day and compare to some of the other buildings. Brandon rooms are the notoriously the smallest. I love Hedden its very clean and new and the doubles are a good size and have a neat lay out. Also the washrooms have a unique system from other buildings, there are lots of full single bathrooms on each floor rather than a large floor washroom with multiple showers and toilets. It's a biiig building but it has a looot of spirit. Everyone I know there loves it to pieces. It's not too close but not as far as Les Prince. It's right in front of Les Prince, beside Woodstock which is right beside Commons. It would probably be about a 10ish minute walk to the arts quad if that helps you gage its closeness to everything.

In terms of west quad versus north quad:
North Quad (Edwards, Woodstock, McKay, Les Prince, Hedden, Whidden, Brandon):
- near commons, the main eating place for res people (many buildings have underground tunnel access to commons which is sweet for winter)
- near the gym, which is awesome
- closer to the arts quad, a bit farther from the science buildings
- farther from the libraries

West Quad (Moulton, Wallingford - woo!, Matthews, Keyes, Bates)
- close eating places are bridges (the veggie and vegan cafe), east meets west bistro (best dining hall a couple of years in a row or something, its a restaurant style eatery but take-out is available, its really good but quite expensive... we're talking $8+ for a meal), and my mini mac which is a little place located in the keyes residence which has a tim hortons, a pita place similar to pita pit, and a mini convenience store) so west quad is lacking a full food court like commons but isn't devoid of food places
- closer to science buildings, GSB, BSB, ABB are only a few minute walks from west quad
- very close to Thode Library, the engineering and science library and also the quietest library by faaar.
- much smaller and i would say a little quieter as well

For meal plans... depends on how much you eat and if you'll be heading home often. Regular gives you about $12 a day to work with. Also you will buy some groceries when you live in rez (the Barn is very close and very cheap) so don't worry if that number freaks you out. Also if you don't buy drinks often it saves you a lot. I would recommend regular, most people I know got that one and it works fine for them. Get a smaller one though if you don't eat a lot of big meals because at the end of the year if you haven't spent it all the school takes it. Choose according to your current eating habits and how often you'll be going home.

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy

They will guarantee you a room if you can pull your average up by the end of the year. If you don't you'll be put on a waiting list but you'll be near the top because they always give first years preference. At Mac you don't choose your room, you can list preferences of building and room type but a computer does the assigning and it is all based on luck. The computer will compile all the residence applications (which you do in the summer) and will randomly pick a student number, that person will get their first pick, and this goes on and on until everyone has been assigned a room. Certain buildings are in much higher demand than others (Les Prince versus Wallingford for example) so what buildings you list will impact whether you get your first/second/third/so on pick. It is nearly impossible to get a single room in first year, the VAST majority of incoming first years live in double rooms. If you have an entrance average of 95+ you get guaranteed a single room, in that case you get put in a special lottery which you have a much higher chance of getting your first pick.

In terms of the waiting list and this system. People on the waiting list will get the rooms that are left over if the residences are not at full capacity after this assignment or if someone drops out (which does happen) that room will go to someone on the waiting list. With this of course you won't be able to pick you will be offered whatever becomes available.

The reason they have triple rooms is because the enrolment has been increasing dramatically and Mac wants to give residence to as many first years as possible. With triples they can make the average necessary to get guaranteed residence lower even though those students might not get a triple. As I said in a previous post, a triple is just a converted double with a loft with a desk underneath and a bunkbed.

HAHAHA I can't believe the Les Prince rumour has gotten that far. Believe me it isn't true. Its just like that rumour about UW's library sinking because the engineers that built it didn't figure in the weight of the books. Les Prince is the most in demand residence (well its between Keyes and Les Prince i guess) and it does have a number of minor problems in construction but they have fixed a lot of them already and the rest will be done before next years first years come in. Another version of the rumour is that they will be knocking Les Prince down very soon and starting from scratch HAHA how these things get started I don't know

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy

Thank you for assuring me that. But I've heard that the University will be force to place an extra person to a double room making it a triple room if the rez is high demand. If I apply for a double room w/ washroom, would there be a chance that they would add a person other than my roommate and make it a triple room? I hope it wouldn't happen that way.

but yeah, I've heard McMaster Residences are great! I hope my experience there will justify that!

---

McMaster Life Science 2012

Heck yeaaah Which rez are you in Blythe?



Hedden doesn't have communal washrooms like most traditional style rez's. They have a bunch of private bathrooms (full bathrooms with a shower and toilet) on the floor which everyone can use.

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy

Oh yes all the time. Certain rez's are more party type rez's than others but you'll find something going on no matter what building you end up in. There are normal parties which students randomly have (usually involving lots of alcohol) and then there are parties/event/activities that are planned by the building staff. RLS (Residence Life Staff - these are the C.A's, dons pretty much) always have pretty cool planned activities going on, and each is respinsible for programming for each floor so theres lots of variety in what you want to go to. Each building has an HPA (House Programming Advisor) who is also a part of RLS and plans lots of programs for the building. Sometimes there are inter building programs as well which are fun and its a good opportunity to meet people from other buildings. There is a huge Rez Wide Formal put on every year by the IRC (Inter-residence Council, pretty much like the government system of residence, made up of a hall representative and a programming representative for each building) and its sold out ever year and REALLY awesome. After that there are always the different faculty formals as well and a general first year one, a general arts one, there's lots of formals. So overall there are always lots of programs going on. The RLS team and the programmer of the IRC are specifically there (and get paid to) come up with awesome events so there won't be a lack of fun things to do

Also if that isn't enough, lots of clubs and societys put on events which are cool because they're more suited to special interests. Also at Quarters (our campus bar/night club) it seems like there are events every night! From battle of the bands, to comedy tours, lots of stuff happens at Quarters. There's also clubbing night every saturday and thursday which a lot of students go to.

You'll have tons of fun don't worry

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy

It depends on the building for how quiet you have to be. Certain buildings are known to be louder so C.A's are more leniant. Generally the rule that C.A's use when judging if a student is being too loud, is if you can hear the noise three doors down. That's pretty loud so I think you'll be okay if you want to play your guitar. Also there are common rooms on the floors where you could play as well. You'll probably find some people in rez who will jam with you I know someone who started a guitar club this year in their rez and they love it.

There are quiet hours: 11pm-8am Sunday-Thursday 2am-8am Thursday-Saturday this is roughly the rules I might be a bit off with the number but that's the general idea. It's pretty reasonable, C.A's will always give you a warning if you're being too loud before writing you up as well. Also during exams C.A's are much more strict, there are 24 hour quiet hours and you don't really get warnings if you're making too much noise. But that's understandable.

For Ottawa vs Mac I was in the same boat as you! It came down to Ottawa or Mac for me and the residences were actually a big factor. I reeeeally hated Ottawa residences, the rooms were really small and dingy and I just got a bad feeling from being there. I also didn't like how they didn't have a lot of variety in the building types. Also my rent for the following years would be ridiculous because of the city.

What program are you looking into? That should be more of a deciding factor, which school is stronger in it. Also look into upper year course offerings for your program. That's also what made me choose Mac over Ottawa.

I've actually never been to those two places so I can't really compare Westdale Village is really nice though, its like a very small classy area within Hamilton with fancy restaurants, all the stores you need/want, and an old style movie theatre which is awesome. It also caters to students with a lot of food places offering student specials and the university town staple: pita pit being there. Westdale is great, that's where most students live after 1st year and its a great area.

Hope this helped And let me know which program you're in

---

1 We are from Mac! 2 A little bit louder! 3 I still can't hear you! 4 more more more...

McMaster Class of 2011
Combined Honours Political Science and Philosophy