Ranking the Dorms at University of Connecticut

Pros:
-Awesome location, within minutes of academic buildings like McHugh and Oak, as well as directly next to bookstore, Gampel, Student Union, and the library
-Dining hall within the building, that also serves late night, and South dining hall nearby
-Large communal areas like individual floor lounges, silent study lounge, Global lounge, and game room
-Elevator
-Doors on the shower stalls

Cons:
-Laundry room (south side) sucks. Dirty, more than one machine always broken, stolen clothes, etc
-Small rooms, but not smaller than most alternatives
-Dining hall is not very good (imo)
-Building is aged and it shows in interior and in things semi-frequently breaking
-No A/C - 4 years ago

Living in Northwest was so much fun. The dorms are kinda small but the bathrooms are pretty nice once you get past the initial grossness– they were never really too crowded. Of course it varies by year and floor, but my floor (and building) got really close and that made living there a lot of fun. Northwest dining hall is solid and just a short walk from any of the buildings in Northwest. In terms of location, it's right near a lot of the STEM buildings and super close to off-campus restaurants and the bars. I'll really miss living in Northwest and I'm super bummed that my time living there got cut short. - 4 years ago

West is old but good. It is the most central dorm on campus, and conveniently located across the street from South and McMahon dining halls. The buildings are co-ed, but the floors are single sex. Each floor has two bathrooms (approx. 4 toilets, 6 showers and 6 sinks).The rooms are average-sized doubles, but have lots of closet space. The first-floor layout is different for each building. A lot of Alsop is the HD's office. Shakespeare/Troy has a kitchen and game room. Chandler/Lancaster is all lounge. Hollister has maintenance rooms. Trash bins are located on the first floor. There are two laundry rooms in each basement. There is no elevator. Mailboxes are in McMahon. Keycard access is limited to your specific residence building. - 4 years ago

Garrigus is an awesome place to live if you have close friends that you're living with. If you're coming from dorm life, it's a huge upgrade to have your own bathroom and sharing it with five other people isn't that bad. Garrigus wasn't the most social building, most people kept to themselves for the most part. There's a lot of different study lounges to use if your room is too loud, too. The biggest downside to Garrigus is living in a triple. I love both my roommates dearly, but sometimes I just wanted to have some alone time and not have to be social but it was hard to come by. But overall, I loved my time in Garrigus. It's the on-campus housing I'd choose to live in again. Though Busby is also nice and has a larger closet, I think Garrigus' location makes it far, far superior. - 4 years ago

LOVE ALUMNI!! Belden is the best (BCLC!) and it is so close to everything you need on campus. The elevators are great especially on move-in day, and the location is amazing, especially compared to other standard Freshman locations. Maybe not the best location for STEM majors/classes, but other than that it is so close to the two best dining halls, it is near the center of campus/bookstore/Union/Library/School of Business/new Rec Center, and basically it is the best place to live as a Freshman. Werth is nice too, but Alumni gives you the true dorm feel in a great location, and the buildings are well maintained. Werth to me feels more like a hotel than a dorm. You can't go wrong in Alumni! - 4 years ago

Right next to one of the best dining halls on campus. Room was small but in good condition, and quite hot, which might be a plus depending on how much you like warmth (but the windows open if you need them to). No insects, rats, or other infestations, and it was very close to the downtown Storrs area and the parking garage, as well as the library. People mostly want to be left alone, which again might be a plus or a minus. There are two common areas/lounges, one is for quiet study and the other (downstairs and far away from the rooms) is for all-night socializing. There's a fireplace in the lounge which is quite pleasant when it's lit, and there's also a fireplace in the next-door dining hall.

I have only two complaints: there was no snack machine and the drinks machine never seemed to work right. I'm a night owl and I like to have a snack before I go to bed. The second complaint is that the outlets were a little annoying to get to, I had to crawl around under the desk and over the bed. - 4 years ago

Building security and restrictions are a bit excessive, signing in guests repeatedly gets annoying. Considering most other Uconn dorms lack a security guard and patrolling RAs. Rooms were super nice. - 4 years ago

4 bedroom 4 person with 2 shared bathrooms. absolutely loved every aspect of it, this was the first time in my life I had my own bedroom (share with sibling at home) and the individuals bedrooms are very spacious, especially the D rooms. Recommend getting into a building closer to the entrance (Beard, French, etc) so it's somewhat less of a walk. Plenty of space in the apartment for everything. The only con I can think of is that the floors and walls carry sound really well from other apartments so I would recommend getting the third floor otherwise you hear people stomping around all the time. Wish my time there hadn't gotten cut short because of COVID because Hilltop apartments is the best place to live on campus in my opinion. - 4 years ago

Pros:
- suites: 2 rooms with 2 people each, living room space, and a bathroom
- some singles with private bathrooms, REALLY difficult to get unless you have accommodations or lots of credits (100+)
- nice view
- close to campus
- AC!! Controlled by phone call to automated system
- 1 small kitchen in each building with stove and microwave
- multiple study lounges on each floor
- Wilson first floor has classrooms- extra study space
- 1 slow elevator per building (oof)

Cons:
- don’t know many neighbors, fairly isolated
- Hard to get into without lots of credits or accommodations
- mailroom is in Rome, so is the dining hall, so you have to go outside to get food
- not too many water refill stations - 4 years ago

Welcome to Werth! I, personally, lived here in a traditional double two years - freshman and sophomore. Both years, I lived on the 2nd floor. Because of this, I could hear people walking in and out of the building. For this reason, despite the AC (which works really well, *and* you can actually adjust it) I would still recommend buying a fan or white noise machine. Besides that, the rooms are great, you're right by most of campus (the Union is only 5 minutes away, and your classes are all within 10 minutes unless you have to walk all the way to Horsebarn Hill), and the lounges are amazing. The dining hall, Putnam, has a great atmosphere, but the actual food is leagues better next door at Northwest and McMahon (which also have better hours). The bathrooms can be kind of a zoo sometimes but are still leagues better than what you'd find at The Jungle. Overall, would reccommend. - 1 year ago