UC Los Angeles Freshman Dorms Ranked

Rieber Vista is a great building central on the Hill. It is close to Rendezvous and Feast, a take out eatery and dining hall, respectively, as well as the UCLA Maker Space where you can utilize sewing machines, 3D printing machines, and more. Each room has air conditioning and the hallways are wide and rooms are relatively spacious since they are suites. Bathrooms are private for each two rooms (the rooms are connected through the bathroom technically but no one uses this to go into the other rooms) that are cleaned once a week. They have two sinks, a shower, and toilet. One of the downsides is that it is kind of noisy on Thursday nights since it is in close proximity to many other dorms and people walk around nearby after and before parties. But I love the location overall. If you can comfortably afford a single I recommend it. ONE DOWNSIDE to suites versus traditional halls is that they are less social due to the lack of communal bathrooms. If you want to make friends it is slightly harder but if you stay in the common lounge during a lot of your free time you'll make friends soon enough. Like all the buildings, there is laundry on the first floor, a large lounge, and a small residential office open 9-4 or 5 on weekdays. Communal lounges are on every floor as well as one unisex bathroom. - 5 years ago

Overall, the place is decent. The hike up to the building from campus isn’t an issue after getting used to it. It seems like the other classic buildings are a bit nicer than Hedrick, maybe because of renovations or more recent construction, but it’s still pretty good. The elevators break more often than you’d expect, but there are a total of 4 and it usually gets fixed soon enough. The only downside is how bad the communal restrooms got on party nights (think vomit everywhere). Some floors had a better rep for this than others. It’s certainly an experience, but if you know that putting up with drunk ppl screaming every weekend is not for you, maybe consider picking a different hall (keep in mind that this was just my observations regarding my floor. Other floors were known to be much calmer) - 5 years ago

Cons: The building is very old, so it's not the most pleasing site or smell. The plaza triples are nice because you get your own bathroom but on the other hand it severely lacks socialization- dorms with communal bathrooms are the best for that and I ended up getting adopted as an honorary floor member at dykstra to have that type of friend group. I don't know if this last one should be a con but it's very close to de never dining hall, which means you will constantly eat there and it gets depressing. Food gets better the higher you go up the Hill.
Pros: I cannot stress this enough because this was the best part of it: It's the closest (alongside dykstra) to campus. You will be able to roll out of bed and go to class (in 10 minutes if you book it). Also, if you take clusters your freshman year you'll most likely have the class in one of the lecture halls inside de neve, which is again very good for rolling out of bed. - 5 years ago

Rieber Hall has classic rooms which are technically the smallest room size but I personally didn't have a problem with it unless me and both of my roommates were trying to move around. The communal bathrooms aren't the most modern but housekeeping tries their best to keep it clean and how gross/clean it is honestly depends on how considerate your floor mates are. The lounge is great for studying and hanging out with friends plus you can scope out the rendez line. Rieber has the most prime location when it comes to dining halls in my opinion because rendez and feast are right under you and everything else is only a staircase away (minus de neve). Although the death stairs can be tedious and annoying, it's good for exercise and over time you just get used to it. The washing machines are terrible, which is unfortunately the case for all the dorms and at least rieber hall has a lot of of washing machines to make it slightly less likely for you to have to wait to do laundry. Everyone talks about how the benefit of the classic halls are the social aspect and I definitely think that's a plus as long as you actually attempt to make friends on your floor (aka you get out what you put in). My overall rating is a 3.5/5, prime location from the dining halls and good for socializing but the amenities are not the nicest and having no air conditioning is rough especially the beginning of fall quarter. - 5 years ago

I lived in sunset village courtside during my freshman year and it was completely different than what I expected. My room was near the entrance so the size and structure of my room was a lot more confusing and inconvenient than the other dorms in courtside. Due to this, I could only open the bathroom and entrance door half-way if my roommates were studying. It would’ve been easier if it was a double but definitely not as convenient for three people.

PROS: Privacy, quietness, and clean, close to North Campus
CONS: Hardly any social interaction, comparatively further away from other Hill dorms and Hill Food options, Hardly any space to have people over in the room.

Courtside is a good option to stay your junior or senior year but definitely not recommended for freshman who want to have people over or meet other residents. Also it’s ideal for doubles and not so much triples. - 2 years ago