Ranking the Dorms at Rochester Institute Of Technology

I lived on the second floor of Gibson, which at the time was half honors students and half non-honors students; I have to say, the students on the floor with me were really awful. First, the two RAs were supposed to be on the floor only one was ever there: the other one just used the room to study and eventually got fired so we didn't have two RAs so the other one picked up the slack.

Unfortunately, this said RA was very buddy-buddy with many honors students on the floor and many complaints weren't taken seriously, especially with loud noises and said drunk honors students. Two female honors students across the way from where I had my room brought some random stranger into their dorm from a bar who ended up trying to take advantage of the two of them and had to be escorted out by public safety. For hours I was conversing with my RA about hearing them and worried about them not having anything happen until I called public safety who were getting multiple reports about the guy going down the hall drunk and punching the walls while trying to enter other rooms; we were all told in an emergency text to lock our doors while public safety handled it.

Obviously, this is probably a 1 time experience but it was in Gibson and I feel like I should mention it since it mainly happened with honors students causing the problems. The dorm is majority hidden in the shade so it's not too hot in the summer which is nice, and it's right by the food circle so it's convenient: but the honors students make it almost unbearable to do anything in it and I do hope that if you're an honors student reading this that you aren't the one causing these kinds of problems...

The rooms themselves are just like every other dorm on the RIT campus; small, have heating (and soon be air conditioning) and usually have at least one window. The bathrooms are just the same as the others, though the majority of the time people had sex in my floor's female bathroom because there weren't many females on the floor itself. Also, the bathrooms weren't cleaned very well and were only sprayed with water, causing some bacteria to spread and got some of us sick; with coronavirus though they have apparently fixed + changed their cleaning habits. - 1 year ago

Best location of the reshalls. Right next to Gracie’s, Beanz, shuttles, fitness center, and quarter mile. Given that Gracie’s is required now, live right next to it. - 1 year ago

I’m in the first floor of Fish C and it’s pretty good!

Cons:
1) Unlike most buildings Fish Hall doesn’t have AC, but I know they’re planning to update that in the coming years. My room did get up to the mid 80s in August/September, but has gotten comfortable (high 60s/low 70s) since late September as it’s gotten cooler out! When it is cooler you can control the heat level in each room.
2) Fish doesn’t have elevators as it’s a smaller building. Not a big deal, but is important to consider if you have accessibility considerations or just have a lot of stuff for move-in day if you’re above first floor.
3) I believe Fish is one of the older buildings in terms of renovations and overall look inside. I would expect this to change with time, but right now other dorms like Baker definitely look more modern when it comes to the hallways and bathrooms! However, Fish looks similar to a lot of the other buildings in my experience.

Pros:
1) Fish is very central in terms of the dorms, if not in the center of dorms. You’ll have about a 2-3 minute walk from your room to the Corner Store and Post office in the tunnels, and about a 5 minute walk from Beanz, Commons, College Grind, or Gracie’s (dining options on campus).
2) Fish is a small building so it’ll be easier to get to know everyone in Fish compared to dorms like Ellingson or Gleason.
3) Fish definitely doesn’t look the most modern and it will get warm without AC, but overall my experience at Fish has been really good. - 1 year ago

Peterson is in a ver convenient location on campus, on one hand its a tinyyy bit further than most to academic side but you are quite literally a few steps away from the better dining and coffee locations on that side of campus. Cons really depend on who you're sharing your space with, if my roommate wasn't awful my first year i think i would have truly enjoyed my stay in Peterson. Laundry rooms are hit or miss depending on whats working or not but supposedly student government is working on that part. Pictures are from when I first moved in, the fridge next to my bed promptly became an issue with my roommate so that and the dresser moved to the foot of the bed and the desk where it was. Also i don't have any clean/empty pictures of my roommates side of the room 😬 - 1 year ago

Ellingson Hall is a decent dorm close to the Student Development Center. It also has a tunnel to walk to Sol Underground or other places such as Nathaniel Rochester Hall Post Office.

The only con is that Ellingson Hall is quite tall among RIT's dormitories because you will have to walk down from 12 levels to 1 level if an emergency happens since the elevator is prohibited from being in use if an emergency occurs. Moreover, the two elevators will usually be slow and often used from top levels rather than low levels like 2 floors because most people reside at the top of Ellingson Hall. - 2 years ago

Not a lot of parking outside the hall and the elevator is always busy. Other than that, you have the corner store right downstairs as well as the post office. No laundry room, but walking to the Gleason one is manageable. - 1 year ago

This building has AC units, really nice in the beginning of fall semeseter and end of spring semester. - 1 year ago

Normal sized dorm rooms, either rectangular or square depending on where you are in the building. Very quiet, went the whole year without any fire alarms. Heating is good in the winter and next fall (2023) there is supposed to be AC. Bathrooms were what you expect, nothing fancy, and the lounges were bland, at least this year. - 1 year ago

Roomed in Sol 7 in the 2009-10 academic year. Had a blast! Made good friends and have so many fond memories. 10/10 would room there again. There's no AC, but it doesn't really matter. It's only hot for like 2 weeks out of the school year. - 1 year ago