Ranking the Dorms at Washington State University

Room: Exactly what you would expect from a freshman dorm. This hall used to be single rooms only, so if you have a double room it might be smaller than usual. The biggest advantage of the rooms here is you get a microfridge included with your room which in other halls you have to pay extra for.


Building: The building overall is a lot nicer than other freshman dorms. The outside and interior actually look somewhat nice. The best part is the 12th floor, which is an entire lounge area with a theater room, study room, pool and foosball, and piano. Each floor also has its own lounge, kitchen, and washer/dryer, with extra washer/dryers on the 1st floor.


Bathroom: It's one men's and one women's bathroom per floor, but that's also pretty standard with freshman dorms. It gets gross but nothing you wouldn't expect.


Location: It may be one of the farthest dorms from the campus center but it's still only a 10 minute walk max. A worse problem with the location is that the closest dining hall is Southside, which is probably the worst one. However there is Southside Market underneath which is a mini mart/coffee shop that is convenient to have nearby.


Community: This seems to vary more depending on how social your neighbors are. My section of the floor wasn't as social and had more doors close, which the other side of the floor was much more social and everyone knew everyone. If you're on a floor of single rooms, I would expect your floor to be much less social.

Overall, Orton is perfectly okay, there are better dorms but this is also a good place to live. If you're a freshman, Orton is one of the best dorms you actually have a chance of getting into, so that is a major advantage. Freshmen are usually placed in Gannon/Goldsworthy or Stephenson, so getting assigned Orton is the best case scenario as it is actually livable. For older students, Orton would be good if you can get a single room on a lower floor. However as an older student you might also have better options on what dorm to choose, so McEachern may be better if you're looking for a single room, or Olympia, Northside, Global, or any hillside dorm if you're looking for a better dorm overall. - 2 years ago

On move-in the water fountains and community kitchen sink were not working for a few days. Halfway through the semester there was liquid dripping from the ceiling in the study room. If you live in Scott, you will have worse amenities than Coman despite the buildings being the same floor plan. The janitors did not clean the bathrooms for the first semester. Someone left raw meat overnight on top of the fridge and it dripped down the side of the fridge. Residents wouldn’t clean up after themselves in the community kitchen so the RA’s threatened to make the kitchen off limits. Half the showers were broken on our floor and at some point the third floor’s washer was broken. Every night random people would shout outside the dorms and bang on the dumpster lids. Expect your room to be consistently 85 degrees for the first few weeks of the semester, there is no AC. If the fire alarm goes off, you probably won’t be able to hear it in your room. Our dorm window grew something that looked like mold. There are no elevators but there are ramps. The small balcony was nice for watching soccer games. The double rooms are bigger than most double rooms on campus. Overall, an average dorm. - 2 years ago

Regents is in a very convenient part of Northside, it's near Einstiens, the market, has a dining hall inside of the building, and is just a short walk away from Insomnia Cookies and Greek row. - 2 years ago

Great location, close to most classes and a dining hall. Having a convenience store in the building was a great idea. Rooms are pretty small and there aren’t many options for cooking with a shared microwave - 2 years ago

Overall Olympia is one of the better dorms on campus. One of the few dorms on campus with AC. The building is new and there is a kitchen on each floor. The single rooms come with a private bathroom, but the toilet is aggressively loud and all your neighbors can hear you flush. The sink is also outside the bathroom for some reason, despite how much empty space is in the bathroom. The biggest downside to Olympia is the location. It is far away from everything on campus and on top of a large hill. You need to walk up several flights of stairs every time you come back to your dorm, and climbing the stairs never gets any easier. There is also lots of wildlife around this dorm, but the birds smack into the large glass windows. The front desk will not be surprised when someone reports another dead bird outside the door. The lobby downstairs is very nice. - 2 years ago

I bought out a double in Streit after living in Gannon for a few months. It was an upgrade in every sense. The bathrooms are nicer, the location is better, the elevator actually works. Downsides, washing machine availability is hit or miss, and as a girl, you’re sandwiched between two men’s floors. They definitely have come to our floor and done some dumb stuff and tried to get into our rooms, so doors should probably be locked all the time. Best location on campus. - 2 years ago

I didn’t live here but my friend did and I think it’s the best dorm on southside. The room is very spacious, you have it all to yourself, you have your own bathroom (which u share with someone in a different room) and you have a sink in your room. It is on southside but it’s well placed so that the walk to class isn’t bad at all. It’s the perfect dorm and it’s not super expensive! - 2 years ago

Clean place but trying to get a private bathroom is always better, the private bathroom gets cleaned every 2 weeks and the reception/quiet rooms, kitchen, and laundry rooms are always clean, the only problem would be the people making noise at night but that's in every dorm. - 2 years ago

A modern, spacious, air-conditioned dorm with Einstein's bagels and a market on the ground floor. It's close to the Chinook and the CUB, but it's a decent walk to the south side of campus. Northside dining center has good food most days but is smaller than Southside. - 2 years ago

Honors Hall is the best. The rooms are large (Although the room to room size varies tremendously, some rooms are much smaller than others), the suite style living is awesome (private, 6 or 4 person only bathrooms), and the location is perfect being right in the middle of campus. - 2 years ago