What's the best dorm?

lyndak
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 04:26:22 +0000

It really depends on your financial situation. Since you asked for the “best”, I’ll let you in on my opinions.

First of all, the West campus residence halls have the best dorms because they are the most recently built. The only thing that the North campus dorms (such as Haggett, McCarty, etc) have that may be more appealing to you is their prices. North campus dorms will always be much more cheaper than West campus dorms.

(Keep in mind that I mentioned it depends on your financial situation. The West Campus dorms are the most expensive out of the residence halls at UW but they’re not extremely expensive for some people and their financial situation.)

Of the West campus dorms, the only one that has a dining hall inside of it is Lander. That being said, the other West campus dorms are equally nice but just have no dining hall. This means you’ll have to go to Lander for that commodity.

To my knowledge, Poplar, Elm, and Alder (the other 3 West campus halls) are nearly identical in layout and design. Lander has the same feel but there are few notable differences on the inside and outside. But these are minuscule things that have to do with interior design which I’m sure is not a big factor in anyone’s housing decisions.

If there is one drastically different about the rest of the West campus dorms, it is that Alder has a marketplace on the first floor (it’s a grocery store that has a beautiful interior that looks a lot like Whole Foods) while Elm has a restaurant called Cultivate. I’m pretty sure Poplar has nothing in it’s hall so you’ll have to make your way to the other three to use your meal plan for food. All the West campus dorms are right across the street from e/o (about 200 yards max) so unless your extremely lazy, being in Poplar isn’t a huge disadvantage.

Also, the West campus dorms are basically on The Ave, which is a bustling street full of restaurants and cafes. You have the closest access to this extremely popular hub of food and social gatherings.

In terms of distance from the important parts of the campus, the West campus is a little farther than most North campus dorms. You have to take into account where a lot of your classes are (which you won’t know so it doesn’t really matter) but the walk from Red Square (considered the center of the campus) to the West campus dorms will be just a tad longer than your walk to a North campus dorm.

If you have the money, I personally think that the West campus residence halls are worth it. Even if it’s a little stretch, if you want a comfortable living environment, West Campus is the way to go. I’m not a current student at UW but I was born and raised in Seattle and so the UW is like the college I always go to. I visit it often (maybe every other weekend) because I have a lot of college friends there that I socialize with Their dorms are like their houses that I just come over to all the time. I have a friend in Lander, two in Alder, and one in Poplar. They all love it and are staying on West campus next year. I can say without a doubt that the residence halls on West campus are the best dorms at the school.

As I laid out to you more specifically, Lander is the best of the West campus halls in my opinion, then Alder, Elm, and Poplar are equally great choices.

If you want information regarding the best of the North campus dorms, let me know. I’d be happy to let you in on what I’ve seen/experienced/heard.