Residence Halls

After reading “Residence Halls”, it gave me a better understanding of what rhetoric is. McCormick’s explanation was a lot easier to understand then reading the facts and key points about what the word means. After reading her story, I felt like she did a good job of explaining what it was. Although I may not agree with everything she said or be able to relate to some of the story, I feel her overall outlook and explanation was relatively strong. McCormick’s comments on what actually occurs in the dorm gives a vivid picture of what a “real life” dorm experience is like and doesn’t try to make the dorm look better or worse then what it really is. McCormick was able to pick out a lot of truth to the brochure and explain the good parts to dorms but she was also able to give good reasoning for why some of the brochure was rather fake. The only thing that I question about her story is why it seemed that the brochure would be targeted towards the underclassman. Since all underclassman are required to live on campus now for their first 2 years, I questioned why she continued to bring up the idea of underclassmen having the choice of living on campus or not. The only reason I could see her bringing up this whole fact was for underclassman who were unsure if they would stay on campus or commute from home. However, it seems like the majority of the population that goes here live a pretty far distance away which would make it impossible for them to commute from home. After reading her explanation of the brochure, I was able to get a clear picture of what it looked like and said. Although I never read or saw the brochure, it seems to me that it is fairly fake when it comes to the information that is provided and it would have done no good for me reading it considering I have no choice if I lived on campus or not. Other than being an RA, it seems like no upperclassman live on campus and the brochures so called persuasion really wouldn’t work considering almost everyone moves off campus once they have the chance. Air conditioning, a kitchen, a bigger place to live, and a place that they can call their “own” seems to be a better ideal home for most college students. As a first year student leaving in a dorm, I have to say that it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe it’s because I got lucky and have a sweet roommate and RA but as long as you come in with an open mind, living in a dorm really isn’t that bad. However I do have to agree with McCormick’s comment on the food and how it seems like they have a lot to offer, but really after eating 2 meals a day with the same food, it gets boring after about 3 weeks. The only other thing to do if you don’t eat at a main dining hall is to spend a crap load of money in an al a cart place which isn’t the best thing to do when you already have a lot of money to pay back for school alone.