Is Friley Hall the best dorm at Iowa State University?

Friley was really great to live in. Part of Friley has AC and the other part doesn't. There are two laundry rooms on the bottom floor of the building. Friley is also home to Windows, which is one of the better dining centers on campus. All the bathrooms are communal single sex bathrooms. There is an elevator although most people take the stairs (even to the 5th floor). Mail is at UDCC which is close to the building but you do have to go outside. Friley is extremely close to the engineering buildings on campus and also has Cy-Ride stops right outside that go pretty much everywhere. I would definitely recommend this dorm to incoming freshman.

I lived in the Design Exchange learning community and loved that we had access to a studio space in Friley Dungeons. It was also super convenient having Windows right downstairs–my friends and I would frequently head downstairs for late night ice cream or cereal (Windows is open until 11 on weeknights). The rooms are different in every house. I had a pretty big room with a real closet, but my friend down the hall had a pretty small room with a moveable wardrobe. Down the hall in the other direction, they had even smaller rooms with a wall of built-ins. Most of Friley is air conditioned (I had a window air conditioner, not sure about the other parts of the building) but the western-most stack of houses is not. There is one elevator but I never once used it because I lived on the opposite side of the building and it was faster to walk. It is important to note that the elevator does not go to Lorch-Russel house (5th floor) as that is on the other side of the building and the two sides of the 5th floor don't connect. Overall, I loved my experience (although it was cut short due to COVID) and especially loved that it's in a super central location. My longest walk to class was 10 minutes and most of the time, I could get to my class in less than 5 minutes. 9/10 I do recommend Friley :)