Is Lafayette Hall the best dorm at NYU?

Dorms: Lafayette dorm rooms are usually larger than those in the other NYU halls. Suites have equipped kitchens with stove and fridge. A little far from campus (compared to other halls), but convenient if you have classes in both Brooklyn and Washington Square (Shuttles available). Facilities in the hall: Lounge with TVs; Study rooms; Computer/Printing room; Laundry room and recycling room on each floor; Vending machines in ground floor; Mail room; Bike storage room; moving carts; tissue paper and trash bags provided. Room types: Singles, Doubles, and Triples are available. Advantages: room size, storage space (in some); NYU shuttles routes A, B, W stop; quiet-ish area; Disadvantages: location of the hall (= at least 15 min walk to the nearest supermarket; Some of the rooms have open vent gaps (not fun); old building (= floors are wooden and really dirty in some dorms, black mold on some bathroom floors); no gym facilities around (at least, not NYU)

Laf is the largest NYU dorm and among the most unique. It was renovated from a factory not too long ago and you'll notice it in the weird hallway and room layouts. Due to some kind of fire code or zoning regulation there are a lot of air-gapped rooms which are completely un-noise-insulated from the common space. Pretty sure every single has a gap, I would not recommend living in one of these rooms with more than two other roommates as you will be kept awake more often than not. I encountered a roach while naked in my bathroom on the 11th floor and was ready to sue, but maintenance was quick to apply insecticide and they never came back. The area is what you make of it, plenty of cheap groceries and food in Chinatown plus nightlife not too far away in LES. The walk to campus through Soho was nice and the shuttle was reliable. Most larger suites of randomly assigned students seemed to have neglected kitchens and common spaces, if you're alone I'd aim for a smaller suite.

Laf is weird because the lower floors definitely have a roach problem and some rooms have ventilation gaps (they mark it on the floor plan, though) so that definitely takes away from the privacy...you can also have up to 6 people in one suite so that's nice and also not nice depending on who you're living with. Laf has music rooms in its lounges and private rooms you can reserve for conferences or studying as well. It also has a room inside the building where you can store your bike. It's 20 minutes (give or take 5 minutes) by train to the Brooklyn Campus and I think probably 10 minutes by train to the Washington Square campus, but there are shuttles that'll take you in half that time to both campuses. I liked living here because it was walking distance to SoHo and right in Chinatown so I was surrounded by lots of good, cheap food all the time. Seamless options here were bountiful. It's also pretty close by lots of trains so it was easy to get there from almost anywhere. If you end up living at Laf, you really should try to get a room on one of the higher floors and pay close attention to the floor plan to avoid ventilation gaps in your room!!

The dorm is in a neighborhood that could take some adjusting to, but honestly I fell in love towards the end! Soho, Little Italy, Tribeca, and of course Chinatown all a short walk away!! Go explore and you’ll find something you love.