me and my roommate are trying to decide which dorm options to choose for next year. we’re girls so we’re deciding between choosing balch or a coed hall. what are the pros and cons of each. My first choice would be one of the new dorms, but on the housing application you can’t pick which coed dorm you want it’s all random so if you have any advice let me know!!
My d lived in a single in Balch. The bonus was the room was spacious with beautiful leaded glass windows and a sink in the room. Also, there is a cafe on the lower level. If you do a search on CC for BALCH HALL QUESTIONS, you’ll get more details. Although many students love their experience at Balch, my daughter was disappointed as the students on her floor kept to themselves. She would have preferred a co-ed dorm in north campus. The co-ed dorms seemed to have a much richer social life!
I loved Balch and talked about my experience here: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1761198-housing-why-you-should-consider-balch.html#latest
But it’s definitely true that it’s a less social dorm than some of the others, so if that’s important to you and your roommate, you might consider trying your luck with the other residence halls.
It may be better to party at a different place than where you sleep.
My D lived in a Balch single her freshman year and loved it.
For the majority of the time, the Balch dorms are bigger. However, this is not always the case for all the rooms. One nice thing about Balch dorms are that you have a “sink room” that you share with the dorm room next to you. It makes it more convenient for brushing your teeth, getting ready in the morning because you don’t actually have to walk all the way to the communal bathrooms. The down side about Balch is definitely the social aspect. This isn’t just about partying. Balch is very quiet. People get annoyed if you are even talking in the hallways past 9.
Newer dorms like CKB or Mews have “pods”. Each pod has one bathroom that is shared amongst 2 double dorms and 1 single dorm.
Then, you have larger and more social dorms like Donlon.