Students looking for on-campus housing next semester can surround themselves by people in their same field of study by signing up for a "living learning community."
Patrick Call, associate director of Residence Life, said there are several different living learning communities around campus attempting to match up students who share the same interests and majors.
Residence Life offers students the ability to select specific residence hall wings as well as honors dorms catering to their major or interests when they first apply to live on campus, Call said.
From there, resident assistants assigned to that hall go through specific training in order to foster in program ideas and activities for students who live in living learning communities, he said.
Gila Residence Hall, 1009 E. North Campus Drive, offers female residents a wing dedicated to women in science and engineering as well as women's studies majors because of the lack of women in the field of science and engineering.
Manzanita-Mojave Residence Hall, 1010 N. Park Ave., offers a wing for students majoring in fine arts, including dance, piano, rehearsal music and studying lines.
Call said there are about nine communities in residence halls where students said living with others who share the same major or interests is more interesting and fun for them.
Michael Bagley, an undeclared freshman and resident of Cochise Residence Hall, 1018 E. South Campus Drive, said almost 25 percent of his wing consists of undeclared majors, making it fun to talk to other students about the different majors and career paths they are interested in pursuing.
Cochise Residence Hall caters to students who have not yet decided on a major. The undecided major program's goal is to help students find a major and provide extra steps needed to ensure students find their niche at the UA, Call said.
Call said through the services of the University School and Residence Life, undeclared students living in Cochise have the best resources for deciding on a major at their disposal.
Such services include having faculty fellow counselors come in at least once a week to talk with students about their interests and helping to transform those ideas into a major.
Bagley said he spoke with one of the counselors this year and had decided on being a finance major before coming to the UA, but wanted to be undeclared his freshman year to keep his options open.
"I mainly decided to live here because my parents recommended the dorm to me," Bagley said. "But I'm enjoying it. I have no complaints."
Stephanie Levitt, a psychology sophomore and resident of Yavapai Residence Hall, 1222 E. South Campus Drive, said one of the major advantages of living in Yavapai, an honors hall, is the strong sense of community, which she based on the fact that a lot of students tend to live in Yavapai for two years as opposed to one.
"About one-third of my wing is returnees," Levitt said. "This has been a great college dorm experience, and it really has only gotten better this year. Yavapai has really given me a home away from home for the last two years."
Levitt said the familiar atmosphere leads students to spend a lot of their time hanging out in the lobby, by the front desk, in the game room or the study lounge.
"People are always friendly and wanting to talk about all sorts of things," she said.
Weekly programming events including cookie hour, karaoke night, "Yavajava," "The O.C." night and hall council meetings are some ways for students in Yavapai to socialize, get involved and get to know one another, Levitt said.
"We usually have a strong turnout at events, and it's definitely welcoming and fun," Levitt said. "There's usually a good representation from most wings in the dorm, and we really try to gear programs towards every person no matter how involved they've been with the hall before."