<p>So I have a pretty general question.
I'm going a little crazy in my search of a perfect school for me, and I've made a list of criteria. One thing I'm trying to discern is the quality of dorms at a lot of schools. (Which I'll list later, but feel free to comment on others)
I realize that dorms at every college vary and alot of it depends on what you prefer, but if anyone can give me some sort of general idea about any common traits for the following college dorms it would be greatly appreciated! :)
Which has the best dorms on average?
What sets certain dorms apart?
Which dorms are just horrible?
Etc.
Boston College
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Harvard
John Hopkins
Lehigh
Michigan- Ann Arbor
North Carolina- Chapel Hill
Northwestern
NYU
Princeton
Stanford
Tufts
U C Berkley
U C San Diego
U Chicago
U Rochester
U Penn
U Virginia
UCLA
UF
U Southern California
Wake Forest
Washington U
William and Mary
Yale</p>
<p>I really would appreciate some info! :)</p>
<p>Have you looked at the Princeton Review list of “Dorms Like Palaces”? Here is the link: <a href=“Best College Dorms | The Princeton Review”>Best College Dorms | The Princeton Review;
<p>I have! But it doesn’t really give me much insight, I think only one school even appears on the list, which is kind of depressing!
I hope these other schools are too shabby! haha. :)</p>
<p>You’ll also want to find out what percentage of students live in the university dorms, or if there are other common student living arrangements (private dorms, cooperatives, fraternities or sororities, rented apartment or house, etc.). You’ll also want to find out if any of the commonly desired living arrangements are in short supply or expensive, or if you can easily choose whichever one suits your needs and desires best.</p>
<p>On the same campus, there will be great rooms and there will be rooms you would rather not have. This is not a useful way to choose your college. Even a terrible dorm room will only be your residence for nine months.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus yeah theres a lot to know, especially since I’ve never seen a college campus before, but at least iknow what to look for now 
Thank you!
And Siliconvalleymom, yeah I know but dorms most certainly won’t be a deciding factor I just want to have as much knowledge as I can to make a good decision when the time comes, and dorms are something I really do want to know about</p>
<p>Duke East campus - If you’re on the main quad (Georgian architecture), you won’t have A/C. On the upside, you have very large rooms, huge walk-in closets, wooden floors, etc. The newer dorms (modern brick architecture) except Belltower have smaller carpeted rooms with A/C. Belltower is the best of both worlds - reasonably large rooms with A/C - but is rather far from everything. Each dorm comes with at least one kitchen, study room, and common area with TV, games, etc. All of these come with community restrooms. Some of the dorms have extra perks like a computer lab.</p>
<p>East campus dorms - [Duke</a> University | Student Affairs | Residence Life & Housing Services | East Campus](<a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs)</p>
<p>Duke West campus - Most dorms on the main quad (Gothic architecture) are nice. Third floor rooms can be pretty cramped because the sloping roofs cut into the room space, but most rooms are reasonably spacious. Many of the rooms come with balconies or bay windows. They’re in the process of renovating some of the dorms, and some of the older ones like Few have been nicely redone. The newer dorms like Edens and Keohane (modern cement and brick architecture) are very nice and fairly quiet, although they tend to be a little smaller than those on the main quad. The newer dorms feature multiple common rooms, kitchens, etc. The older dorms are more labyrinthine and have common rooms interspersed at random intervals along hallways. As on East, all of these have community restrooms, though some of the Edens dorms are arranged in a more suite-style arrangement. </p>
<p>West campus dorms - [Duke</a> University | Student Affairs | Residence Life & Housing Services | West Campus](<a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs)</p>
<p>Duke Central campus - These apartments have a bad reputation, which is in my opinion undeserved. They can definitely be a little sketchy, especially at night, but they’re pretty big and surprisingly clean. They’re a bit of a walk from West, but you can catch a bus. These are either one or two bedroom apartments with a bathroom, kitchen, etc., and you have more autonomy than you do on West. </p>
<p>Central campus apartments - [Duke</a> University | Student Affairs | Residence Life & Housing Services | Central Campus](<a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs)</p>
<p>Thank you so much warbler!
Duke housing sounds really great, especially the spacious part, since thats something I’m sure a lot of colleges don’t really have to offer.
I absolutely love gothic architecture and have never been one for modern style buildings so this sounds so perfect.
I also love the residential hall-esque atmosphere rather than the suite style (although that could change…) just because I feel it will allow/force me to be more social!</p>
<p>I know that you said you’re not going to make a final decision based on dorms, but I think it might be helpful for you to narrow down your list based on other factors and then find out about dorms for each school…for example, William & Mary and NYU are pretty much exact opposites of each other. It might be overwhelming to get information about 30 different colleges’ dorms when you haven’t even decided if you want a small/big, urban/rural environment.</p>
<p>You’re probably right. I wanted to have information on them all to see if anything would sway me to change my mind, but I guess it would probably be best to just narrow it down now.</p>
<p>So a narrower list:
Boston College
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Cornell
Duke
John Hopkins
Lehigh
Michigan Ann Arbor
North Carolina Chapel Hill
Northwestern
Princeton
U C Berkeley
U Chicago
U Rochester
U Penn
U Virginia
UCLA
UF
U Southern California
Wake Forest
William And Mary</p>
<p>(I don’t prefer urban areas, or extremely small schools)</p>
<p>I have seen the freshman dorms at Boston College, both regular and honors college. We went through the men’s floor in one of the regular dorms and the room sizes were pretty standard, not huge but not tiny either. What struck me most was the disgusting mess in most of them. It was a Saturday Accepted Students’ Day for those accepted to the Honors College, and it was obvious that they made no effort to put their best foot forward. The open rooms were crammed full of guys playing video games and walking all over their clothes, papers, and other stuff strewn all over the floors. One room was extremely neat, but it was not the norm. Even my son was totally turned off.</p>
<p>A separate dorm where the Honors College students could opt to live was quiet and clean, with spacious rooms, but the layout was very weird. Not set up to optimize the social experience.</p>
<p>Wow thank you bopambo!
Dorms there don’t sound very nice.
I definitely would not like the Honors College if it minimizes sociability!</p>
<p>I’m confused as to how you narrowed down your list. You say “I don’t prefer urban areas,” and yet your list has USC, UCLA, U Chicago, UC Berkeley, and Boston College, all of which are in decidedly urban areas. I would suggest you spend a little more time thinking about where you stand on the urban/suburban/rural question.</p>
<p>Ha I guess i should explain myself better; I don’t like urban areas to the extent that I don’t really want to live in NYC. On the flip side I don’t want to live in a rural setting either (ie. Dartmouth) Anywhere that does not fall in those two extremes is totally fine by me :)</p>