UW Freshman Dorms Ranked

Number 5

"One of the smallest residential halls, so you get pretty familiar with most people's faces.
The rooftop deck is honestly a showstopper in terms of dorm amenities, and probably helps combat the severe Vitamin D deficiency found in all UW students.
Dorms facing the bridge get lots of light.
The only drawbacks for me were that it's the furthest from main campus (so it's an extra two or three minutes to hit Red Square) and it's right next to the off-ramp, so you will hear more traffic sounds than most other dorms do.
If you would be really bothered by having to walk a few minutes out of your dorm to get to the dining hall or mailroom, you should dorm in Willow instead.
If you use a wheelchair, you shouldn't be on West Campus at all because the closest route to Red Square is a set of stairs to the Sky Bridge on 15th, and the other two paths have a pretty decent slope. Crutches during the rain on West Campus are also a recipe for self-loathing, trust me.
All in all, I loved Terry for making it easy to meet people, being a relatively new building (and maintaining that newness), and having beautiful views from every lounge. It's also right in front of the path to the Wall of Death, so great access point for taking a long walk to cry alone on." See all 6 reviews

Number 4

"The side walls are soundproof but the ceiling and ground walls are thin so you can hear every single footstep someone makes above you. The rooms are very dusty but I personally haven't had a problem with asbestos or mold. I would not recommend getting a triple if your roommate stays in the dorm all the time because you will go crazy. Building amenities are fine, but once in a while some drunk person will destroy the elevator or burst the lounge pipeline and maintenance takes their sweet sweet time trying to fix it. Bathrooms are nice, the hot water comes fast but the shower head is kind of meh, but you can replace it with your own if you'd like. The heater smells like burnt noodles. The washing machine and dryer work fine, it's less crowded during mid-day of weekdays. Since the building is close to Greek row, you'll hear parties being thrown at a Tuesday night with very loud music. I find it a bit far from my classes but most of my classes are on the south end on campus and I am a lazy person. North campus is closer to U village if you like shopping." See all 10 reviews

Number 3

"Poplar Hall is located on West Campus just outside the campus's central area. It is located right beside University Way NE (aka "the Ave"), a popular street full of food, dessert, thrift stores, escape rooms, Target, and the Neptune Concert venue.

You also get a great view of Red Square, the Ave, or nearby west campus dorms depending on your assigned room in Poplar. All Poplar residents have access to the elevator-side relaxation lounges with an excellent view of the Space Needle (SN). (Although Lander Hall = best view of SN)

Singles dorms get their own kitchen, microwave, refrigerator, stovetop, and bathroom + showers ALL included within the room (but it does cost extra).

However, doubles and triples, only have bathrooms + showers included in the room (NO kitchen inside these rooms).

Triples are essentially just doubled but with one extra bed & closet in it. But triples still have enough room for 3 beds and 3 workstation desks. Beds can also be adjusted to be on the highest setting or lower setting (Similar to a bunk bed... this is useful if someone wants to put their desk under their bed and get extra room to store items in the room)

Poplar Hall is the ONLY DORM ON WEST CAMPUS that doesn't have a kitchen on every floor. There is only 1 stovetop on floor 2 which can be used by anyone in Poplar Hall. All other West Campus dorms have 1-3 kitchens on every floor (such as Lander and Maple Hall).

Each floor does have a lounge room with a sink, microwave, couches, and tv to watch movies.
Floor 2 also has a tv lounge room (with a free pool table inside this room as well).

Floor 1 has 2 giant study rooms, each with giant projectors (GREAT for practicing presentations & watching movies in a movie-theater-like setting). Although Floor 1 is called a "Learning Resource Center" with the study rooms built in, FLOOR 1 can be accessed using a UW ID card by anyone who lives in a UW dorm. All other floors can't be accessed by other dorms. This allows ease of use for people to get together at night and watch movies or study together, even if they are from different dorms.

This dorm is BEST located for 1-street access to the major amenities nearby:
* Husky Grind West (UW grocery store & cafe)
* Local Point Dining Hall (UW Dining Hall with international food, American food, Pagliacci Pizza, and free Soda Machines)
* Area 01 (FREE Console and PC Gaming + Free 3D-printing + Free Pool Table, Foosball, Ping Pong)
* "the Ave" for great foods and great nightlife
* University Bridge (quick and easy access to Odegaard Library, Suzallo "Harry Potter" Library, Starbucks, and classrooms on west campus)

The one downside to West campus dorms, in general, is that it takes about 10 minutes to get to a majority of classrooms at UW, compared to an average of 2-5 minutes for North campus dorms. Also, west campus dorms will sometimes hear noisy ambulances at night. However, the north campus is exposed to loud parties from the nearby sororities + fraternities on Greek Row." See all 10 reviews

Number 2

"I've lived in three different dorms during my freshman/sophomore year and I have to say, I prefer McMahon way better then any of the other halls. I liked the cluster style, though I personally am pretty introverted so I didn't really make friends with my cluster mate. But that aside, because it's a cluster, there are janitors who will come clean the washrooms twice every week (you'll have to clean your own bathroom in McCarty), and you're sharing it with only 7 other people as compared to Hansee hall where you share the bathroom with god knows how many people and you can't leave your stuff in there either.
The room itself isn't as big as McCarty but the pros are it has built in desk lights and book shelves for your stuff, and the closet in there is pretty big too, I can squeeze in there to change when my roommate is in the room but I don't want to go to the bathroom. Plus it has a built in shoe rack and mirror.
In the basement also has a little convenient store that is open to really late (though I think they've closed it recently? so rip I guess). The first floor has a little gym with some basic equipments, a music room with a pretty ratchet piano but if you're like me and only play for fun then it's no big deal. There's also a TV in the first floor though I have never figured out how to use it but I've seen people playing smash bros there every weekend.
It is also the best in terms of location. It's in North campus so pretty safe, and there's two bus stations right outside" See all 13 reviews

Number 1

"Good dorm that has pretty much everything you want. Has clean private bathrooms (showerhead strength could be stronger) and also has Area 01 in the building which is a pretty cool space to hang out and play play ping pong. There are also 2+ study rooms on every floor but most of them are taken during midterm/finals season. There are also 2 kitchens on every floor with a TV so you can cook and watch movies. The kitchens can get a little bit messy depending on who lives on your floor but someone comes and cleans it up every morning.

The rooms themselves aren't bad but in a triple it gets extremely cramped so I recommend going for a double or a single." See all 12 reviews