Princeton University Sophomore Dorms Ranked

This room (Baker E316) has a pretty unique shape for a double because it’s like an L instead of a rectangle. So even though one section of the room is a lot smaller than the other, you both get a lot more privacy than a usual double and the small section (I had that one) is honestly a decent amount of room nonetheless. The lighting is also good as well! - 2 years ago

Aliyah Kanji is a great dorm to live in, as it is very close to the dining hall as well as the closest New College West Dorm to the main campus. However, it is still a pain to go uphill to the main parts of campus. The journey from Aliyah Kanji to the Engineering Quad is ~10 minutes on bike, which isn't too bad. The facilities are good and definitely a huge step up from my last dorm (in First), however, there are random fire drills and construction noises which can be distracting. My room is on the ground floor and next to the place where they load up the garbage, which means you can sometimes hear very loud truck noises in the morning. The room is nice, but the walls are very easy to damage, so keep that in mind if you want to hang up a lot of posters/tapestries (still possible though). - 2 years ago

Location is horrible--worse than Forbes in terms of distance from everything. The building was made too quickly, so some things don't work sometimes (like AC), and sometimes there are roof leaks in the dining hall.

The room itself is pretty nice otherwise, with nice furniture, windows, and space. Bathrooms are amazing, better than any other. The dining hall is probably the best dining hall on campus. But does that balance out with 15-18 minute walks to classes, Firestone Library, or downtown shops? Probably not. If all you do is stay in the res college, then it's perfect for you; otherwise, the practicality sucks. Miles better than First College in terms of quality of housing, but terrible location.

Also, the outside is ugly, like typical corporate BS. - 2 years ago

Communal bathrooms were kept mostly clean, and most of the time had hot water, but most importantly, they were very private, with the ability to lock shower and bathroom doors, and basically have a private bathroom to yourself. The actual building is brand new and very modern, and it's usually very clean, but since it's new, there were a few things not fully resolved. The fire alarm goes off randomly once every two weeks or so (occasionally at like 3 a.m. too), the hot water would just stop some nights, and the stairs next to the main entrance of Fu have been unusable since Day 1, which is both incredibly annoying and incredibly stupid. How do stairs not work??? The thermometers were also weird, especially for the first few weeks, and having a room be too hot or cold with no ability to change it was common, although this has gotten much better. There were times where our room his 80 degrees/61 degrees though, even when it was set at 69 with all the windows and doors closed. I'd like to emphasize that this was rare and hasn't happened recently. It often didn't move more than 5 degrees from where it was set though, so it was overall fine. The windows and doors are problematic sometimes, as you need to shut some doors very hard for them to lock, and some windows are somewhat broken, and you need to close them a specific way to get them to fully close in my experience. The elevator for Fu goes right to the dining hall if you hit the ground floor button, and it's not as far away from everything as mannion, so overall it was pretty solid. The laundry room is also in Fu, so it's only an elevator ride to the second floor to get to it. Yeh is a bit of a walk from most buildings in general, but it's not bad, especially if you are an engineer (many first year engineering classes are on or close to the south side of campus, where Yeh is) or have a bike/scooter. Even the furthest walk (Equad) is only 15 minutes, which at most other college campuses is pretty reasonable, and can be made in 11 or 12 minutes if you speedwalk and don't have to deal with foot traffic. The Yeh/NCW dining hall is also probably the best dining hall, and it's only an elevator ride away from Fu, so this is fantastic. I had a quad, which was enough space for 4 people, and it wasn't really crowded, but it's not massive. It is modern though, and everything works for the most part. Location is probably the worst thing about Yeh, but it's certainly not bad. The common rooms, lounge rooms, and kitchens in Yeh are pretty good too, with comfortable seating and a great place to sit and talk with friends and hang out. Everything is nicely colored too, typically red, orange, or something along those lines, so it looks warm and friendly. Since the college was just built, it's overall pretty good, and probably the best place to live, but this is subjective of course. Not a perfect 5 star experience, but it's probably as close as you'll get to one, especially if you don't mind a walk. - 2 years ago

Room 216: double + private bathroom. At first, we bunked the beds but later unbunked and arranged them in an L-shape along the back and left walls. I'd recommend stacking bookcases on top of the drawers to optimize floor space, but there’s enough room if you choose not to. For reference, we could comfortably fit a queen-size air mattress on the floor with our two desks on the right and left wall, beds in an L-shape at the back, drawers on the left and front wall, and a minifridge near the door. Lots of wall space and never had a problem with duct tape, putty, or command hooks on the paint. Note that the flooring is tile, but we didn't really need a carpet. Had a problem with ladybugs in the Spring, but they leave after a few weeks. Great view of the sunset over Forbes backyard with a lovely breeze if you open the window, and the room is air-conditioned. Super close to the kitchen, stairs, and elevator. Highly recommend - 2 years ago