Dorms for Freshmen

I realize there are other discussions about dorms at UW, but many of them are older and lack information about the new North Campus dorms. I’d love to hear from anybody who lived in the North Campus dorms this year, or people who wish they did, as well as those living on West Campus.

What are the best dorms for freshmen? I know getting your first choice on housing can be a mess, but in a perfect world, what dorms (on north campus or west) do you recommend? Social-wise? Proximity to different amenities? Initially, I had wanted to live on North Campus because it felt closer to the IMA etc. Is this logical, or does it not matter that much?

Also, I’m thinking about dorming with two friends in a triple. I don’t think we’d have problems with respecting each other’s space etc. Any praise for triple rooms or warnings against them?

Feel free to add information about anything I didn’t ask about if you want. Thanks!

The north campus dorms had some “opening year” kinks – long waits for food, one laundry room had problems with machines breaking, etc. It got better as the year went on, and should be fine next year as kinks have been worked out.

West campus is “urban” – you’re closer to the Ave and Red Square. Red Square is great for performing arts majors (right by Meany Hall and the libraries are also there).

North campus is “on campus” – you’re closer to the IMA, the HUB, and freshman gen-ed classes in the quad buildings.

One thing to think about when rooming with two friends from high school: will that keep you in your high school circle and not enough branching out and meeting new people? Also, having similar views on sleep hours, noise, desired grades or work ethic, and substance use are all things to consider.

@AroundHere thanks for the insight! As for the high school circle, we have similar enough views on the things you mentioned. We’d considered rooming separately specifically to avoid the not branching out issue, but realized we were all planning on pursuing different majors and different clubs/activities where we’d be able to meet new people. We will definitely keep thinking for the next few weeks before the housing application opens.