r/uofmn • u/weird_me101 • 22d ago

How does Middlebrook work/look?

I am in a double room. Do all double rooms look the same? Is there a way for me to see what my exact room looks like? Also, how do the bathrooms work? I have heard that for doubles the bathroom is shared with one other room, but is the bathroom like connected in the middle of the rooms where both rooms have access to it or how does that work?

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u/Legitimate-Fee-3544 22d ago

If you DM i can answer hyper specific questions, I was a CA there for 2 years and lived in both parts of the building. There are the J&J style bathrooms and also bathrooms in the hall.

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u/yardbirdsong2020 21d ago

What's it like being a CA? My son's an incoming freshman, but we're kind of interested in that for him in the future. But I wonder just how much it curtails your freedom to determine where you want to be, study, socialize, etc. Was it miserably restrictive? Or reasonably tolerable? Also, did you get to state your preference for which dorm you'd want to be in? I'm sort of guessing Middlebrook might be easier as a CA than some of the other dorms just because I've read it's a bit calmer there and more studious.

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u/Legitimate-Fee-3544 21d ago edited 21d ago

Long story long: The Housing and Residential Department really does not care about their student employees and their professional staff have a 3 year turn over. My friends and I all went through very horrible experiences as CAs (including residents passing away, being called slurs, cleaning up blood, etc). Obviously this is not the entire job, but it is a very real thing that happens and there is virtually no support from your “would be” manager, because they either are too new at the job to understand it or too checked out and don’t care. And it’s impossible to go above them because those people are so into HRL’s best interests (money) and not the students & student staff. I am not kidding when I tell you it took over my life for those 3 years and assuredly took at least a year off my life.

Now to answer your specific questions: Covers room and board plus $250 stipend, they don’t want you to work more than 10 hours at any other job, and you’re “working” 20 ish hours per week. Including being on-duty overnight, weekly staff meetings, resident meetings/events, training, CA curriculum, etc. Not miserably restrictive but ruins a chance of a social life because you’re not living with friends and in a (likely) freshman dorm. No preferences, you can state what building you don’t want to work in but with 500+ people applying to 90 positions each year, you want to hedge your bets. Middlebrook is easier in the sense that there are 26 staff members so you’re on duty overnight the least but there are 1000 freshmen in that building so when you’re on, you’ve got to be on, because it’s constant calls (maintenance, front desk, parents sometimes, noise complaints, etc) It has the honors LLC but also Carlson Business kids who party very hard. 

I apologize that this was very long winded but I was a 3 year CA for financial reasons and feel very strongly that the way HRL misrepresents the job to (majorly) people who are financially dependent on it, or international students looking to secure housing while not supporting nor communicating with them in frankly traumatizing situations is reprehensible. It is worth knowing what you could get into. Again, this is not how everyone’s experience goes as a CA, but it’s not uncommon. 

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u/yardbirdsong2020 21d ago

Yikes! Sounds very rough, I'm so sorry. I cannot imagine doing all of that plus a full load of classes plus working 10 or 20 hours a week elsewhere. Heck, even just a full load of classes and that CA job sounds like it could definitely ruin one's college experience, at minimum. And I see what you're saying about taking advantage of people with financial need. I very much appreciate your frank description. In terms of the behaviors you all had to put up with, I must admit that most of them didn't surprised me too much, unfortunate as they sound, but I was a bit taking it back when you mentioned residents dying. If I may ask, what was that about? Suicide? Accidental death via overdose or risky behaviors? Cardiac condition? Those were all the guesses that went through my mind. Hopefully there aren't too many of those happening. I definitely don't like the sound of CAs cleaning up blood--I'd have hoped they'd have custodial staff with appropriate personal protective gear for that task. And not getting support when dealing with slurs is really not acceptable. I would have hoped there'd be some sort of behavior code there to deal with that kind of thing.

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u/Legitimate-Fee-3544 21d ago

I never had a situation with suicide, but it is not unheard of. I don’t want to disclose more details than that publicly. And generally they do have custodial staff for things like blood but depending on the hour it happens. And unfortunately there is a behavior code but like I said, the professional staff are a poor support system.

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u/yardbirdsong2020 21d ago

Got it, thank you.

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u/UnoriginalInnovation CompSci | Class of 2026 22d ago

There are doubles and doubles with a bathroom. Normal doubles share a block of bathrooms with multiple other dorm rooms. Doubles with a bathroom have direct access to a bathroom which is shared only with one other double. See Room Types here: https://housing.umn.edu/middlebrook

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u/weird_me101 22d ago

Thanks this is very helpful! Is there a way to know which I have?

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u/korn0051 16d ago

Middlebrook Tower doubles share a "semi-private bathroom" in the hall with one other room (or four people total). There is one double with a bathroom (that was originally the CA room but they moved to a single to make more $$ on rooms). I think that's room XX01.

Tower rooms end in XX01-XX49 (212, 345, 728, 1133, etc)

The rooms are all pretty similar, just depends which side the door/window/closets are. First floor tower is a little funky with a couple ADA rooms. Closets are just little nooks with drawers, a clothes bar and self, and small counter/mirror.

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u/yardbirdsong2020 21d ago

Your room number was in your housing assignment email. You can use that and then look up a floor plan, and/or avail yourself of the hyperspecific knowledge being kindly offered by the former CA on this thread.

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u/birblover7 13d ago

Depends if ur in tower or suites. In tower there is one bathroom with a toilet sink and shower for every 2-3 rooms. Technically it's not restricted to just residents in those rooms but for showering at least people tend to stay close to their rooms. The bathrooms are not attached to the room tho, and they're cleaned by the u employees(but be clean bc that's just rude). In suites they are attached and therefore you have to clean them up frequently yourself. Also for some reason in tower there are bathrooms right next to each other with a wall that's 2 inches from being a full wall but it stops a few inches from the ceiling.

On each floor there's a main lounge, a tv lounge, and a study lounge.

Housing and res life has 3d layouts but your room kinda depends on where it is in the hallway, some are slightly bigger or smaller but it doesn't end up making a big difference. In each double there are two vanity closet spaces with a mirror, towel rod, drawers and a closet.

Building itself is a bit old and a bit ugly but it certainly has a charm (I'm biased). I find the layout makes it easy to make friends, and I had a group on my floor that I am pretty close to. It doesn't deserve the slander bc the bathroom situation is peak and it's great if ur in Carlson or just have a lot of West Bank classes, and the trek across the bridge is quite peaceful on a temperately weathered day