Many incoming students have a difficult time choosing which residence hall they would like to live in during their first year at IU. There are many dorms to pick from, and it might seem overwhelming to narrow the choices down. As a current freshman, I live in Teter, and can honestly say it has been the best decision for me. If you are considering Teter and still need some convincing, here is an in-depth review of the Teter Quad.
Structure
Teter is divided into six buildings, five of which are residential. Rabb is the center, which has four buildings branched off from that: Wissler, Thompson, Elkin, and Boisen. The sixth building, Hoffman, is basically an add-on to Rabb. It contains the NST (nest), which used to be a café, but is now utilized as a study/work space.
Residence Hall Communities
Elkin is a thematic community and LLC for the C.O.R.E./Outdoor Adventures program. If you apply and are accepted into this particular LLC on the housing application, you will be placed in Elkin.
Boisen hosts Teter’s Hutton Honors College floors. If you are invited to the Honors College, you may choose to live on an honors floor. Advantages of this include a quieter environment, floormates to study/work with, and occasional floor field trips to different cities.
One floor in Teter Wissler holds the Spectrum thematic community; a living space that offers comfort and support to GLBT students.
Teter is also home to the School of Informatics and Computing LLC. Here, students can interact with others who are also pursuing Computer Science, Informatics, and similar degrees.
Teter Center
As I said before, Rabb is the center building of Teter. The center desk and mailboxes are located here.There is also a library that has tons of fun things to do with your friends! Rabb also holds the entrance to the Formal Lounge, which is another great place to study or hang out. It has a grand piano and two practice rooms for Jacobs students, as well as couches and a fireplace. The Teter Theater and game room are in Rabb as well. The theater has a communal television that people use to play video games or watch shows; you will always find it on whenever there’s an IU game. Adjacent to the theater is the game area, which holds a variety of table games such as pool and foosball.
Teter also has an Academic Support Center (ASC) where you can get free help on math or writing assignments. There are computers and printers as well that students are free to use.
Laundry facilities are located in the basement. There is a long hallway that runs under Rabb and leads to the laundry room, also connecting all of Teter’s buildings. These tunnels come in handy when it’s really cold. You can go from Wissler to Elkin without even stepping one foot outside! There are tables, couches, vending machines, and an ice machine in the basement as well.
That sums up the resources, now let’s talk living space.
Dorm Life
I live in Wissler, but all of the buildings (except Rabb) have the same structure. Each floor has its own lounge, sink rooms, and pods. Teter does not have communal bathrooms; pods are individual rooms that contain a sink, toilet, and shower. There are 6-8 pods on each floor, and the door locks for privacy.
There are around 50 people on each floor, and the floors are usually divided into a guys’ side and a girls’ side. There are typically two single rooms per floor, and the rest are doubles. Also, not everyone who lives in Teter are freshmen; there are sophomores and juniors who live on my floor, too.
The rooms aren’t huge, but there is enough space for roommates to be comfortable. Each room comes with carpet, curtains, built in closets, overhead storage, shelves, desks, chairs, a trash can, and a recycling bin. You may order a mini refrigerator and microwave through the university, or bring your own. With all of this furniture, I found that the best way to configure the room for optimal space is to bunk the beds in an L-shape.
Caption: Here is a good example of how to utilize the space in a Teter double; this photo gives you a point of view from the doorway.]
There is air conditioning in each room, however, the units are a bit odd. Some room units switch to heat in the winter with the building, others can still use A/C. I’ve been able to use air conditioning all year long, although, I would suggest bringing an extra fan if you prefer a cooler room.
Having a quiet room depends on your neighbors; their muffled voices usually carry through the walls if they are screaming or shouting. Side note: please don’t be that one person who plays their music so the whole floor hears. Headphones exist for a reason.
For further convincing, here is a list of pros and cons of living in Teter Quad.
Pros of living in Teter
- It’s in a central location, so walking is easy and convenient.
- Wright food court and C-Store are next door, which allows you to grab food or other necessities fast.
- Red Mango and Pizza X are down the street.
- The SRSC is across the street so you can work off all the Red Mango, Pizza X, and multiple trips to Wright.
- Wells Library and Hodge Hall (Kelley School of Business) are very close.
- Restaurants at Woodland (the best food court on campus) is about a five minute walk.
- Students and staff are very friendly! The maintenance workers assigned to my floor always greet me or hold the door open for me.
- The ASC is in Rabb, so there is no excuse to not get help.
- There are so many places to study: the NST, formal lounge, library, the basement, etc.
Cons of living in Teter
- The athletic stadiums, centers, and fields are located on the very northern part of campus. If you don’t mind walking, it isn’t too bad of a trek, however they are over a mile away (and up a hill).
- Walking to Rawles Hall for a Calc 8:00 am, or to any building on the very southwestern side of campus, can be tiring. Unfortunately, there isn’t a residence hall (besides Collins) that is close to that part of campus yet, but there are plenty of buses that run around the area.
- The furniture is a little outdated, but some dorm rooms have new chairs and desks!
- Residence hall tours walk through Rabb almost every day during the fall and some of the spring semester. This may be distracting to people who want to lounge in the theater or work in the NST; personally, I find the prospective student tours very entertaining to watch.
That’s about all I can think of to tell you! In summary, Teter is a wonderful place to stay, especially for your first year at IU. I’ve met my closest friends because we all reside in Teter; it’s easy to hang out when everyone lives in the same quad!
I hope this review helps with your residence hall preferences. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find yourself moving into Teter residence hall in the near future!
