Is Hojo (575 Comm Ave) the best dorm at BU?

Yes, there is A/C and a private bathroom. When you walk out your room you can admire your outfit from every damn angle because the 1960s floor to ceiling mirroring remains intact. But the red carpet and absolute lack of natural light in the apartment was super sad. I did not love living here and moved out after a semester.

Building is old, elevators are always broken, stairs are creepy. Triple is too cramped. Bathroom shower gets clogged easily. Bed is too close to ceiling, I've hit my head so many times on the ceiling or on the metal bar under the bed while getting up or going to my desk. Lighting and view from windows are terrible. Nice that there is a bathroom inside, and close to Marciano dining hall and Questrom.

I thought Hojo was gonna be way nicer than the other freshman dorm options. Honestly, I would have rather lived in Warren. Here are my main points summarized: PROS: 1. It's extremely convenient in relation to classes and Marciano which many people (including myself) believe is the best dining hall. 2. You definitely do get a bit more space than in Warren or West if you get a double. This is one thing I have zero complaints about! 3. The private bathroom is a nice concept and super convenient, but there are many cons about it that I discuss below. 4. The security officers are generally super kind and honestly way more friendly than the students in the building. CONS: 1. Extremely dirty and smells old and dank. No matter how much I vacuum, dust, clean, etc. it's still musty and stinky. My roommate and I keep getting sick and the air purifier we bought barely helps. 2. Bathrooms have poor water pressure and poor drainage system. I personally love cleaning my bathroom, but if you don't that's an added negative. What I don't love is having to snake my shower drain 1-2 times a week because of how quickly it clogs. I don't even shower in the dorm anymore because of it, I always shower at FitRec. 3. A/C sucks (doesn't actually cool the room, just keeps it from climbing above 78 degrees) and is only left on for a month. The heat is like an inferno even on freezing cold days. 4. You have to get your mail at Towers which is SO annoying when you have large boxes. 5. At first, I thought the walls were so thin that sounds travel easily because I always hear my neighbors' convos. Yesterday I learned my room in fact has a large crack running through the wall which allows me to not only hear but also see into my neighbors' room! 6. People are so quiet that they come off as rude. I'm super extroverted so I didn't think it would be challenging to make friends in my dorm, even in a quiet building like Hojo. I was wrong. I understand being shy, but people here so unfriendly that it feels nasty honestly. I spend most of my time in the library or hanging out with people at Warren because of this. 7. There are holes in my floor under the carpet?? These aren't a huge problem because I put stuff on top of them, but make me question the safety/structural integrity of the building tbh... 8. The price. Although it isn't much more expensive than the other freshman dorms, the price difference seems to be a waste of money. 9. Since it's a smaller building, the security guards tend to remember you. This is nice but awkward af after a night out or something. 10. If you get a triple, it's insanely cramped. Legit zero space. 11. Elevators are pretty slow and usually smell like marijuana. Overall, I really don't recommend Hojo unless you have a medical reason to need easy bathroom access or maybe if you're in Questrom since it's right there. I'm definitely not miserable, but I just feel like living here is a waste of money.

It was a really good freshman year dorm - I had a room on the third floor, and it was alright. Having a bathroom in the room is definitely a plus. It's close to the rest of campus, right next to Questrom, but the room was also the darkest room I have ever been in. It felt like I was living in a cave the entire time that I was there. From other people I always hear that it's a quiet building, but the other students on my floor seemed to be up at all hours of the night and were constantly being loud. The elevators are a little sketchy, and there were two power outages while I was there. The only time I saw my neighbors other than passing them in the hallway was during a power outage when we all stuck our heads out to see what was going on.

The two perks to living here are proximity to QST, SCI, KCB and having a private bath for each room. Otherwise this building is VERY old - carpets and curtains are old and smell old and my room had problems with spiders (so bad my roommate thought we had bedbugs). The rooms aren’t super well sound-insulated either and sometimes you hear people upstairs running around or people down the hall yelling.