Smith Hall Reviews

Northeastern University

Reviews Summary

Smith Hall, based on student reviews, is a residence hall that can provide a varied experience depending on a bit of luck with room assignments. Some found the accommodations cozy and enjoyed the sense of community Smith Hall cultivates, with convenient amenities such as vending machines and study areas. However, others felt that certain rooms were cramped, such as the forced doubles which are actually single rooms, with limited personal space. Concerns were expressed regarding the hall's cleanliness and maintenance. Reports of occasional mice and cockroach sightings were noted, suggesting that prompt action could be required to address the issue. That said, the communal bathrooms were typically viewed as a positive aspect due to their daily cleaning. The hall's location provides easy access to dining halls, classrooms, and recreational areas, while the common areas facilitate socializing and studying. The quality of the amenity infrastructure varies, with some older gaming tables needing upgrades. All of these factors contribute to an experience that can range from comfortable to challenging, depending on individual circumstances.

Uneven Room Sizes

Close Proximity

Poor Cleanliness

When students lived here

Freshman

11

Overall rating breakdown

Room

Building

Location

Bathroom

Browse 11 Student Reviews

Reviews with a Verified Student badge were written with a school email.

7 months ago

Room situation is really a gamble. Me and my roommate got a forced double and if we didn’t become best friends it wouldn’t be livable with a random person. There is no room for personal space. Aside from this, there are mice that take over the first floor. They go in and out of the cracks of the door plus get into the room through holes in the wall. It’s disgusting and ridiculous to have to live with. I would suggest getting some sort of stopper to block the crack between the door and floor prior to moving in and a set of backup mouse traps. The picture is our room on move in day so it’s cluttered but that is the whole room. Bathrooms are probably the only nice thing about the dorm because of how updated they are.

Lived in a double room
1 year ago
Verified Student

Cozy room, but no ac. Put into a forced triple, while others got a double to themselves. Very much a lottery on how nice your room is, as some rooms have multiple closets, while my roommates and I share a single closet. Despite the cleaning times being posted outside, the bathrooms are rarely cleaned and they never show up during their scheduled hours. I have only ever seen the cleaning crew once and was disappointed by their actions, as they only worked to make the bathroom dirtier. I watched them dump a bucket of dirty towel water into a sink, only to leave the debris behind. Communal bathrooms are always disgusting. Hair clumps left there for days at a time. Cockroaches left there for days. It's often hotter in the dorm than outside, whi...

Lived in a triple room
1 year ago

I had an economy triple, the size of the room was ok, but everything is super old and falling apart.

Lived in a triple room
3 years ago

My roommate and I got an economy double, and it was honestly a forced single room. Other than that, I do enjoy the coziness of Smith Hall because I got to know a lot of other CS majors. It is a smaller residence hall compared to Steast or Stwest, so I feel like there was more of a community; I got close with my RAs (shoutout to Tom and Raghav) and it was a good first year experience. The communal bathrooms are clean and showers are okay for a college dorm. Multiple study areas so that's a plus, and there are vending machines in the Red Room for any midnight snack cravings. It is also close to Steast, so going out for food isn't that much of an hassle. Lastly, it is a 5-8 min walk from the main campus, so consider when you have to leave in o...

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

I loved Smith. There was a large study room in the basement and 2 other "all purpose rooms", one with the large TV. The setup of the building is a little odd but there was also a nice table on every floor with a booth and chairs which was great for doing homework at. My room was fine. pretty standard for a double (thankfully not an economy double or a forced triple). My roommate totally sucked but it was pretty easy to keep to ourselves in the room. Nice windows which you could open which was great during september and the warmer days. Super close to Steast/Stwest and maybe a 6 minute walk to the center of campus. I think it's one of the most underrated freshman halls .

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

I got one of the doubles that used to be a triple, and there was so much space. There were three closets and the room itself was big enough to have six people fit comfortably. The elevator is very slow but I lived on the first floor so it wasn’t a huge deal, and the study lounges are great for getting homework done with your friends. The communal bathrooms were always pretty clean and cleaned daily. I really liked it there, but I got lucky and I know a few of my friends were stuck in the economy doubles with not nearly as much room, so it’s really a toss-up.

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

My roommate and I had an economy double (which we didn’t ask for and would’ve been happy to pay a few hundred dollars more for a livable room) and had no idea what to expect because all of the economy doubles range immensely in size. When I first got there, I thought I was being punked. Our room was right between an electrical closet and a supply closet so that definitely made me feel like it wasn’t originally a room. That room was too small for one person let alone two. ALL of the floor space was taken up by our lofted beds, desks and dressers underneath, and the mini fridge I brought. There was less than 3 feet between our beds and practically zero space to move. I couldn’t even sit up in my bed because it was lifted and too close to the ...

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

Lived in an economy-double with lofted beds above our desks, and it felt especially cramped compared to a standard double; when 3 or 4 people are in the room at once it already feels very crowded. Overall its comfortable enough to live in if you don't plan on having many guests, and we even had room for a mini-fridge and small TV. For the building itself, each floor has 2 communal bathrooms, a laundry room, and a trash room. Bathrooms are cleaned every morning and the halls are vacuumed weekly, which was nice. There's also two big study lounges in the basement which are great for doing homework or hanging out. Location was decent, its pretty much a 5 min walk to the dining halls, and I enjoyed going out for runs on the Fens nearby.

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

I would say my room was a standard room size in smith, it came with unlofted beds but the flooring was uneven and stuff kept falling of my desk, so my roommate and I lofted our beds and we had a lot of space. We had a tiny tiny walk in with hooks and a hanging rack. I lived on the first floor and before moving-in check for ANY potentially holes in the walls or between the carpeting, there is a high possibility that rodent problems will start during the colder months. Apart from that the bathroom are fairly clean and having both trash rooms and laundry rooms on the same floor are convenient. I really enjoyed the location (Fens, Newbury and Boylston, prudential, cvs and wholefoods are super close by). There are 2 different lounges and its gr...

Lived in a double room
4 years ago

I lived in one of the biggest doubles that used to be a triple so my room was definitely an anomaly of the smith hall rooms because a lot of the doubles are TINY. I didn't loft my bed and neither did my roommate, we also had a small walk-in closet. Walls are THIN but they're thin in like every freshman dorm on campus so just don't be an asshole. If you try and smoke weed inside the smell will spread lmao buy a vape or take a walk in the fens Smith is kind of out of the way in terms of getting to class, but the walk to steast/swest dining halls were easy. Smith is also super convenient being so close to the fens and like walking to target. It's also closer to back bay so you can get to all the shops on Newbury or the boston public library. ...

Lived in a double room