Dorms Like Palaces -- Seriously – Our dorms are gorgeous, inside and out. They really do look like castles. People say Erdman (one of the newest dorms) is one of the worst options, but it's only because it fits in differently with the campus aesthetic -- it's more of a foreboding fortress than a pleasant castle. On the inside, though, the rooms are big and well-furnished, the walls don't let sound through (in the rooms -- the halls echo madly), and you can access the dining hall without having to go outside. It can be isolating, though, as many of the rooms are singles and the layout is not so intuitive. For me, the worst options are Brecon (because it's super far away from the rest of campus, including 80 stairs practically straight downhill and 80 straight uphill) and Haffner. Haffner also doesn't fit in so much with the aesthetic, but it also tends to be isolating. It's divided into three towers (French, German, and Spanish), which are technically supposed to be "language halls" where people learning languages can speak them with others in the dorm, but actually are just normal dorms. Most of the people living in a given tower have never taken the language in their lives. All the rooms are singles, which is a plus, but again, it can be isolating, especially because the walls are thin enough to preclude any sort of noise above a normal speaking level. There is a dining hall in the same building though, and the common rooms are gorgeous. All of the other dorms on campus are beautiful, each with its positive and negative quirks, of course. There are designated freshman rooms in each dorm. It's mostly luck of the draw for this; some rooms have window seats, some have fireplaces, some are suites, and some have huge closets. Some are bigger than others; my freshman year, my roommate and I were in a double that was half the size of some of the other doubles (although we did have a fireplace). But there are no real bad deals. You take a really extensive survey (seriously -- extensive) way before registration where you put down all (and I mean ALL) of your preferences for housing (neat/messy, sleeping with/without music, guests/no guests, sleep with window open/shut, ok/not ok with borrowing things, morning/evening person, do work in/out of room...etc.) If you vist campus and find a dorm you really like, you can write that on your survey and if they can (no promises) ResLife will try to put you there.