Clara Dickson Hall Reviews
Cornell University
Reviews Summary
Clara Dickson Hall, located in the heart of North campus at Cornell University, offers a mixed experience for its residents. The dorm boasts a convenient location and spacious rooms, with singles being the primary accommodation option. Students appreciate the ample closet space and the ability to personalize their rooms. The building, one of the oldest on campus, lacks modern amenities like air conditioning, and heating can be unreliable at times. Issues with the bathrooms, including occasional cleanliness and hot water shortages, have been noted. While the community is described as talkative and friendly, making friends may require effort due to the large number of singles. Security concerns have been raised, as some residents reported theft due to lax locking practices. Overall, Clara Dickson Hall provides a unique dorm experience, ideal for introverts seeking privacy and space, but may not suit everyone's preferences.
Single Rooms
Central Location
Communal Atmosphere
When students lived here
Freshman
Sophomore
Overall rating breakdown
Room
Building
Location
Bathroom
Browse 16 Student Reviews
Reviews with a Verified Student badge were written with a school email.
i loved the aesthetic-styled rooms and all the other facilities are amazing too. would recommend a stay once
Fire alarm goes off every month. Shower is unclean and 5/6 in on my floor don’t have warm water. No overhead lighting in the rooms. Very thin walls. 16/20 washing machines and 8/20 dryers are out of order. I can disregard the fact that there is no AC, but it’s unbelievable that heating does not work sometimes when it’s 32F outside.
I loved my room and made a lot of my friends in the dorm. My room was dirty when I moved-in, but I washed the walls and they were fine. I moved in with a lot of stuff (a car and a truck, for reference) but was able to easily organize all of it and still have enough room to have other people over. No need to raise my bed super high to fit stuff underneath (at the same height as when I moved-in). In a good location on North campus, so nothing is too much of a walk. Laundry is a bit of a hassle if you are at the end of the dorm, like me, and have to carry it to the basement (~3 minute walk).
Can be loud at times, but a talkative community. Living areas, bathrooms, and rooms are fine but feel old (Dickson is one of the older buildings)
Relatively clean, no bugs or anything in my experience. Bathroom quality depended on floormates; mine were relatively good so bathrooms were clean as well, although showers broke a couple times. Plenty of space in single and great for introverts or people who just want their own privacy some times. Overall probably one of the better dorms on campus.
I want to first say that there are far worse dorms that i could've been placed into, so i really can't complain too much. that said, i will point out just the major pros and cons i experienced pro: - the fact that i didn't have a roommate. don't get me wrong, i would definitely put myself on the will-go-to-level-b-on-a-tuesday personality, but after your first 2 weeks at corn, you're definitely gonna want some alone time and that will be impossible with a roommate - nearly walk in closet; it's maybe about 3/4 the size of my closet back home but that's hella big when you start looking at other dorm's closets cons: - do yourself a favor and vacuum (or buy a vacuum) bc for the first half of the fall semester, i would always be emptying a ...
The bathrooms can be kind of gross if your floormates are messy. Having a single was great, it was enough space. Most of Clara Dickson is singles with a few doubles and triples throughout the building so making friends will be difficult if you don't hang out in the lounges in the first week. The walk to class is good compared to most other dorms. Only Risley and Balch are closer to Central Campus.
Clara Dickson has a great location. It is literally the center of North campus. Bus stations are nearby and facilities are only a few minutes walk away. If there is anything bad with the location is that because it's in the middle, nothing is necessarily too close. Single rooms are nothing special and were really okay in my opinion. One important thing to note is that because Clara Dickson is an old building, you can't use, for example, a hairdryer that uses too much power (it will shut off your room's power completely after a few seconds of use). Similarly, water boilers and other appliances that have high energy demand won't work necessarily well.
Very good location, easy to walk to the bus stops and central campus. The vibe was really strange though, no one in my hall knew one another and it was very quiet. I liked having my own space and a single though. Happened to meet my best friend here though, so wouldn't change a thing. The bathrooms and kitchens were also pretty gross.
Unless you live on the second floor, you’ll need to bring your own lamp. The bathrooms do get pretty gross, but that also depends on who’s living on what floor. Other than that, it’s a pretty solid building