Best dorms to live in at IU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Indiana University - Bloomington
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Here’s some background, if it helps:

I’m currently 19 years old. I took a gap year after I graduated from high school, and will be going into my freshman year at IU this fall. I’m an SGIS direct admit, so I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time at the SGIS building. I’ve been weighing my options as far as dorm choices go - I know that incoming freshman don’t get to request a specific dorm, but rather list their neighborhood preferences. However, I called IU housing and the lady I spoke with said that there would be a space for me to type which dorm I was really looking at and why, etc.

So, I’m a bit torn. Here’s the dorms I’ve been trying to decide between:

-Eigenmann

I’ve heard good things about Eigenmann, mainly that it’s one of the nicer dorms. I have a friend currently living there and he likes it a lot. I’ve also heard that it’s nicknamed “Tokyo Towers” because a lot of Asian/international students choose to live there - I have no idea how true this one is, but I would actually like that. My best friends in high school were Asian exchange students, and I’m majoring in Korean, so I feel like I would fit in well there.

-Ashton

I’m only interested in Ashton primarily because it’s all singles. It’s also pretty close to the SGIS building, closer than Eigenmann. I’ve thought it over and I think I would do best in a single dorm - having that living space where I can go to just decompress and be on my own is really important to me. I already have friends at IU and am pretty sociable so I know isolating myself won’t be an issue that some people worry about with a single dorm. I know it’s rarer to get a single dorm but that’s the hope, anyway. But as far as the quality of the dorms themselves go, I’m kind of clueless there. If anyone could provide some insight, that’d be great!

-Willkie

I know Willkie is one of the enhanced dorms, so naturally it’s going to be really nice, and I’m sure on the pricier side of things. I actually hadn’t considered this dorm until I did the little “Where can I live?” questionnaire on IU’s housing website, and it said that 19 year old incoming freshman are typically assigned to Willkie South. The lady I called said this is not a 100% guarantee, so that’s why I’m considering other dorms too, but I wanted to keep that in mind.

-Spruce

I honestly know next to nothing about this dorm, aside from the fact that I think it’s newer. If anyone has information on Spruce that’d be great!

-Global LLC (in Read)

I think this might be a new LLC, because when I was applying for housing last year before I decided to take a gap year instead, this wasn’t listed as one of the LLCs. There was the Global Village LLC in Foster, and Foster International, but no Global LLC. Apparently, this LLC is located in Read. I don’t know much about Read, but the LLC definitely seemed geared toward my interests. I’m just a bit wary of being in an LLC because I’m a pretty independent person and I’m not sure if being tied to a specific group like that would be good for me or not.
If anyone has experience with living in an LLC, please let me know how you liked it!

So those are the dorms I’m considering… if anyone has any insight on which dorm they think is the best out of these, or if another dorm altogether would be good for me considering my major, I would really greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

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Following. I would also love more info

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My D will be going in the fall and she is wanting Spruce. Partly because she is an Education major and its right next to the School of Education building. Plus it is also the home of the Inspire LLC which she is hoping for. If she doesn’t get Spruce she is hoping for either Read or Willkie.

Her best friend is looking at Central Neighborhood and she is looking at Teeter. One of our neighbor’s who’s D is a current Freshman and in SGIS I believe is in Teeter. She just knows that she doesn’t want the Northwest Neighborhood due to where her main classes will be.

I did see some mini tour video’s on YouTube so you might want to check those out. They are only like 2 minutes long and hit the highlights but that might give you a feel for the dorms.

We also found a blog site called WeareIU.com and that seemed to have some good information from current students about different aspects of IU. There were a few different perspectives on the dorms so you may want to check that out as well.

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Forest hands down :). Great food for us parents too… Bloomingberry will be the end of me…

I’ve stayed in Wilkie for orientation with my student, quite nice. Great view. Spruce / Cedar were very nice also. If you want a chance at singles, Ashton is about it. My student ended up in Collins and next fall in what is affectionately known in our family as Trump Hall (one of the expensive but very nice apartment buildings). These are not open to freshmen tho.