Curious to see what people have to say 
I posted a thread a few days ago on why I love my residence hall: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1761198-housing-why-you-should-consider-balch.html#latest
Wow, reading your post makes me wish I could apply for Balch 
Posted this in a previous discussion:
"Hey, current freshman here. I’ll try to give you a good rundown of things.
Donlon -
Pros: The “social” dorm (everyone leaves their door open), music playing and an overall wild/fun atmosphere; people love this dorm
Cons: Confusing floor layout; on the older side; no overhead lighting
High Rise 5 (basically a twin building of Jameson) -
Pros: Amazing views of Cornell from the 6th floor sky lounge; each floor has a lounge with an outside deck; you should be able to bond with your suite and/or floor very easily; located right next to RPCC (a dining hall and community center); location next to RPCC bus stop
Cons: Bathrooms need a serious makeover (the showers are bathtub showers… gross); triples feel forced and smaller than doubles; you have to take an elevator to get to your floor (no access to stairwell on the way up) can get very annoying
Court-Kay-Bauer “CKB” -
Pros: This is the most sought-after dorm on North campus; AIR CONDITIONING; NEWest buildings; plenty of spacious study lounges; gives a pleasant hotel-ish vibe compared to other dorms; located near Appel (dining hall) and bus stop
Cons: Some people say no one in these dorms are social (I disagree, it’ll be largely dependent upon your “pod” and rest of the floor); you have to swipe your card to get access into the building and then swipe again to use the elevators or get access to the stairwell on the way up (can be annoying when your friends are trying to come over)
Mews -
Never been inside but it is fairly similar to CKB
Low Rises -
Pros: None (universally known as the worst housing on North)
Cons: Really confusing floor layouts; crappy facilities similar to the highrises without the nice views
Dickson -
Never been inside, but I know that it’s the oldest building on North Campus and one of the oldest dorms in the Ivy League.
Townhouses (secluded housing, a lot of athletes tend to live with teammates) -
Pros: Anti-dorm lifestyle with your own “community” (pro or con depending on the person --> onus is on you to make friends and reach out to other Townhouses); relative freedom from RAs (they are around but don’t have as big a presence as they do in the dorms, naturally); essentially hotspots to smoke/drink; has a community center; near bus stops; huge living areas (each townhouse has two doubles, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a lounge area)
Cons: Farthest away from Central Campus (you have to budget a lot of time to get to class in the morning); RAs are naturally suspicious that students will be up to no good here so they do checks a lot at the beginning of the semester; kind of excluded from the dorm lifestyle of other dorms (you’d probably have to reach out to a lot of people to get to other pregames)
Risley (artsy dorm, don’t be shocked by the people you meet) -
Pros: “The Harry Potter Dorm” This dorm actually has a convenient dining hall which looks straight out of the Harry Potter movies.
Cons: Apparently they wanted to ditch the Harry Potter persona for a “Breaking Bad” persona because this dorm got busted for a major meth lab operation in the basement last semester (NOT JOKING!!!).
JAM House, Ujamaa, Latino Living Center, and International Community Living Center are all program housing -
I think they’re similar to the Low Rises
Hope this helps!"
I can talk about the program houses. Also the “meth lab” was just a backpack that had common drug-making supplies in it, it could have happened in any dorm.
The good thing about the programs houses is that since they are open for freshman to seniors, it is easier to meet upperclassmen and easier to get readily available advise. Also with any of the program houses, you don’t have to be in a band to be in JAM or do theatre to be in Risley. They tend to have a closer community since many people have similar interests and they are smaller than most of the first-year dorms.
Risley is the biggest program house and geared toward people who are into the creative and performing arts from theatre to fine art and music. They put on more larger scale events than the other dorms like Harry Potter night and Masquerave.
JAM is in the low rise community center and has numerous practice rooms and a little bit of recording equipment and for people who really like music.
LLC (Latino Living Center) is pretty small and it’s across from Risley. There’s the Ecology house where you can have pets (that dwell in a cage, like hamsters and hedgehogs) and is actually a hotel that was converted into a dorm. There’s Ujamaa (African culture, in the low-rise community), McCLLU (Multi-Cultural Living Learning Unit, part of Dickson), HILC (Holland International living center), and Awe:kon (Explores American Indian heritage)
The one bad thing about program houses is while generally about 1/3 of the population are freshman, you might not get to meet as many people who may be in your classes.
I would say that I have loved living in program houses and I’ve met people in each college here. If you have an interest that aligns with one of the program houses, I would definitely consider them.
Most of them are pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions about housing or anything feel free to ask.
@Cgzoo42 Dickson isn’t the oldest dorm in the Ivy League (it’s not even the oldest dorm on North Campus; Balch and Risley are both older). It’s the biggest dorm in the Ivy League, so maybe that is what you meant!
I have no idea what is the biggest dorm in the Ivy League, but Dickson is not it.
@skieurope to be honest I just got that off the wikipedia page, which said it was the biggest in terms of square feet.
@Ranza123 the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Not exactly gospel
Like I said, I don’t know what the answer is, but each of Penn’s high rises must have more square footage.
@DreamingGirl That’s actually not true about Risley. I talked to my RA about what happened after it made headlines and he said that a storage room where they kept supplies was used for the lab lol you’re thinking of when they found that random backpack on the street outside of Risley. I don’t want to harp on it because it gives Risley an unnecessary bad rap.
And sorry I was wrong about Dickson. Was told that on a tour way back.
But I never said it was the oldest, I said it was the one of the oldest which it probably is. A lot of the other dorms from back then in the other ivies are probably gone by now.
Factoid some of you may not be aware of:
The high rises & low rises were built as upperclassmen housing.
When I attended only Dickson & Donlon housed freshman on North campus (maybe Balch too, not sure).
Most freshmen lived down Libe Slope on West Campus,and mostly in the “U Halls”, which were demolished about ten years ago.
Ah…the U Halls…not my favorite dorm!
@monydad Were the U-halls demolished? I thought they renovated them into the West Campus housing that exists now.
I can tell you that I personally saw huge construction vehicles with wrecking balls, etc, near my freshman dorm. And now I don’t see the dorm. I didn’t physically see it come down though, so you’ve got me there.
You can actually see it in progress in the huge panoramic photo I linked, #12 in my “some pictures” thread. Which I am about to bump. There is definitely bare ground/construction debris visible, near that crane thing, where there was once a U Hall(s).
Actually I don’t remember exactly what was right there, where that debris was, right in back of the gothics. Maybe one of you other old guys do. It was probably a U Hall though, I can’t imagine what else it would be.
Not sure I would characterize Risley by one incident. My son has lived there for three years and will be there for his senior year, too. While most students have some interest in the fine arts, there are engineers, CS majors and math majors. It’s an eclectic mix of students. To stay there year after year, they have added a requirement that residents get involved in the Risley community. It’s no longer guaranteed that one can stay otherwise.
Do incoming students get a choice for dorms or are they assigned randomly?
You have a choice to apply to specific program houses, for female students to request Balch, the townhouse community, or to request a regular dorm room. You can’t select which regular residence hall you’ll get.
Can anyone tell me specifically about Donlon? I’m most likely going to get that hall since I’ve got a quad squad going on lol.
How are the quads set up exactly?
Location of bathrooms, how are they as well?
How social is the dorm - What are some stories?
The quality of the dorm itself?
How hot does it get (since there is no air conditioning?)
Which floor is the best?
Are there any quiet study halls?