I’m a prospective transfer sophomore, and earlier this year I learned the hard way that college websites can be a little too positive when writing about their dorms. So can somebody who has seen at least a few BU dorms tell me which ones are nicer than others (comsidering newer construction, proximity to dining hall, student-bathroom ratio, air conditioning/heating, etc.) and which ones are closest to most College of Arts and Sciences classes? I’m a computer science major if that helps narrow down where my classes are/which dorm I should pick.
Thanks in advance.
As for proximity to classes and the dining hall - Warren Towers has a dining hall in the building and is right across the street from CAS. There is a large amount of freshman but I know there are also several upperclassmen floors.
Warren is fine if you’re just looking at proximity, but if you want nicer rooms w/ AC and private bathrooms, there’s Kilachand Hall which is about a 5 minute walk from CAS (houses mostly honors college kids but also upperclassmen) and HoJo, which is all forced triples but has nicer rooms and is about the same distance. Don’t expect a lot of floor bonding in either though since it’s mostly sophomores.
There aren’t “upperclassmen” floors in warren, just floors where upperclassmen tried to take most of the rooms in warren because they got bad housing numbers. Warren is mainly freshman, with some transfers, and some upperclassmen who for some reason wanted to stay. A/C is not really a thing except for the dorms listed above, and those fill up quick. Bay state is hit or miss with newer construction, but also close to CAS and Warren/Bay state dining halls. Honestly as a transfer, you have a high chance of ending up in Warren or Danielson. Danielson is not that close, but it does have a kitchen in the basement. Some people hate the distance to Danielson, others love it. Large dorms have a bathroom that contains between 2-4 showers and 2-3 bathroom stalls, smaller dorms have “real” bathrooms with a toilet and shower. These are usually shared with up to six other people (sometimes less, and sometimes there is more than one bathroom per floor. Looking at the floor plans on the housing website can be helpful).
Unfortunately, most of the good rooms are already taken by the time they place freshman/transfers, but you definitely have a chance of getting lucky. Supposedly they reserve a few rooms of each type of the dorms for new students, but not many.