College dorm rooms don’t necessarily have the best reputations. There are horror stories about mice, dirty and broken furniture, and cold windowless rooms that are only good for sleeping (if that). But home should be where your heart is, right? So shouldn’t your dorm room be awesome and beautiful? Well, some dorms really are, and feature everything from old-school fireplaces to the latest green technology. From the coast to coast and around the world, these are the coolest dorms around.
10. Harvard
Harvard is known for its hallowed halls and famous alumni like John F. Kennedy, Al Gore and Mark Zuckerberg. The Cambridge campus is very old (we’re talking 1636), and the historic dorms have classic touches like fireplaces and a dark, Victorian edge. The cool part of being a freshman is that you get to live in Harvard Yard during your first year, while the next three years you’re assigned to a “House”. “The best part of these Houses is the community. Each house has its own dining hall, common rooms, computer room, mini gym, library, etc. You get to know everyone in your House really well over the three years,” says Julia, a student at Harvard. One of the freshman dorms, Hollis Hall, once housed George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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9. NYU
The urban campus of NYU gives it a cool, Gossip Girl-esque vibe. The dorms are all a couple of blocks away from Union Square and have amazing views of Manhattan, making moving in a magical experience for those who’ve always dreamed of living in the big city. Founder’s Hall, one of the dorms, is a dizzying 26 stories high, and soon-to-be NYU freshman and Her Campus Pre-Collegiette Editor Hannah Orenstein is totally psyched to be living there: “I’ll be living on the 23rd floor, so I’ll have an incredible view of the city. The rooms are in pristine condition, too.”
8. Yale
The second Ivy League on our list is just as old as the Harvard campus, which makes it just as majestic and historic. Some freshmen get the regular dorm rooms, while others get the luck of the draw. “Some freshmen get put in what’s called a ‘princess suite’ – they are unbelievable,” says a Yale student and Her Campus Contributing Writer. “They’re only for girls and they have 2 floors with huge common areas and really spacious bedrooms.” The upperclassman dorms are also breathtaking, with gorgeous courtyards and amenities like a game room, a late night snack bar, a movie room, a kitchen and a gym. Why would you need to go anywhere else?
7. Brandeis
Usen Castle, which is quite literally a castle on the inside, was built in 1928 and is the oldest building on the Brandeis campus. The inside has been gutted and completely renovated. Inside the castle, they have a popular coffee shop/hangout spot called “Chums.” It’s the site of the band Genesis’s first U.S. performance, and some students even claim that Chums was the inspiration for Central Perk in Friends. Unfortunately, Friends creator Marta Kauffman dismissed the rumor in 2009. It’s still a pretty cool claim to fame!
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6. Emory
Few Hall and Evans Hall are known as the nicest building on campus, more like hotels than dorms. “They tower over a recreational field called McDonough where we have outdoor concerts, so they have a great view, too,” says Marni, an Emory student. “Few has offices, a ballroom, classrooms, study rooms, and even a kitchen/demonstration room where you can take cooking classes.” Imagine learning how to roll sushi or bake a cake without getting out of your pajamas! Plus every room has a sink, so no need to crowd around the communal bathroom sinks for your morning makeup routine. They’re green, too—each building contains an energy monitor where students can view how much water and electricity is being used in the building and compare it with other buildings and times on the web.
5. MIT
MIT’s Simmons Hall is affectionately called “The Sponge” for its resemblance to the dish-washing tool. Designed by architect Steven Holl, the building’s exterior contains more than 5,500 small square windows that mimic a sponge’s pores. Besides the interesting and beautiful exterior, the inside is nice too! The coolest feature? A massive ball pit where you get to pelt your friends with plastic balls to relieve stress. Who said you have to grow up when you move out of your house?
4. Mount Holyoke
One of the Seven Sisters (a group of women’s colleges on the East Coast) with a long history, Mount Holyoke has both modern and stately dorms. The Princeton Review even compared them to palaces. Even though the dorms differ in style, the campus maintains a strong sense of community with fun initiation rituals that connect all the students living under one roof. “We have some beautiful old buildings for dorms, a lot of which include rooms with cool features like old fireplaces, slanted ceilings from the roof’s gables, and hardwood floors,” says Mount Holyoke student and Her Campus contributing writer Maddy. “Our newest dorm, however, is a complete turnaround from the older ones—it’s more like a hotel than anything else. Each room has its own thermostat and the building is entirely green.”
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3. McGill
Our friends to the north have sick residence halls too. One of the dorms, New Rez (short for New Residence Hall), is a converted hotel on McGills’s campus in beautiful Montreal. Every room has double beds (no Twin XLs! Buying bed sheets must be so much easier), and its own bathroom. There’s also a cafeteria in the downstairs area and a cafe. What else do you expect from a dorm that was converted from a four-star hotel? The best part is that the residence hall connects to an underground mall with a supermarket, cinema, drugstore, and little shops. Perfect!
2. WashU
Washington University in Saint Louis is known for their awesome dorms, and students couldn’t be prouder to inhabit them. “They really are like palaces,” says Jessica, Wash U student. “They’re constantly being renovated, and the South 40 dorms look like Disneyworld from the outside.” The freshman dorms are clustered close together, which makes for some friendly competition between the buildings but also brings dorm-mates together. Most rooms include TempurPedic mattresses to send you off to dreamland after a long night of studying. And the bathrooms have a maid service come through twice a week if you despise cleaning the toilet. For camaraderie and plush living, the older Wash U dorms are the way to go.
1. Boston University
BU’s StuVi2 (which stands for Student Village Phase Two) stands 26 stories tall, half the height of the Prudential Center, the tallest building in Beantown. It’s already gained a lot of attention from the local press: The Boston Globe called it “perhaps the most opulent residence hall to ever grace the local college landscape.” Wow. That’s definitely high praise (ha, ha)! The walk-in closets are perfect for even the largest collegiette™ shoe collection, and the 24-hour building security is perfect for those who need their large shoe collections protected.