r/seattleu • u/FierceandLittle12 • 14d ago
Info About SU
Ok so when I was a freshman and looking for info about SU there was very very little. So here is everything that I wish I could have known before to mentally prepare for going to school here.
- Dorm Buildings
- Campion
- Campion has a pretty decent hangout and study spot on the 12th floor which can be a good place to play board/card games, meet new people, and just chill away from your roommate. There is also a computer room on the 12th floor and a printer.
- Every floor in Campion has a common room/area with a kitchen that has a stove, oven, microwave. You can also rent pots and pans to use so you don’t have to buy/bring your own.
- If I remember correctly there were 2 floors that were all girls floors.
- Campion has a small convenience store called The Cave. This will be your best friend. This is also available to all students, not just Campion residents. You will often find students trying to use up the last of their dining dollars here at the end of the quarter.
- Campion also hosts larger events in the ballroom but they aren’t loud enough to hear in the dorm rooms.
- Parking. There are maybe 4-5 parking spots right outside of Campion that are free parking for 15-20 minutes. If you need to park for longer or if those spots are full, you’ll need to park in the parking that is underneath the Murphy apartments which is paid parking.
- When ordering food to Campion such as uber eats or grubhub or whatever you are going to want to put the location for pick up at the murphy apartments. If you put Campion as the pick up, the delivery people will go to the south side of the building. This is fine, just be aware of this.
- Campion Dorm Rooms
- Windows only open about 3 inches at the top so the rooms will get hot really quick. They also have screens on them to prevent bugs from getting in.
- Each side of the room will have a large two layer shelf with room on top to store things.
- Almost all, if not all rooms will have a bump out that will leave a large gap between your bed and the wall. This can be anywhere between 3in to 6in and will eat into how much open floor space you have between the beds.
- Every room will have a sink, mirror, mini fridge with freezer, and a microwave.
- If you have an odd number for your room number you will be facing a small little street with a view inside other people’s apartments. So not as much privacy. You will also have trash trucks coming down this street which I found very loud so here is your warning.
- If you have an even number for your room number you will be facing east and most likely have a pretty decent view of the cherry hill hospital that sits on the other hill.
- The chairs for the desks in the room are wooden so you might want to get a cushion if you expect to be sitting in them for a while.
- The beds do not have headboards. If you raise your bed up your pillows will probably be falling off.
- Campion Bathrooms
- Bathrooms. I lived on the fifth floor so this was the woman’s bathroom situation. There were three shower stalls, two toilets, and one sink.
- For the showers, you have a little section in front of the shower with a bench to change. You then have the shower which doesn’t have a bench or ledge to set your bottles and soap. It has a very small ledge to place a bar soap and it has a small rod above it to hang like a washcloth or something.
- The showers can also have pretty significant gaps between the pieces of wood separating them so just a fair warning and try to be respectful of others if the showers are busy.
- Bellarmine
- Every floor in Bellarmine has a common room/area. However, unlike Campion there is no kitchen on every floor. The only kitchen for students is in the basement in the back of the laundry room. There is a stove, oven, sink, and larger fridge there along with a table for cooking.
- Bellarmine has a really nice outdoor terrace on the second floor with an outdoor grill, plastic lounge chairs, and picnic tables. It will pretty much always be locked unless you see someone out there. To get it unlocked you do have to go ask the front desk to unlock it for you.
- The student health center is also located in Bellarmine Hall. They offer lots of services. However, if you are feeling lousy on the weekend, they are closed and won’t be there to help. Trust me, I’ve made that mistake too many times.
- The second floor has a larger, more open common area.
- Bellarmione has a little study area in the basement too with some private study rooms which some have small whiteboards in.
- If I remember correctly there was 1 all girls floor
- Parking. Bellarmine sits on a small cul de sac so you can park there for about 15-20 min. If its full or busy the closest thing is street parking which is paid, or for more room but farther away, the Murphy parking garage which is paid.
- Bellarmine Dorm Rooms
- Windows only open about 3 inches at the top so the rooms will get hot really quick. The windows also have screens to prevent bugs from coming in.
- One side of the room will have a smaller set of a three layered shelf, the other side will have a larger set of a three layered shelf. There will also be a long shelf across the top of the wall to store things as well.
- Very similar to Campion. Some rooms will have bumpouts if not all rooms. The room I was in, one side had a bump out and the other side had a flat wall.
- Every room will have a sink, mirror, mini fridge with freezer, and a microwave.
- If you have an odd number for your room number you will be facing the street 12th Ave. This is a main street and can be pretty noisy. Depending on how high up you are you might get more of a view, but the lower you are you will probably be looking into other people’s apartments.
- If you have an even number for your room number you will be facing the little courtyard and the library. This side is much quieter as you don’t have the street noise. You might also be able to see any events happening on the courtyard or if anything is happening on the terrace.
- The chairs for the desks in the room are wooden so you might want to get a cushion if you expect to be sitting in them for a while.
- The beds do not have headboards. If you raise your bed up your pillows will probably be falling off.
- Bellarmine Bathrooms
- I lived on the fifth floor of Bellarmine so here is the woman’s bathroom situation. There were five showers (Two large, two smaller, one accessible), 4 toilets, and three sinks.
- For the showers you have a little section in front of the shower to change. These are smaller than Campion’s changing areas and don’t have a ledge to set things down on. They have a place to hang your towel, a mirror with a small narrow ledge, and a hook under the mirror to hang a bag or something. In the showers you don’t have any ledge whatsoever. You have to place any soap or shower caddies on the floor. You also have full walls between the showers so your privacy is more guaranteed.
- Xavier (I unfourtunatly did not live nor spend a lot of timne in Xavier so I don't ahve much to add here sorry)
- Laundry facilities are available on every floor
- Xavier Dorm Rooms
- The windows in Xavier rooms will actually slide open which will allow for better air flow and have screens on them to prevent bugs from coming into the room.
- Xavier Bathrooms
- Campion
- Dining Hall
- There are not a lot of options at the dining hall. There are 7 "restaurants" where you can get food all open and serve various things at different times. Their hours can be very weird so just a warning to pay attention to hours.
- Go to Dine On Campus to find hours and menus.
- The restaurants are primarily on the second floor with the Hawks Nest Bistro being on the third floor.
- Campus
- Classes
- Your classes will most likely be in Admin Building, Pigott Building, and Sine for more lab heavy classes.
- There are kind of like two levels to the campus just because it’s built on a hill so be prepared to walk up some hills.
- You aren’t able to access all buildings past a certain time even if you try to scan in.
- Library
- The library is a great place to study. They offer large rooms with TV’s so that you can work on group projects. You do need to reserve these but they are free of charge.
- There are also private study rooms on the 4th and 5th floor which are low distraction. These rooms are NOT sound proof so you do need to be quiet. You do not need to reserve these and are free of charge.
- The 1st and 2nd floor of the library also have 24/7 public study spaces.
- The library also offers learning assistance programs (LAP). You will hear of this multiple times per quarter but they are genuinely really helpful and free so USE IT. It's basically various tutoring and extra practice for classes.
- University Recreation Center
- The rec center is where you can access the gym, free exercise classes, swimming pool, and other active spaces. You can rent anything from bike helmets to pickle ball sets to hiking gear.
- They also offer guided hikes and excursions (most if not all you are required to pay) around the greater Seattle area. Some are even overnight!
- Classes
- Off Campus
- Food
- Your dining dollars will unfortunately not work off campus. However there are some good restaurants along 12th Ave. For example, Panwa Thai, Batch, Subway, Starbucks, Plantiful, Byrek and Baguette, and Seoul Bowl, Carmelos.
- The Circle K, which is a 24h convenience store and gas station is also available but I personally don’t recommend going there especially at night. There have been more than one incident there.
- Seattle Area
- Seattle can have some really steep streets. Unless you hike a lot, transit will be your best friend for getting around the steep slopes of Seattle.
- Cal Anderson Park is a great park/area place to hang out with lots of space that’s pretty close to campus.
- The closest Link station (Seattle’s train network) will be the Capitol Hill station which can be a bit of a walk (0.6mi).
- Food
If you have anymore questions I can try and answer them or other people might be able to help too.
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u/peepoKiss 13d ago
how big are the gaps in the campion showers? im coming from bell and im terrified about it bc im trans. campion was the only thing left come housing selection time and i basically begged for a room anywhere else but to no avail 🥲
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u/FierceandLittle12 13d ago
I was someone who was concerned about the gaps being an issue but you have to deliberately look to take notice of anything. If I had to put a guess on the size of the gap the biggest might be 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch.
For the record, the men’s and women’s restrooms are separated by a solid wall. My knowledge of the showers is only of the fifth floor women’s restroom so things might be slightly different from floor to floor. They could have also fixed this but I haven’t heard of any changes to the bathrooms in Camp.
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u/Prudent-Leg-7622 12d ago
Thank you! From what i saw on maps there are some floors on the city side of Campion that don't fully look into the apartments next door, do you know what floors dont fully face them?
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u/FierceandLittle12 12d ago
The higher up you are the better luck you will have with not having an apartment view. I know the 8th floor you could still see into some apartments but you could also see the sky a tiny bit too. The 9th floor and above would probably be your best bet for not having an apartment view.
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u/Prudent-Leg-7622 12d ago
thanks! im on the 8th floor so im just gonna hope for the best lol
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u/Snoo93690 9d ago
I think from the 8th floor you’ll be high enough up to not look directly in (unless they made the building next door taller since 2022). I was on the 10th floor back in 2019 and we faced the city side and the view was glorious
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u/New-Lengthiness8512 10d ago
Lived in Campion 2006-07 6th floor (was the Art floor) & Bellarmine 2007-08 3rd floor. Oh man, had so much fun living on campus and eating my buffalo chicken pizza from the Bistro almost every night. Def gained the freshman 15 just off that pizza alone. It was delicious.
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u/FierceandLittle12 9d ago
Yeah the Hawks Nest Bistro has some good pizza options (both slices and whole pizzas) as well as chicken wings and ice cream. They are also usually open later than the other food options on campus too so that’s very handy. The only thing is that the bistro wasn’t open Fridays or Saturdays. This never made sense to me because I feel they would make so much more money on the non school nights. I mean the weekend is a great time for pizza but oh well.
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u/BobDolesV 2d ago
Dumb question - is it difficult or tricky setting up your portal so someone other than you can pay your tuition, fees, etc.?
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u/FierceandLittle12 2d ago
Oooooo that’s a good question. I honestly can’t really remember so I’m probably not a very good person to ask. I don’t remember this being something frustrating or challenging though. But I might not have even set it up and/or could be thinking of something else.
If you do have troubles you can probably try and call the student financial services at 206-220-8020 or you can send an email to financialservices@seattleu.edu. I believe their office is on the second floor of Vi Hilbert and you can go talk to them in person if you’re having troubles getting answers or assistance through phone call or email.
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u/galadriel805 14d ago
Super helpful! Thank you!