Written by Danny Garin
Dorms are pretty hit-or-miss but no building stands out as really great or really awful. There aren’t really any phenomenal rooms, but nothing’s too abysmal, either. The dorms are renovated on a 20-year rotating schedule, so no building is more than 20 years old, and something is always being updated. Colby provides students with the bare basics, and they are adequate, but it’s often the other people living in the dorms that make them special and unique. Many claim that one of the best things about Colby’s housing system is that everyone lives together. All buildings are coed by room, rather than by floor, and there is no freshman housing, so freshmen, seniors, guys, girls, international students, and Mainers all live together. On the negative side, the housing lottery can be a pain for sophomores, but most students come out satisfied.
The dorms are not five-star hotel quality, but each dorm is cleaned daily by a custodian and all are kept very clean. Ever-optimistic Colby students can find something great to say about any dorm on campus, while still acknowledging the inconveniences. People in Mary Low might say they’d never give up their nice bathrooms and live on frat row, while the frat row residents would never move to a big dorm and give up the sense of community and fun the row has to offer. Chem-free is a surprisingly popular living option and carries no stigma whatsoever.