Ranking the Dorms at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

I was in a double in an Ellsworth 7-person during the 2019-2020 academic year. The layout is good, even though the buildings show their age. Rooms are decently sized with ample storage and individual climate control. Kitchen and bathrooms are to be cleaned by residents. The kitchen comes with an electric stovetop/oven, fridge/freezer, and sink/storage. Bring your own microwave! Bathroom scheduling can be a bit of a mess in the morning. It is HIGHLY encouraged to install a shower curtain between the shower and the rest of the bathroom to facilitate multiple users. Buildings are literally across the street from the back of Stoddard/Morgan and a very quick walk to anywhere on campus. There is a parking lot as well as laundry under one of the buildings in the complex. Waste disposal/recycling is by unit 15. Overall, not too bad if you organize amongst yourselves. - 4 years ago

I loved living in founders. I had a 5-person suite, and we were all very close to each other by the end of A-term. It's really easy to go down to the Goat's head for dinner and not have to walk all the way up to DAKA, and the To-Go store is great for breakfast and lunch. People say it's not very social, but in my experience, me and my roommates were very close with the people in the rooms around us. The private bathroom is really nice, as you don't have to share it with the entire floor, and a person comes once a week to clean it. You also get to have a microwave and a large refrigerator. Our rooms were fairly large as well, with a lot of storage space. You even get a living room in your suite, plus the common room for the entire floor. Overall, it was a great dorm, but it was a bit more of a walk to some parts of campus than if you lived elsewhere. - 4 years ago

The best part of living in Morgan Hall is that it's connected to the dining hall as well as the laundry facilities in the basement of Daniels Hall, so half the time you need to do anything you can stay in your pajamas. It's also very close to the academic buildings and right next to the gym which is nice. However, the rooms are small as is and the forced triple doesn't make it any better. Morgan Hall also had a lot of maintenance issues when I was living there, including fire alarms going off for no reason, and the heating system overheating. The common area was disgusting. Overall 3 stars, could be worse but could be way better for what you're paying. - 4 years ago

I lived by myself in a two-person studio. the room itself was fine, a bit packed with furniture if the beds weren’t bunked. the appliances could use upgrading, as the stovetop wasn’t in great shape and the sink had some issues. overall, not a bad place to live if you only use it for basics. not the best for hosting friends due to limited space. having a private bathroom was a plus, though it never felt amazingly clean. I enjoyed how close to campus it was without being a huge hike. the huge windows right at walkway level were uncomfortable for a studio space, definitely sacrificed some natural light for privacy. - 4 years ago

It was a nice place to live in. The loop allowed you to meet new people and the common room was big enough for movie nights. I don't know if this is still a problem but the half of the hall with the girls bathroom gets uncomfortably hot when they turn on the heat in Nov (at least on the 4th floor). - 4 years ago

I had a single in riley and it was honestly fantastic. if you're someone that enjoys alone time, definitely opt for the single! the rooms are so spacious and never felt cramped, and my floor only had 7 girls for a bathroom with two stalls and two showers, so having to wait to use the bathroom was never a problem. very clean overall, although I know the first floor had an issue with a silverfish infestation, but I think they've replaced the carpet since then. sucked having to walk across for laundry/dining hall but in the grand scheme of things it was no big deal at all. - 4 years ago

Faraday is a great transition from dorm style to apartment style while still staying on campus. One great thing is the bathrooms because in your apartment of 4, there are two separate rooms for the toilet and the shower, and then there are two sinks in the hallway, so there is less of waiting for your roommate to be done in the bathroom. Everyone says the walk is bad, but unless you live in Messenger, Ellsworth, or Fuller, you're gonna have to walk up the hill after freshman year. To the places on campus that are closer to Faraday (FL, AK, Library, Goddard) the walk can be as little as 7-8 minutes, usually it averages to around 10 depending where on campus you're going. Faraday is also a much newer building which is nice if you're trying to decide between that and Ellsworth or Fuller. - 4 years ago

Great location, gorgeous bathrooms that are well maintained, new furniture, overall a really nice space. a single room, however, it’s approximately 3 twin xl beds in total area. it’s really small, and hard to keep the room open if you can’t have your bed on the highest height. the singles are also right behind tech suites, which had a tendency to get rowdy.

my year also saw SEVERAL issues with the building. many rooms blew fuses by using too many appliances at once. leaving a window open lead to a burst pipe and flooded 5 total rooms and a stairwell. there were also recurring card access issues (more than I’d experienced in other residence halls). - 4 years ago

Stoddard is great for the right person.

Downsides: you have to walk across the street to get breakfast and there is not a crosswalk at that corner, the sound carries a bit so i would recommend getting a sound strip for under your door

Upsides: smaller community with floors separated by gender (ideal for when you lock yourself out of your room by accident), the bathrooms are the most remodeled of the freshnman dorms (doesn't say a lot but there's no mold and everything is relatively clean), single dorms fit a single bed, desk, mini fridge, dresser and microwave comfortably (the closet is open so i put my maximimum size you can have mini fridge in there with the microwave and the dresser under the bed so the rest of the space is very open). THE COMMON ROOM HAS AC. All of the dorms get super hot and you are not permitted to have an AC unit so this was an amazing way to meet people in the building.

You are a bit separated from the rest of the dorms, but they are super close and you don't have to deal with the more noisy people. Only recommendation for stod is you HAVE to go socialize with people other than stod your first term or you will feel stuck with a friend group you did not select which was rather stressful for some people. Joining a club is a great way to do this. - 4 years ago

If you can get a single, these dorms are great and new. The double was enough space for two people with all the down sides of having a roommate.

Conference rooms and rec rooms are a great benefit. - 4 years ago