Ranking the Dorms at UC Berkeley

The common area, kitchen, and trash area are on the ground floor. Don't plan on using the kitchen regularly except for basic stuff. The triples are just fine in terms of room quality and space. You can hear through the walls but it's not too bad. There is a heater in every room, which can be nice during the winder. The showers and restrooms are fine as well, though they get wrecked when the drunk freshmen decide to puke and hog the stalls. It's a 3 minute walk to Crossroads, 6 minute walk to campus, and there are tons of restaurants within a few blocks. If you are in Ehrman with a west facing room, you get a nice view. Oh, there is also only one elevator and it frequently breaks down, so get used to the stairs. It's fine overall. - 4 years ago

Rooms: The rooms are nice. The layout online is inaccurate, you might get a double in a room that should be a single, or you could get 2 full baths instead of 1.5 baths. Overall the official website is a bit inaccurate for this.

Bathrooms: Water pressure is great, everything is clean and modern
Common Area of Apt: Common area is also great and we have a half balcony (you can't go out but can open the door). The layout is a bit weird with the kitchen being at the front door though. We have a 2 dining tables (and 6 chairs), 2 coffee tables, a couch, and a chair.

General Apartment building: There's a common area on the 3rd floor thats super nice and secluded feeling, and there's roof access that looks out over SF and Berkeley. There is not much management in the way as it is in the Freshman dorms, but help is there if you need it. It's also MUCH less social, but this is mostly because its an apartment and people aren't roaming around as much.

Location: Location is the only meh part. Its close to campus (5 min walk from sproul) so that's great, but their entrance is on the street next to People's park so its a bit scary at night, but that being said I've never had any issues. Otherwise the proximity to campus is nice.

- 2 years ago

You would love this dorm if you are a fan of the movie ratatouille. I'm joking , but obviously the building aura was inspired by the Cold War Soviet Union, and is meant for character development. For the price, the basic human rights(restrooms, beds, elevator, all mid btw) are not very American dreamy. The restrooms are unisex, I'm not saying I had a problem with it but I would rather not hear the opposite sex nonstop ruining the toilet next to me. Don't come here if you crave aesthetics in a building , this building is as joyless as a Cafe 3 vegan patty, BUT the community is more lively unlike other buildings, cough* cough* Blackwell. Hope this didn't shatter your hopes and dreams...go bears! - 11 months ago

An overall good experience. I lived on floor 1 of Cheney and although the style of the dorm wasn't very modern, it wasn't too bad. Lived in a double which if you arrange the beds a certain way, you get a decent amount of floor space. they have pretty big windows for sunlight to get in so that was always nice. Co-ed bathrooms took some getting used to but it wasn't a big deal. The showers were pretty dingy and reminded me of camp site showers that were cramped with gross floors and hair sticking to the side of the walls. One elevator and two washers and dryers every other floor was sometimes inconvenient to have to wait. It's not horrible, but it isn't amazing either. Would say Unit 1 is a good option though for close proximity to campus and Crossroads dining hall. - 2 years ago

I lived in a single room in a two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and a really nice bathroom. The amenities were extremely nice, including a washer-dryer in the apartment, a dishwasher, and a TV. Management was really nice and helpful. The gardens on the rooftops are also a pleasure to walk around!
My only reservation is that the walls are quite thin, which makes it really easy to hear what your roommate(s) are doing and noise from other nearby apartments. I suppose the price is also pretty expensive!
In terms of the location, it's about 6 blocks from Sproul plaza and a few blocks away from restaurants and shops on both Telegraph and Shattuck. So it's a pretty nice location! It never gets too too loud, but I wouldn't say the surrounding blocks are the safest. - 4 years ago

I live in a double suite with seven people in Clark Kerr and have had a mixed experience. The culture is definitely completely different from the rest of Berkeley, there are a lot of people from socal who are in Greek life, and it's definitely the least racially diverse dorm at Berkeley. I've found that if you live in a suite and aren't super outgoing, it's difficult to find a community here. That being said, this campus is absolutely gorgeous and definitely has the best amenities and food. Although the walk to campus is pretty far, I've found it to be therapeutic (when the weather is nice) and a good way to force myself to exercise lol. And if walking isn't your thing, you can always take the bus, which comes pretty frequently (but not always reliably). If I could go back, I wouldn't chose to live here because of how my social experience ended up being, but if you definitely plan on rushing, are from southern California, or were stereotypically popular in high school, I think you'll thrive here. - 2 years ago

Wheelchair Accessible (Roll in bathroom, Automatic door buttons, Single room, accessible window handle)

Very quiet and clean. Lots of washing/drying machines on the first floor. Spacious study lounges. Close to campus. - 4 years ago

Lived in apartment side townhouse. You don't get to choose your room out of the 4 available so that kinda sucks since I was assigned the smallest one which is like half the size of the largest room (literally what the fuck was the designer smoking). The room is still okay though, great view of the courtyard and the living room is spacious. I don't really like how big the windows are throughout the apartment. The kitchen has a window that is from the ground to ceiling, so anyone in the courtyard or outside can see you cooking lol. And in your room, the window is like that too, so if you wanted to not have your blinds down to see outside, you are forced to let everyone see you from the leg up. 2 bathrooms in the apartment, so it's good. The amenities in MMC is also nice, there are multiple study rooms, decent gym (no weights, just cardio), and a cheap laundry room. Overall I think MMC is the best apartment, but the main issue for me personally is the fucking large ass windows. - 1 year ago

There literally is no place nicer to live than Blackwell. It is like living in a hotel for 6 months. There's helpful people at the desk, its very safe, theres a gym, and communal bathrooms that are cleaned twice daily. The building manager is this really hip swag 30ish year old and he's doing an amazing job keeping everything clean and working.

Pros: Location (Super close to campus), cleanliness, admin, gym (not a lot of stuff there, but RSF is 2 min away too so...)

Cons: Not much other than the room can feel a little small in comparison to a triple from unit 2 for example. No common space in the room, just 2 beds and desks. No kitchen, but there is a microwave and fridge. Socially it also gets a bit dead after the first few weeks, but a good portion of my friends were made via Blackwell. - 2 years ago

Great place for on-campus housing! Some apartments have beautiful views! The apartment rent is expensive. It is pretty close to campus though! Recommend applying for this place. - 2 months ago