First year students are housed in one of four residence halls. While their names are different, their accommodations are generally similar. Each first year hall houses about 15 students who are all supervised by a student Residence Assistant who lives on the hall full-time. The external doors are locked 24 hours-a-day and activated only by your W&L swipe card. All of the residence halls are a short walk from both the front campus (the Colonnade) and Main Street. About 40% of our rooms are singles and our halls are mainly single-sex. While themed housing is reserved for upperclassmen, first-year student can also select either a double or single for a physical disability or the option of substance-free halls. Rooms are all equipped with broadband internet connections. Besides your Ethernet cable, make sure you bring a window fan, as most of our first year residence halls are not air conditioned. This is most noticeable in early September when school begins, but the cool Virginia autumn means you won't miss AC for long.

Residence life staff members host regular hall gatherings, which might include celebrating a birthday, getting ice cream downtown or ordering pizza on the hall. The staff aims to make each student’s transition to Lexington as easy as possible and to introduce them to all that W&L has to offer. Most students find that strong friendships are formed between hall-mates, due to shared experiences transitioning to college life and learning about different backgrounds.

You may state a preference but, as stated on your housing contract, no housing assignment can be guaranteed. If you want to state a preference, you may do so on your housing contract, or send a letter to the Office of the Dean of First-Year Students. Ask any upperclassmen at W&L and they will describe their strong allegiance to Davis, Gilliam, Graham-Lees or Gaines.
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Roommates are assigned by the Dean of First-Year Students. Starting in mid-April you will be able to log in to myHousing@W&L to complete a questionnaire that helps us get to know you. Are you an early riser? Night owl? Do you listen to country music or alternative? Yankees or Red Sox? From your answers to these questions we’ll match you with a roommate that fits your style!

Washington and Lee boasts a full-time staff of 14 security guards who patrol campus round the clock. They also work in conjunction with neighboring Virginia Military Institute’s security force and the local Lexington Police. We are lucky that Lexington is a small, safe town but we realize that that does not make us immune from incidents of crime. Features like swipe card access on all of our residence halls, the security desk conveniently located in the Commons and our security force all help make Washington and Lee a safe place for our students.

After August 1. We cannot begin housing assignments until all students confirm and return their housing forms.

Bed sizes in the first-year residence halls are all extra-long twin size beds.

The food at W&L is quite good, if we do say so ourselves!

Have you seen Top Chef? W&L's Marketplace employs top chefs from Lexington and beyond who are responsible for whipping up three meals daily for our students. From a Caribbean carnival hosted by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program to our annual Midnight Breakfast the night before exams start, our first year students are well fed!

And we're eco-friendly too. This year nearly 30% of food served on campus comes from local producers, including the University's own garden (tended by W&L students, with guidance from Professor Bill Hamilton of the Biology department). If you have special dietary restrictions or concerns make sure you let our Dining Staff know. They can accommodate anyone from the pickiest eater to gluten-free diets.

Another option in the Commons, which serves salads, soups, sandwiches and other goodies until midnight on weeknights. The E. Café in the Hillel House offers breakfast and lunch options from a kosher kitchen. Students like the bagel sandwiches, smoothies and even authentic New York or Chicago-style hot dogs, with a large dill pickle!  Find out more about dining services by visiting their website.

First-year students are required to carry a full board plan, which includes unlimited access to food in the Marketplace during operating hours, a $50 food debit for fall term, $50 food debit for winter/spring terms, and three guest meals per term for your visitors. The cost for the full board plan for the 2011-2012 academic year is $5,420.

Sometimes you can’t make it to the Marketplace during regular hours, so the purpose of food debit is to allow students to supplement the meal plan with access to the food items available in Café 77, the Emporium (a convenience store in Elrod Commons), the E. Café in the Hillel House or the Briefstop at the Law School. Café 77 serves soups, prepared salads, and sandwiches, The Emporium carries drinks, ice cream, candy, gum, chips, cereals, soup, crackers and other snack items.

The New Student Guidebook will be mailed to all new students by mid-April , and includes links to the forms that need to be completed before enrolling. Our student portal, The Generals' HQ Website, go.wlu.edu/ghq should be your primary point of contact throughout the summer-it's full of additional information that will be helpful when planning the first year at Washington and Lee.

Parents' Weekend is on October 28-30, 2011, and you can find more information here

Local accommodations tend to book a year in advance for Parents' Weekend (good to know for making next year's plans). Your best bet now is to look in Staunton or Roanoke. However, our student affiliate of Habitat for Humanity has a fund-raiser called Habitat Hotel in which over 40 parents took part last year. Habitat Hotel raises around $10,000 towards the construction of a Habitat House in Lexington. Faculty and staff open their homes to families for the weekend, and families donate $100 a night to the local Habitat chapter in exchange. To make a reservation or to ask a question about Habitat Hotel, contact Nellie Rice at nrice@wlu.edu

Need a ride to the airport? Not a problem. Plenty of your classmates will be headed that way, too, so ride sharing usually works. For Thanksgiving Break, you are safe to make flight arrangements for late afternoon the Friday before Thanksgiving. For Winter Holiday, students can leave as soon as their last exams have ended. Most exams are scheduled by the students - some are actual in-class exams, others are take home tests or papers. Many students decide to take all their exams early in the week so they can leave early. Others spread it out over the entire exam period. Roanoke is the closest airport, but students also use Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Richmond on a regular basis before trying Dulles or Reagan around DC.