UC Berkeley Dorms Ranked

"PROS: - largest dorm rooms at berkeley, most are only doubles too! - super close to CoC/Engineering. made going to my 8ams really easy (as a chemical engineering major) - more quiet spacey area for studying compared to other dorms - some of the best views on campus!!! - you are able to hear (and sometimes see) when there's concerts at the Greek Theatre sometimes! - stayed hella fit/avoided freshman 15 bc of the premade work out up the hill it's on - best dining hall on campus (and onsite!) - in a much safer area compared to the other dorms - option to be in a single gender suite/floor if interested in that - each suite has a private study room and a private bathroom (shared with less people compared to in other dorms) - has a mini gym! - you occasionally see turkey and deer lol // CONS: - older building (but still does the job) - def does lack social life within the dorms. you can def find community/social life outside of your dorms through meeting people through classes and clubs, but it will be difficult within the dorm. (there are def friendly people, just people are more introverted and some are less interested in doing outgoing activities) - away from a lot of city life compared to the other dorms (again contributes to lack of social life) - is, again, on a hill (so difficult to get to) - very little elevator access, mostly stairs (but each building usually only is at most 3-4 floors) - knew of a few friends who had mice problems!! but did not experience it myself // OVERALL, this dorm is def suitable for CoC or CoE majors and those also looking for a guaranteed quiet roomy space and aren't into party vibes. It is on the northeast side of campus and so it is far away from other dorms or general city area, but is def quieter and safer. Unlike the other dorms, the dorm is divided into suites instead of floors, so your living space is usually with around 6-8 people instead of like 15+. It is "log cabin: style so to visit other rooms/amenities (ex, doing laundry or using the gym), you must go outside-- everything is not all connected in one big building. However, to enter the entire dorm area / facilities is gated. You then have a key to enter from the outside into your suite, and then a key for your room inside the suite. The dorm area amenities include an onsite dining hall, laundry rooms, study rooms, vending machines, a mini gym, and rec rooms with mixed activities. Personally, I sometimes wish I stayed in another dorm to experience more social life within the dorms my freshman year, but I don't regret staying at Foothill and it was also especially nice having a lot space and quiet when I needed it! // (I included pictures of the exterior, a picture inside the private common area in a suite, a picture inside the bathroom, and a picture of the view from the dorm!)"

"HERE'S THE SECRET! Get the mini suites!! As someone who now lives off-campus, the location of any dorm (maybe except foothill because it's lowk uphill) is really not that bad. You'll likely have longer walks when you live off campus and you'll get used to it. There's so many stories about what happens in those shared bathrooms in the traditional dorms (aka ones where the whole floor shares the bathroom). In mini-suites, it's 1 double and 1 triple sharing 1 bathroom. It honestly was so good for privacy and if you're concerned about sharing bathrooms with those of opposite sex too. "

"Rooms: The rooms are nice. The layout online is inaccurate, you might get a double in a room that should be a single, or you could get 2 full baths instead of 1.5 baths. Overall the official website is a bit inaccurate for this. Bathrooms: Water pressure is great, everything is clean and modern Common Area of Apt: Common area is also great and we have a half balcony (you can't go out but can open the door). The layout is a bit weird with the kitchen being at the front door though. We have a 2 dining tables (and 6 chairs), 2 coffee tables, a couch, and a chair. General Apartment building: There's a common area on the 3rd floor thats super nice and secluded feeling, and there's roof access that looks out over SF and Berkeley. There is not much management in the way as it is in the Freshman dorms, but help is there if you need it. It's also MUCH less social, but this is mostly because its an apartment and people aren't roaming around as much. Location: Location is the only meh part. Its close to campus (5 min walk from sproul) so that's great, but their entrance is on the street next to People's park so its a bit scary at night, but that being said I've never had any issues. Otherwise the proximity to campus is nice. "

"Building is a bit old but the location is convenient - close to campus and a bunch of restaurants and boba"

"i lived in unit 1 in putnam and had a really great experience! it’s right next to campus and about 10 minutes from sproul. close to several bus stops. it’s a few minutes from telegraph, which is close enough to have fun but since that’s where most of the crime is concentrated it’s nice that it’s somewhat removed. i lived in a double and it was pretty spacious, especially if you push the desks against the windows. the windows let in lots of natural light and have good curtains. some rooms have problems with cockroaches, but setting traps helps. the bathrooms were nice enough. co-ed situation wasn't a problem. the bathroom stalls and showers didn’t have any gaps in them. water pressure was good. the sinks and stalls were cleaned every day (although at inconvenient hours, usually 9am). the showers were probably only cleaned once a week at most, so hair will start to collect on the floors/walls. unit 1 is really social, people are friendly and i made a lot of friends here. however, it really depends on luck, some of the floors are socially dead. the only downside is that it’s loud, you’ll hear people playing music/talking loudly all night in both the halls and in the courtyard. unit 1 is right next to crossroads dining hall, which imo is the best one. there's a lot of variety and the quality is usually pretty good. the building itself is the only real con. the elevator breaks a few times per semester. fire alarm will go off once a month or so, usually at night. you’ll either have a laundry room/lounge on your floor. most floors won’t be able to access their lounge until the second semester because they’re used as temporary housing. my biggest complaint is the washer/dryer situation — there’s only 6 washers/12 dryers in the entire building and half of them will be broken at any given time. "

"I lived alone in a double room. For the most part the apartment itself it extremely nice and modern. The washer/dryer however were abysmal. You could only put in a handful of clothes because it was so small and left your clothes damp. I put in a work order to get my bedroom light fixed (didnt work in the first place) and have sinced moved out and it was never fixed. The area isn’t entirely safe as I was nearly mugged just around the corner. But if you don’t plan on going out by yourself then this is definitely a decent place. Overall, the place was nice and secure, but there were many small issues that made me not want to live here again (vary among other people). There was an air conditioner but never figured out how it worked or if it even worked so I didnt mess with it."

"Since it was built a while ago the rooms are pretty huge for a dorm, especially compared to the other dorms on campus. My Triple in Clark Kerr was 2x the size of an average triple for the same price. The location is very nice since you are in a pretty secluded neighborhood in the Berkeley hills around 0.8 miles from campus. The walk to campus is very nice and will definitely get you in shape. The food is pretty good with the exception of some off days, but the ambiance in the dining hall will make you feel like you are in a mission-esque mansion with a very nice outside dining area as well. I am apart of GETH the themed housing program at Clark Kerr which also is located in a nice area in building 4. "

"Overall was great because there was weekly cleaning from a sweet lady, which allowed the place to stay clean constantly. the bathroom was huge and so people can use the restroom and shower and brush their teeth separately. I lived in the double double and so even though there were 4 people in the apartment, it still felt very spacious. I felt very safe around the complex for most the time (even though we had an incident once)... It's gated so only residents can enter in. The only flaw is the location, since its only a few steps away from peoples park and right behind the parking lot of taco bell which gets really loud at times. "

"Lived in apartment side townhouse. You don't get to choose your room out of the 4 available so that kinda sucks since I was assigned the smallest one which is like half the size of the largest room (literally what the fuck was the designer smoking). The room is still okay though, great view of the courtyard and the living room is spacious. I don't really like how big the windows are throughout the apartment. The kitchen has a window that is from the ground to ceiling, so anyone in the courtyard or outside can see you cooking lol. And in your room, the window is like that too, so if you wanted to not have your blinds down to see outside, you are forced to let everyone see you from the leg up. 2 bathrooms in the apartment, so it's good. The amenities in MMC is also nice, there are multiple study rooms, decent gym (no weights, just cardio), and a cheap laundry room. Overall I think MMC is the best apartment, but the main issue for me personally is the fucking large ass windows."

"I lived in one of the only few dozen singles and it was HUGE. It had nice flooring, fast elevators, a super cool lobby, and I liked a lot of the other freshmen there. The location was very nice and close to campus with some pretty cool restaurants right around the corner. There are many cons though. The room smelled really bad when I first moved in, and my particular window was abnormally small. I hated my neighbors as they were too loud and always made the halls very gross, despite the amazing daily cleaning service. The room didn’t get enough light and there was a really loud custodial sink right behind my bed that woke me up every morning at 9am, but it was a good alarm clock hahaha. I also wish they let us use the kitchen but they closed it off :("