Is Tripp Residence Hall the best dorm at UW Madison?

Everything about Tripp sucks. Every room and hallway and the gatehouse smells bad. Laundry facilities are small and always full. There are cockroaches and spiders and bedbugs everywhere. This entire dump of a building needs to be torn down so something more modern can be built in its place but the university will never do that because they make over 2 million in revenue from having people live in these shoeboxes. The bathrooms are “cleaned” with vinegar which makes the whole place smell terrible. The showers aren’t ever cleaned, only the toilets. There’s a weird spot in the shower that’s been growing for about a month and it’s never been cleaned. Laundry facilities are small and always full. No one ever talks to anyone. I love UW Madison but if I could go back in time I would have transferred to a different college after getting my room assignment in Tripp to avoid this whole mess. The 1000 layers of paint on the walls are so thick that they make the rooms smaller than they were 900 years ago when this place was built. There’s also small bugs and hairs that look like pubes painted into the walls. The entire ceiling of the rooms have like a sculpted thing at the top where there is like a quarter inch gap that a cord or something lies in, and I would assume there’s a million bugs hiding out in the nooks and crannies but there’s no way to look. With the room being so small, you have to loft your bed if you want any space at all, so usually you’re away from any bugs and spiders in the corners on the floor; however, this also means you’re closer to all of the ones in the aforementioned ceiling crevice. Trash and recycling bins weren’t provided for my room. There is a random door in my room that is locked and was probably never removed when this place was renovated 800 years ago. I wonder how many more bugs or cockroaches live behind that door and crawl out into my room. There are cracks and small holes literally everywhere and I would assume that that’s where the bugs come in from. Any common areas have horrible furniture and tables that should all be replaced with new ones but aren’t. The only positive about this place is that it’s quiet on most nights. The dining hall is very close but you’ll probably find yourself walking all the way to Gordon’s just to have an excuse to not be at Tripp.

Honestly, would not really recommend. The building is very old, and the carpet in the hallway always smelled bad. The bathrooms are okay, but nothing more than okay. The rooms are decently sized which I would say is the one good thing. Obviously Tripp is in Lakeshore so you'll have to decide for yourself if the location is good or not. I lived in Tripp my first year at UW as an international student and is NOT a social dorm at all. If you don't know a lot of people on campus already, do not live here as you will not get to know the people living there. Also in the winter it can be kind of a pain to hike to get food (when Carson's is closed) or even to class. Still had an overall good experience there though, but would not choose Tripp again.

I would not recommend for a freshman unless you are genuinely scared of people. My biggest complaint, and this was really a deal breaker for me, is that there are mostly transfer students and upperclassmen who are antisocial living there since most of the rooms are singles. If you want the freshman dorm experience, even in a not partying every day sense, this dorm will be pretty dead. Most of the people living there wouldn't talk to you and keep to themselves so it is not a good place to make friends during your first year.If you get into a double it will literally be two rooms, and the single rooms are relatively large too. I really liked the location and there is relatively close access to 3 dining halls, with one right outside. Also the bathrooms are kind of bad, but if you are willing to go down or up a floor then it is fine.

The room size varies so you can have a huge room or a tiny room, you won’t know till you get there. However, living alone is nice and the view of the lake is beautiful. Its difficult to get to know people because many stick to their room so I wouldn’t recommend for freshmen. There is also only 3 bathrooms per floor, 2 for one gender, 1 for the other, and they are pretty small (2 toilets, 1 shower) so waiting for the shower is common. It’s okay but far from the best dorm.