Shaw Hall Reviews
Michigan State University River Trail Neighborhood
Reviews Summary
Shaw Hall, situated in an enviable location right on the river and central to campus, makes commute to classes a breeze. Its proximity to the bus station lends additional convenience. The dorm is equipped with a fitness room and an on-site dining hall, which serves decent breakfast and good food, albeit with early closure times, limited options compared to other halls, and rare openings on weekends. Rooms range in size from snug to sizable, with some offering the appeal of closets and options for a three-person occupancy. However, privacy may occasionally be compromised in rooms that jut out further. A recurring concern among residents is the state of the community bathrooms – unclean and sometimes even disgusting, they are marred with issues like mold, broken pipes causing unpleasant odors and flooding, toilet paper shortages, frigid water temperatures and low water pressure. Furthermore, the lack of decently equipped common study rooms and a frequently malfunctioning elevator are sources of inconvenience. Generally calm and quiet since it mainly houses second-year students, Shaw Hall is considered average in terms of overall living experience.
Great Location
Dirty Bathrooms
Small Rooms
When students lived here
Freshman
Sophomore
Overall rating breakdown
Room
Building
Location
Bathroom
Browse 11 Student Reviews
Reviews with a Verified Student badge were written with a school email.
Terrible dorm to live in not considering its location. The bathrooms were always trashed - which was more of a resident issue but we couldn’t do anything about it until maintenance came through the next day. We never had toilet paper or soap either. There are very few study rooms, and even those are bare and not welcoming of more than one party. The elevator on the east side was often out of service, which was a huge inconvenience for laundry. Also, if your room jutted out a little further than the neighboring rooms, you could see perfectly into your neighbors room which felt like a complete violation of privacy.
Nice location, average everything else. Not bad, not great. Food hall is good for breakfast but when I was there it was not many options compared to others
Locations the only good thing about this place everything else is old and gross. Avoid living here unless you have like all your classes in Broad
Pros: great location most classes are nearby or less than a 10 minute walk, gym in the basement, dining hall inside shaw, second years so it’s quieter. Cons: nasty bathrooms they are never clean and showers have mold growing in them, there was a toilet paper shortage so we always kept extra rolls in our room, dining hall not open on weekends or after 7pm on weekdays.
Bathrooms were disgusting and our dining hall was not great food wise/times. It also always smelled like pee in the hallways from broken pipes. Water was freezing and had low water pressure. Single stalls flooded and none of them worked by the end of the year. Also the bathrooms never got cleaned. Room was good and location is even better.
Best location for short commutes to classes and to be in the center of campus. The room you get will either be massive or tiny. They have closets which is nice and option for three person rooms.
Centric location, was always close to classes. Room was okay but not great. No decent common rooms and study areas very sparse but the Law Library was right across the road. The dining hall is nice but gets really crowded during lunch. Everyone is a sophomore so not raucous and people keep to themselves.
the dining hall closed really early but the food was pretty good. location is great and has a gym in the basement. rooms are very small and community bathrooms suck only specific showers have good water pressure
Pros: great location and dining hall. Cons: small rooms, dirty community bathrooms, great for second years, not first years.
pros: great location (right across from bus station and pretty central in campus), has a dining hall, small fitness room cons: dining hall barely open on weekends, dining hall closes at 7, no spartys, bathrooms are not always clean
