Best Dorm for Stern Students

nyrablu7
Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:21:07 +0000

It doesn’t really matter what school you’re in too much (unless some Tisch) to choose dorms, because almost every freshmen has core classes at Silver. It depends on how much you mind walking and what you want surrounding you.

For close location and a really good dining hall, Hayden’s the best. Hayden ends up being the ED dorm. However, it’s not apartment style, so consider that. Rooms are nice, it’s the only dorm that’s carpeted. The best thing about Hayden is that no two rooms look alike. They all have little random rooms here and there (closets, kitchens converted into space) so it’s a nice variation. Walk to class is like max 5 minutes if you’re a slow walker, or if you like to roll out of bed right before class. Half a block away is McDougal St, which has lots of restaurants, pizza places, the famous Mamoun’s falafel. Hayden’s infamous for cockroaches and rats, and my floor’s had like 4 cockroaches so far and apparently a floor rat, but I haven’t seen it yet.

Third North and U-Hall are both apartment style. U-Hall’s right on Union Square and next to Palladium, so nightlife outside will always be active and it takes like 30 seconds to get to the gym (which is really, really nice in the winter). The only thing I personally don’t like about U-Hall is that every room is identical, but that’s just me. Rooms are nice, walk to class is probably around 10-ish minutes. Third North is a little bit farther away, it has a cinema right next to it, St. Marks is close, which has lots of pretty cheap food, apartment style. Walk to class time is probably the same.

Brittany has by far the biggest rooms, but their location is kind of bad. Walk to class is probably like 5-7 minutes, there’s not really anything really nearby.

Weinstein is the traditional, cinderblock rooms and it has no A/C. I’ve never heard anyone say they like it, so there ya go with that one. The really good thing about Weinstein is that it’s closest to Silver, where most freshmen classes will be. It’s less than half a block away. Weinstein has two dining halls, Upstein and Downstein. Upstein is open until 1 AM during the week (which is incredibly nice) and has Quizno’s, Chick-Fil-A, a grill, and salad and soup. Downstein is all-you-can-eat buffet style (though Hayden’s is by far better). Right next to Weinstein is Space Market, where you can buy just about any type of food and it’s open 24/7. It’s handy for Red Bull or 5-hour energy runs, but it’s way overpriced as well.

Rubin is… Rubin. I don’t know much about it, location’s not great, dining hall’s not great from what I’ve heard, rooms aren’t bad though.

Goddard. Just, no.

Overall, I’d say for sure pick between Hayden, U-Hall, or Third North. Hayden’s got the best dining hall and is close to class, and U-Hall and Third North have the long walk but are close to Union Square, where something is always happening. The other one’s aren’t bad either, but these three are best in terms of dorm quality and location.

–EDIT–

I just realized, U-Hall’s not going to be a freshman dorm starting next year, so scratch that off.