Posted this in a previous discussion:
"Hey, current freshman here. I’ll try to give you a good rundown of things.
Donlon -
Pros: The “social” dorm (everyone leaves their door open), music playing and an overall wild/fun atmosphere; people love this dorm
Cons: Confusing floor layout; on the older side; no overhead lighting
High Rise 5 (basically a twin building of Jameson) -
Pros: Amazing views of Cornell from the 6th floor sky lounge; each floor has a lounge with an outside deck; you should be able to bond with your suite and/or floor very easily; located right next to RPCC (a dining hall and community center); location next to RPCC bus stop
Cons: Bathrooms need a serious makeover (the showers are bathtub showers… gross); triples feel forced and smaller than doubles; you have to take an elevator to get to your floor (no access to stairwell on the way up) can get very annoying
Court-Kay-Bauer “CKB” -
Pros: This is the most sought-after dorm on North campus; AIR CONDITIONING; NEWest buildings; plenty of spacious study lounges; gives a pleasant hotel-ish vibe compared to other dorms; located near Appel (dining hall) and bus stop
Cons: Some people say no one in these dorms are social (I disagree, it’ll be largely dependent upon your “pod” and rest of the floor); you have to swipe your card to get access into the building and then swipe again to use the elevators or get access to the stairwell on the way up (can be annoying when your friends are trying to come over)
Mews -
Never been inside but it is fairly similar to CKB
Low Rises -
Pros: None (universally known as the worst housing on North)
Cons: Really confusing floor layouts; crappy facilities similar to the highrises without the nice views
Dickson -
Never been inside, but I know that it’s the oldest building on North Campus and one of the oldest dorms in the Ivy League.
Townhouses (secluded housing, a lot of athletes tend to live with teammates) -
Pros: Anti-dorm lifestyle with your own “community” (pro or con depending on the person --> onus is on you to make friends and reach out to other Townhouses); relative freedom from RAs (they are around but don’t have as big a presence as they do in the dorms, naturally); essentially hotspots to smoke/drink; has a community center; near bus stops; huge living areas (each townhouse has two doubles, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a lounge area)
Cons: Farthest away from Central Campus (you have to budget a lot of time to get to class in the morning); RAs are naturally suspicious that students will be up to no good here so they do checks a lot at the beginning of the semester; kind of excluded from the dorm lifestyle of other dorms (you’d probably have to reach out to a lot of people to get to other pregames)
Risley (artsy dorm, don’t be shocked by the people you meet) -
Pros: “The Harry Potter Dorm” This dorm actually has a convenient dining hall which looks straight out of the Harry Potter movies.
Cons: Apparently they wanted to ditch the Harry Potter persona for a “Breaking Bad” persona because this dorm got busted for a major meth lab operation in the basement last semester (NOT JOKING!!!).
JAM House, Ujamaa, Latino Living Center, and International Community Living Center are all program housing -
I think they’re similar to the Low Rises
Hope this helps!"