Cornell Housing for First-Year students

Biohazardia
Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:34:52 +0000

@Bridgezon - Yes, that’s true; you can only choose a single, double or triple (and you might not even get your first choice - for example, I asked for a double and got a single) in the collection of freshman houses, and then cross your fingers and hope you get somewhere you like. Or you can opt to choose a program house (like Ujamaa, Risley, etc), Balch (all women’s dorm) or a townhouse, in which case you know where you will be living.

Fallenmerc seems to have answered most of your questions. I can shed a little more life on Balch though, since a lot of my friends live there. The rooms are indeed very large (a single is around 13x13 square feet I would say) and I believe every two rooms share a sink, which is VERY convenient for those of us who don’t have enough time/are too lazy to run to the bathroom to brush teeth/wash face in the morning.

I personally live in Clara Dickson at the moment (one of the old buildings) and no AC is okay actually, I just brought a fan and that worked when it was warmer. Heating is fine (each room has a thermostat) although the pipes can make funny noises sometimes. A lot of people share the bathroom at Dickson (it’s probably like 16 to a bathroom) but they are cleaned weekdays daily and are actually very decent IMO. People do leave their doors open all the time and hang out in the lounges and talk to each other.