Columbia Dorms Ranked

"Beautiful view from the backside. Tiny rooms. The bathroom is shared and using it SUCKS. If you forget your key, you are COOKED. This means that you WILL piss in the sink every day, five times per day. It's really fun and got me hooked on sink pissing. The elevator doesn't work ~50% of the time."

"The start of the year is miserable because there is no AC and it was really hot. After the first few weeks and as the weather gets cooler, the rooms actually feel a lot more homey. Hartley is probably the dorm with the most sense of community because you have a suite. Lots of singles and a few doubles. Suites can get loud sometimes if your suite mates throw parties. The bathrooms are set up weirdly but water pressure is great. Housing does a really good job of keeping bathrooms clean, unless your suite mates regularly mess it up. "

"SO MANY ROACHES. There’s a shit ton in the bathroom every morning, in the showers, behind the toilet, everywhere. Even if you don’t eat in your room there will still be roaches. They’re also in the lounges and the hallways. They need to hire an exterminator cause it’s out of hand."

"The building is okay and the lounges are nice. No AC is rough at the start and end of the year, and there are only like 8 washers for the few hundred students that live in the building. Nice if you want a quiet environment."

"Very spacious, even as a sophomore in a double, clean and I feel very safe living here. Only potential downside could be that since you live on frat row, weekend nights aren't the quietest "

"It’s probably the most vanilla dorm for a freshman, but that’s not a bad thing at all! Getting a single is pretty easy, and most floors end up hanging out a lot in the lounges too, so there’s a good balance of privacy and community. You won’t have to go outside to eat or do laundry, but I personally didn’t like the John Jay or JJ’s dining halls too much. The only real cons are that it can be decently far from some classes (this is especially true if you’re in SEAS), and the elevators have a reputation for requiring maintenance somewhat frequently."

"This is considered the most "social dorm," but the parties and how loud the dorm is quiets pretty much instantly after move in. I am not a very social person and still really enjoyed living in Carman. All of my friends love my dorm when they come visit, and always say they wish they had chosen this over their choice. The suite bathroom ratio of 4 to 1 is perfect. You have your own restroom which is very nice, and is really easy to clean so it should never be dirty, and you dont really have to worry about it being dirty like a communal restroom in John Jay or Wallach which get pretty disguisting. The space is really nice, and the views are really nice too. A really nice amenity is having a really big window that you can open, and a AC system that works. It is also conveniently placed between the dining halls, and broadway, so when you want to eat it is a very short walk. "

"I had a nice single room on the girls floor. Bathrooms and shower stalls were always cleaned up by cleaning staff. Location is a bit far up north from main campus. "

"I stayed here in 2009 to 2010 so this review is dated. Anyway, this residential hall is for law students. Each room is a studio unit. It was about a 10 minute walk to the law school building, though when it's snowing hard, it can take up to 30 minutes to walk to school because the roads can be slippery. Each unit is furnished with a bed, two tables, two chairs, cabinets, a portable heater in addition to the air conditioner and heater (I didn't know about the portable heater, and it was already very cold and I was wondering when they would turn on the heaters; I'm from a tropical country so I didn't know what that thing was). The common areas were clean, so you just need to clean your own room. There is a doorman, so they're strict about who you let in your unit, unless you have declared it at the start of your stay (e.g. that you're going to be staying with your partner)."

"Lived in the IRC (554) , in a one-bedroom double. The rooms are really big with high ceilings, and the kitchen/bathroom were great. All in all an excellent dorm. It does get pretty loud on weekends/nights, mostly due to being next to all the frats. One major downside is pests, had a mouse problem in the building all year and saw a roach once."