I don’t think I have been allowed to see a bathroom! That’s more telling honestly than the dorms IMO!
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I love hearing the random things that kids decide are non-negotiables - shower head height is a new one! For D27, we only saw one dorm room in 16 tours and never opted to do the residential tour add-ons that some offered. She’s stayed in a wide range of dorms over the years at summer programs and found that dorm room quality or layout didn’t make much of a difference to her own personal experience. Food quality, however….
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There will always be Admitted Student weekend(s)!
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We saw a few dorms/bathrooms on tours. I was never impressed. I think the bigger thing we considered was how central the dorms were/weren’t. One kid lived in a ‘freshman village’ which was suite style (still had to have a meal plan to eat in the dorm) and that worked for her and 90% of the freshman at her school, and the other lived in an industrial style traditional dorm with two built in desks, two lofted beds, two wardrobes and two drawers. Again, almost all freshmen lived in one of the 2 high rises.
In fact, I think some of the dorms we saw were negatives - small, old, no a/c, a bus ride away from the classrooms. I particularly didn’t like Smith, where there was a sign in the bathroom about sex in the showers being unpleasant for everyone (except for those engaging in it, I guess) and that was followed by the tour guide saying that roommates could ask others to stay as long as they want and usually those displaced just found somewhere else to sleep. There were a lot of things I didn’t like about Smith, but this one stuck out. If we’d never been shown a dorm, we wouldn’t have thought about it until move in day.
In the summers there aren’t only summer session student in dorms but younger kids at band camp, tennis camp, science camps, as well as adults taking summer writing seminars, political meetings, etc. I wouldn’t expect the dorms to just be open for tours at any time during the year.
When you get to the college, I think everything works out. Even at schools where you love the suites or really want an old dorm with ivy on the outside, you may not get that dorm in the lottery.
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Ok, I am taking back my previous comment about dorm tours….
27 has now crossed off Union College in part (though not entirely) after a dorm tour.
They don’t really have anything I would consider a desk in the first-year dorms (not sure about older student housing). They have a shelf posing as a desk. I never would have guessed that.
My aspiring engineer was sure this would NOT work (and don’t blame them…)
You can get a clear view at the 10-second mark - the shelf hangs off the end of the beds. Fits a laptop and not much else. No way to have an external monitor or a notebook and a laptop and write!
I think ceilings are too low to loft beds high enough to put a desk under? Maybe?
Reddit post I skimmed say people put the “desk” in closets for shoes and don’t bother with a desk at all. I can’t even imagine.
I also guess they don’t want any gamers at their school - lol.
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I’m not impressed with the “desks” in this dorm room either. Perhaps it’s the trend at colleges where lots of students use the library to study as they don’t have a good space to study in their rooms? (I used the library to do research or to just browse the stacks like a giant bookstore.)
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I would have an issue with students being forced to use the library because they don’t have decent study space in their dorm room, for myriad reasons (library opening hours, wanting to study in PJs, possibly safety issues walking to/from at night, feeling sick, anything really). It’s a college dorm room, not an Airbnb. The least I would expect is a proper desk and a bookshelf.
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My D never used her desk. It was for storage only. She used a lap desk from her bed if she was in her room but almost always she was working with her study/work group in the dorm study lounges or in their academic buildings. This would not have been a deal breaker for her in college at all. As her mentors used to say, Engineering is a team sport 
Funny - totally opposite of my engineer and most of his friends! They all wanted the extra computing power of desktops - in addition to the laptops they took to class and out for project work. Most of his buddies had built their own desktops and therefore needed the actual desk for the computer and monitors. My son had the body of the desktop under his desk, but the three monitors he wanted, keyboard and mouse on the desk. (Not a CS kid, where it might be more expected or a gamer, just a kid who really likes fast processing speed and lots of screens.)
My other boy, not an engineer but in construction management, also built a desktop and hs multiple monitors. But for him it is for gaming.
A room with no desk would be a deal breaker for either. In fact, for second kid we decided the desk was too small so he lifted his bed and we built an IKEA desk underneath.
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100% this!
And I also didn’t check, but I doubt this school’s library had super extended hours during regular year..… so where are kids doing work? There was some study space in dorms, but I didn’t get it…. Obviously students make it work, but given it is a school, a good study space in room seems a top priority to me, EVEN IF some kids choose not to use it (which is totally fine!). I also wondered what they did “back in day” when we had CRT monitors?
I also think, with so many (most? all?) texts and resources online, having 2 monitors is super helpful for going back and forth from writing/problem set to resource. Most places I have worked, most employees have 2 monitors if they are doing anything with excel a lot, or a ton of writing or anything beyond using a browser/email most of the day..
Oh well, they thought the engineering dept was too small.. so ruled it out anyway..
@OctoberKate FWIW my kid likes WPI desks - even if beds have to be raised up high - they were VERY big:)
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It was the nice big WPI desk that my second kid - at Clemson - was coveting. They got something more like the size of a large nightstand or end table. Which is why he built the IKEA one.
The one bad thing about the WPI desk set up is the desk chair - super hard and uncomfortable wood. We got my guy a sort of squishy seat pad thing that I think is marketed to cab drivers and truckers to make it more comfortable.
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And Union has engineering, so many do.
My engineer was in a suite style dorm and had a desk in her private bedroom, but not sure if she used it for studying. I know her first semester freshman year she had required study tables (athletic scholarship requirement) so she was in the library 3-4 nights a week. She took a whole table (usually for 4) and set up her ‘station’ every night with her laptop, tablet and one other device. She didn’t talk to anyone as she was there to study. She also was in labs (computer and others) often, in the ‘shop’ where she had tools, and in group study rooms.
My other daughter was in a dorm room very similar to the picture posted. they did loft their beds almost to the ceiling so lots of room underneath, but their (shared) desk was built in under the windows, so all the way across the room. Very big. She was a theater major at that time so I doubt it was ever used for studying as she also was in the theater dept a lot and did reading in her bed. There were plugs in the ceilings above their beds for lights or other electronics.
right, we wouldn’t have visited if not for engineering! (I have toured 2x in fact:)
The fact the tour guide knew nothing about engineering (and said so) and flew by engineering spaces didn’t help.
Anyway, it was a terrible impression kids can’t actually study in their room… RPI (visited same day) they had a sample room where kids had not only real desks, but one “sample” student had even swapped out the provided chair a gaming chair, which is WAY more realistic for many engineering-type kids who spend a LOT of time in front of computers with all their work!. (My older kid goes to RIT and that is quite standard..)…They obviously are looking to attract a certain more preppy-Greek or sporty extroverted type kid or something, which is fine. Different strokes for different folks…. My kid goes to super nerdy-with lots of high-level STEM type HS now with TONS of homework, so clearly not a fit.
Also, if you CAN get a desk, the guide made no mention. I actually said something, and she didn’t offer that as a choice… that is a reasonable thing, actually…. I thought maybe she was a bozo, and went to the website after and looked at videos for all 3 1st year dorms which ALL seemed to show the shelf “desks” so I assumed she wasn’t a bozo and desks weren’t on offer.
This is a hard no. The optics of a university not even providing kids a space to study or store laptops, books, etc makes me wonder what priority they think these kids place on education.
i was a student who studied in my dorm or apartment all through college and grad school. Library was too distracting in a “look, squirrel!” sense.
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I’m stealing “look, squirrel!”. 
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This one begs a genuine question: At what point does “out of date” become a disqualifying factor in terms of a building? Is that the same as being in disrepair or ship-worn? And what is a college like Brandeis, founded in 1948, supposed to do before its buildings are regarded as “classic”?
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My D didn’t care at all about what buildings looked like on the outside but if labs, maker spaces, and test facilities were out of date, that was a deal breaker. Similarly if dorms were dirty and moldy that was a turn off. (And for the record, she lived in a dorm built in 1934 her sophomore year and LOVED it but it had been beautifully restored on the inside 10 years before she lived there.)
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Outdated becomes a disqualifying factor when a building is old worn dark and depressing to be in- but you’re trying to be gentle on the forum so go with the word outdated.
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Sorry to hear this. Not a Jewish family but my kid is very interested in visiting. Info session and college fair talk with AO have grabbed her attention.