Boston University Dorms Ranked

I lived in a specialty housing which you had to apply before the housing process started. I lived in the most ideal location for a brownstone (166-168: two brownstones connected together). It had a small kitchen which no one used, three lounges and two washing machine rooms (all run by coins which you can get at Towers with bills). I loved it because you could go and come as you pleased. I was on East campus where most of my classes were, plus there was the bu shuttle stop and a t-stop nearby. The dinning hall was one block down and the mail room was in Towers (also next block). It was very spacious, you could host things. Downsides though were one bathroom for four girls (so if one girls is showering in the morning, you can't get ready for class, and anyone can you use it if they are in the building, but they are cleaned once a week) and taking out your trash (behind the building in the freezing cold weather). Noise level depends on the atmosphere of the brownstone. You can definitely hear through the walls if you talk loudly. - 4 years ago

This is a review for 98 Mountfort Street specifically! I lived in a two double apartment with the bay window living room, and I swear it is one of the largest apartments on campus. The living room gets good light for the entire year, there's a separate nook for a dining area, and there's a huge closet that's great for suitcases/board games/extra chairs/other nonsense that doesn't really belong anywhere else. The apartment comes with two couches and a coffee/TV table type situation. The couches are a little small, but still comfortable. Generally speaking, all south campus apartments come with the same numbers of seats as students (two loveseats can seat four people), so you may need some light additional furnishings if you plan to have guests. The dining table and chairs were fine. No lamps are provided, just the overhead lights. You will benefit from owning curtains, it makes the room better. The kitchen is a decent size, but there were only cabinets on one side of the room, so storage space was limited. It helps to have some type of shelf or rack for food storage, and there's plenty of space on the non-cabinet side of the room to fit that shelf. Microwave is included with the apartment. Our apartment had an electric coil stove, which was horrible and resulted in a lot of smoke whenever you spilled any amount of food on the coils. The fire alarm in our apartment went off regularly, so high smoke cooking always required someone in the hallway with a fan or baking sheet trying to get it to stop screaming. The bathroom was huge and had two medicine cabinets, but the lock did not work. It wasn't a problem for us, so we never asked maintenance to fix it. The bedrooms were separated from the living room by a long hallway, which was very nice when some of your roommates want people over and some want to sleep. We left the apartment with the two smaller rooms as doubles because we wanted the living space, and we found that to be fine most of the time. There was really only one bed layout that worked in the larger bedroom because of the location of the closet (2!) and bedroom doors, but it still felt like a lot of space and enough separation. The smaller bedroom had a couple of different layouts that worked okay, but only one closet. There are hip-height radiators that stick out from the walls that also limit where you can put things, and will regularly make loud sounds in the winter. You can fix that by turning the dial to the highest number, which will make it hot but also quiet. Open a window to balance it out. The bedrooms faced an alley, which was nice on all days except trash pick-up day, where you must endure about ten minutes of trash truck sounds at 7 am. Takes four minutes to get to CAS if you're fast, about 15 to get to fitrec. Overall, would highly recommend. Quiet building, lots of light and space, close to pretty much everything, and only kind of difficult to move into (stairs!). - 5 days ago

81-83 Bay State Rd. Liked the fact that singles were big and its really close to the Marciano dining hall. Also close to Kenmore and Newbury.

But the stairs were awful, dust is everywhere, and the first time I stepped into the bathroom I had to kill a bug stuck in the tub. The carpet floor is dirty, no matter how many times I vacuum that place. The light is pretty dim and the window.. I faced the wall so pretty much no light. Really makes you feel depressed after a while, so recommend you going out with friends often. No one interacts in this building, ever. Don't know why but its silent all day and night.

Shared a bathroom (one toilet, one bath tub) with 6 other people so not too bad. No air conditioning, heater always has problems because its so old. I felt so bad calling the facility to fix it because the guys were panting like crazy when they came up the 5 floors and were so upset when they had to go back down to get something - there is an elevator, that is out of use because its 100 years old and is no longer safe.

Laundry in the basement, but it is creepy and really doesn't seem clean. So recommend walking 2 minutes to Kilachand's laundry room instead. Mailbox is also in Kilachand but packages are at the Towers, so you have to walk a bit but its not too bad as you can get it on the way back after class.

Kitchen on the first floor is alright, but people just leave their food in the fridge and forget about it. Also, looks very unhygienic. - 4 years ago

I lived in a two double apartment in 728 Comm Ave. The living room and kitchen were both very large, but my one word of warning is that, if you have a living room facing the internal courtyard, it will be dark all of the time. At no point during the year did it get brighter. That being said, the kitchen has the most counter space and cabinet space that I've seen in any BU apartment. It was genuinely very nice, barring the electric coil stove where only two of the burners consistently worked. The bathroom was a decent size, but it didn't lock. This did cause problems. There is one bedroom that is absolutely enormous, has multiple closets, and is functionally the size of a warren quad. The other bedroom is smaller (but still decently sized) and only has one, very awkward and inefficiently laid out closet. We had a consistent problem with the doorknob to the bedroom coming loose and falling off, which resulted in several trapped in the bedroom experiences. Maintenance was unhelpful! We also had two mice that lived in our house, which was mostly cute, but would sometimes wake us up when they were particularly loud running across the bedroom floor. No bugs, though. There is laundry that you can access from within the building, although it is technically through the internal courtyard and in the basement of another building. You'll get wet if it rains, but only for like a second. Overall, would recommend, particularly for space and proximity to CAS. Not great if you have seasonal depression or are afraid of mice. - 5 days ago

I lived on the seventh floor in a suite of double + triple with a shared bathroom as a sophomore. The double room was very spacious compared to the doubles at Warren, but the triple (where I lived) was pretty tiny but still livable especially since my roommates were my friends. The bathroom seemed pretty new and we only had one silverfish appear probably because of the summer heat + moisture retained under our bathroom mat, and they never appeared again. Keep in mind that there was very limited space for storage for the triple because we had to share 2 closets among 3 people, and the space under the bed is taken by drawers given by BU. As long as you make a cleaning schedule and keep your boundaries straight, living here was great! Marciano most of the time has a variety of menu options which helps you not get tired of the food. The facilities are amazing since Kilachand has many special things like the amazing 9th-floor study room and the nearby Pardee library, the free hot chocolate & coffee at the first floor office, and the building itself is at a quiet, beautiful street that doesn't get busy like Warren or West. Mailroom is at Towers which is kind of a pain when you forget to fetch your mail, and morning gym sessions are painful since you need to catch the T, but I highly recommend Kilachand for freshman-juniors! - 2 months ago

It’s a really nice building, but it’s HOT in the winter in my single. Most BU dorms have this issue, but the thermostat in my room regularly (as in everyday) reads 76-77 degrees at the lowest possible setting. For such a nice building with AC and modern heating in each room, I wouldn’t expect this to be an issue. The bathrooms are cleaned everyday, but they don’t really clean the showers. Also some of the showers make a horrible screeching noise and most are really small. I’ve seen cleaning people fully entering people’s rooms without permission to vacuum if the door isn’t locked. Otherwise it’s pretty nice considering how shitty a lot of other BU dorms are; at least it has AC, an elevator, a communal kitchen, and laundry in the building. - 2 years ago

Pros: All singles, bathroom is shared with only one other person, Dunkin/Buick is right downstairs, you have a kitchen and a living room and both are nice, it’s close to both Target and Star Market, study lounges are nice and are both in the basement and on the top floor, it’s right behind the gym, so theirs no excuse to not work out, and it’s only open to juniors and seniors, so aside from the occasional party it’s not as rowdy as let’s say freshman dorms.

Cons: Decent walk from Central and East, so if walking isn’t your thing that could be an issue, you have to walk all the way to Stuvi 2 to pick up your packages (not far but I was used to having the mailroom right downstairs, so walking down the block was different), and if you choose a dining hall meal plan then you have to walk to West Campus dining hall (not a problem if you have an apartment plan or just choose to cook). - 4 years ago

Def one of the best (if not the best) options on campus. The building is super new, the bus comes right to the front door, and there are places to study on the 1st, 2nd, and 26th floors. Dorm style is 8 people (4 singles, 2 doubles, 2 bathrooms) with a large common room, and apartment style is 4 people (4 singles, 1 bath) with a living room and kitchen. Plus, whether you have a view of Nickerson or the Charles, you get an amazing view. It's also a super social atmosphere. Only con I can think of is that bc its such a big building waiting for the elevator can take forever. - 4 years ago

I lived here over the summer after my freshman year (Summer 2021). I lived in a suite with 8 singles. I would give this dorm a 10/10 I literally loved it. The only critique I would say is I wish they had a designated common room for each suite with a seating area and I would've loved if this dorm had apartments with kitchens. Otherwise, this dorm is amazing: brand new, ac/heater, love the super east location (though some people think it is too far from central campus but I loved being closer to the city). This dorm is a no-brainer to live in if you can get in. The only thing to consider is the location and if you want to be so far east. - 2 years ago

Love it. More modern compared to a lot of the old buildings in Boston. Fairly clean and pretty quiet. Really enjoyed living here. I will miss it. Only annoying thing was the constant fire alarms but whatever. - 2 years ago