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I'm a guy, but lived in Balch last summer as part of my research stipend. I've lived in several dorms at more than one university, so here are my two cents:
1. Balch is really hot during the summer. Get lots of fans or be ready to fight for couches in the air-conditioned common rooms when the heat is unbearable.
2. The rooms are huge. Square feet per person, the biggest dorms I've ever stayed in. Large windows mean they're nice and bright too. And big closets to boot! Mine had kind of a musty smell, though.
3. Good location. Right across the footbridge to academic buildings (the road bridge is out, though).
4. Weird rules. Don't know if it's different for regular term, but I got threatened with a citation for carrying beer to my room even though I was of age. Apparently I was pressuring other people to drink merely by possessing alcohol (that's what the RA told me). I went to a state school for undergrad, and by God if you were 21 you could have a full bar in your room if you wanted...so this was a little strange to me.
5. Beautiful building. But then again the whole campus is picturesque.
6. Frustrating elevator. It's old, and requires you to shut the door behind you, or it won't operate. Comes complete with an obnoxious buzzer for you to ring if you need someone to close the door. Even with just a few dozen researchers living in the building, the thing rarely worked without running up the stairs to close open elevator doors. A hall full of freshman seems like it would render the elevator effectively inoperable, but maybe not. The buzzer, however, always works.
7. Might be magical. I'm going back to Cornell for graduate work this fall, and so is my girlfriend -- whom I met in Balch while I was there last year. My research advisor, a Cornell alum, met his wife at Cornell while she was living in Balch -- over thirty years ago.
Thank you for reading my meandering, unhelpful response.
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