I took it that when the write up stated “In order to provide some regional balance…Waller Hall rounds out our list…” they were acknowledging it’s not technically 10th oldest, but rather included as 10th on list because it’s the oldest one West of the Mississippi.
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Lots of old buildings in the NESCACs…Williams West College (the really old one I said the bathrooms had big holes in the wall) was built in 1790, and Bowdoin’s Mass Hall around 1800.
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Don’t discount Wes, it’s a terrific school. I grew up in Middletown and my Mom worked at Wesleyan. It’s beautiful in the New England Fall and green and lovely in the summer, as well as when the snow first arrives. But I can see how a grey day could make it look shabby. I took classes there in high school and was impressed with the classrooms. We did a formal tour two years ago, and I do remember that the dorms were the least impressive that we toured, terrible new construction and excessively hot in the middle of summer. My LA born and raised daughter was not interested in applying, more turned off by small town Middletown then the campus itself.
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Not sure where that list was searching…but Mass hall (Bowdoin) was constructed when Bowdoin was in Massachusetts (Maine wasn’t a state until 1820).
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My daughter almost ended up at Georgetown and the Instagram Georgetown.hotmess was the stuff of nightmares. It certainly made this parent nervous! So, I totally get the OP. The housing was the only thing about Georgetown that gave us pause. (Except the price…that gave us pause too!)
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I imagine things have improved since 2009 when we visited Amherst, but we were not impressed at the facilities. The track / XC coach showed us where the kids ran during the winter. It was this huge warehouse-type building with a volleyball court in the middle. The coach put rubber mats around the perimeter for the kids to run on. I have to admit I found myself thinking, “I would spend a huge amount of money to send my kid here?” He did get accepted but declined.
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My daughter is at Lehigh. They have since built new dorms but her freshman dorm was horrible. It was dingy and small and run down and really depressing and I was upset about it. However, when I mentioned it, she said “It’s fine- maybe it would bother me if some were nice and some weren’t but they are all horrible so who cares, it is a fun dorm to live in”- long story short, I was happy to learn that kids don’t even notice. P.S. I also toured my alma mater with my kids and was amazed at how ugly the campus was, and how I had never ever noticed.
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Conversely, the two most beautiful campuses I’ve ever toured are Fordham/Rose Hill and Union College. Yet, people still complain about the Bronx and Schenectady locations. Can’t win for trying.
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The track facilities may not have improved since then but they added new dorms, science building etc. I also found the athletic facilities at Williams wanting too. Colby and Middlebury have amazing indoor track facilities now.
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My son is a freshman at Wesleyan and lived in WestCo this year. He had a double-double, where he and his roommate each had their own room but an adjoining door. They also had a balcony. As long as the temperature in the room is comfortable, there are no animals in there and he has enough room for his stuff, I honestly don’t care what the dorm looks like. He’s been very happy with his dorm, the campus and Middletown and the surrounding area (what he’s been able to see of it). Thrilled with Wesleyan thus far.
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OMG, that sounds like it could be my old room!
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Don’t forget Middlebury’s Painter Hall. Completed in 1816, it’s the oldest extant college building in Vermont.
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Somewhere on CC someone once said they thought dorms rooms were bad on purpose - that it made kids get out and socialize.
Every LAC dorm room we looked at was pretty crappy. But that was ok by me - builds character. Haha. Also, I didn’t want to be spending my money on a place nicer than where I was living! 
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Attention all LACs: PLEASE get rid of the single fluorescent light in the dorm rooms. Nothing screams “institutional” like a depressing, disgusting, flickering fluorescent light.
For the money they charge, these colleges could easily buy a replacement light that would last as long as a fluorescent one.
And speaking of quibbles, my D’s college really hacked me off by serving fake maple syrup in a state known for maple syrup.
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I had to overnight Fedex my daughter real maple syrup the first week of college because the dining hall served the fake stuff and she was outraged. Also sent her the plastic 2oz covered containers so she could decant just enough for each breakfast; the dining hall discouraged her from bringing her 32oz jug every breakfast (I think they were worried about possible riots when others realized the swill they were serving).
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Geez, real maple syrup is EXPENSIVE!! I cannot imagine a college buying it for their students. I would actually be annoyed if my kids’ school spent money on something like that. 
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Do they not have a COSTCO nearby?!?!?!
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That’s actually a thing these days.
Fluorescent kits were installed originally because they were less expensive to run and lasted longer than incandescent bulbs. Over the decades, the ballast wears out and even when new bulbs are installed, they are dim and/or flicker. The ballast has to be replaced for light to be bright again. This costs in the neighborhood of $100-$200 for an electrician to replace, probably more in places like NYC/LA/etc.
New LED light kits can cost $250-$400 for parts+labor. These days, LED lighting is brighter and is more efficient than fluorescent kits. While the cost might be viewed as extravagant for buildings with hundreds of these fixtures, it can be mitigated by having a plan in place to replace the fluorescent kits with LED kits when the ballasts die.
FYI, if anyone has fluorescent lighting that seems dim, you should probably replace the ballast. It will be a remarkable improvement. This is something a DIYer could do him/herself. Ballasts for flourescent lighting costs about $60-$100 for the part.
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Some universities produce maple syrup and serve it in their dining facilities:
There is always Costco too. 
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My D19 is at Tulane. Before we visited a friend told us she and her daughter had toured but said it went way down the list because all of the dorms looked like motels. We visited a few weeks later and I did think the dorms were pretty ugly and I was turned off by the two that looked like motels with the doors facing the outside. I had told her not to pick a school by the dorm though and we loved everything else there.
Fast forward a year, D is there living in a not so pretty but just fine high rise type dorm. She has a friend group ready to room together for sophomore year and she got a pretty good housing lottery number. I asked what dorm they were trying for and she said the one that looks like a motel!! I asked why she wouldn’t go for a nice suite type room and she said no way, she wanted the fun dorm! I didn’t know the ugly ones had that reputation and thought it was so funny what a difference actually knowing the school better can make.
She is now in one of the two motel looking dorms. They are supposed to be torn down next year so nothing is updated, things seem to break a lot and there is construction on once side of the dorm (luckily she is not he other side) but she loves it. I also recently heard that they built the dorm with the “balconies” (not true balconies but an outdoor corridor that runs the length of each floor) to mimic the traditional balconies in New Orleans.
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