Is East Campus - Hicks & Grange the best dorm at UConn?

It's funny to read the comments about the dorms being old, I thought they were old 50 years ago when I lived in Hicks. Room 307, the only thing I liked about my room was it had a nice view of the church across the street.

I lived in Hicks my freshman year which is an all girls building. I found that because of this it was difficult to make friends and expand horizons as a first-year student. The size of the room is okay but it is the smallest room you will get as a freshman and the building is ancient. My floor had a lot of issues with the bathroom and cleanliness and a lack of people holding themselves accountable for a mess and didn’t implement change or own up to their mess. Location wise I loved East. I had to walk at most 10 minutes to all of my classes and it is an easy walk to Storrs Center. You also have access to Yellow and Orange Lines which can get you pretty much anywhere on campus.

Lived in Grange freshman year and while there are definitely better places to live, it's not as bad as people might make it seem. There should be more than enough space for your belongings especially if you loft your bed. The building itself is pretty old, but you definitely get used to it. Unfortunately the building had to share 2 washers and 2 dryers so trying to The bathroom was newly renovated the summer prior. Location is not terrible for engineering buildings, but it is quite a walk to the union, rec center and Gampel. Real close to the Dairy Bar and Horsebarn Hill. The dining hall (Whitney) was just renovated and is quite cozy. It is the more vegan friendly dining hall. Overall, it's just your typical freshman dorm so just make the most of it.

I lived in Grange Hall during a transitional year, 1967-68. How many people lived in the building? I forget. Maybe 120 or so? I lived in room 003, near the stairwell on the north side, and rarely went to the upper floors, where most of the rooms were. (My room's half-underground window became a private entrance for my girlfriend. My roommate went home most weekends to do his laundry. ) I liked the walk across campus to, well, everything, especially in deep snow. I borrowed another guy's knee-high canvas mukluks for the worst storm. The house had a charming anarchy. I think it had been a freshman dorm the year before and was going to be a women's dorm or graduate dorm the following year. No continuing residents, "house traditions" or structure. It was a mixed bag of juniors coming from urban "Branch" campuses like mine in Waterbury, plus transfer students and international students -- all men, of course. I didn't know many of them. The only "community" spirit I found was a few hippie wannabes who smoked pot in a hockey player's upstairs room at the end of the hall, with incense burning, The Doors on the stereo, and a damp towel filling the crack at the bottom of the door. The meal plan down the street at Whitney Hall was optional. Instead, I waited tables at dinner at Colt House in exchange for three meals a day, which helped me meet expenses and gave me a whole other set of friends. That hockey player moved off campus the next year; going to jail soon after (six months for selling weed, I think), which didn't keep him from eventually getting a PhD and becoming a professor. In Venezuela, I think. I was a journalist for years, then got my PhD at UNC and taught at UT-Knoxville and elsewhere. Best wishes, students! Remember your stories.

Honesty I felt the community of grange is what made me love it. The room was very old and the building has old steam heat. If you don’t like old buildings you probably won’t like this one. Our janitorial staff is AMAZING and will give you advice, hugs, snacks, etc. The location is great. It’s close to two main bus lines, a late light location, and is across from the Great Lawn. However- it is VERY sketchy once the sun sets.