Living on campus is a huge benefit, both socially and academically, but choosing where to live on campus is daunting. To help with that decision, here’s a list of the non-Corps dorms and how they rank against each other.
Hullabaloo Hall
Coming in first is Hullabaloo Hall. Located on Northside, this fairly new dorm is a few steps away from both Sbisa Dining Hall and Underground, along with the famed Northgate. Also, Hullabaloo has a Starbucks and Aggie Express convenience store located within the building, as well as a mailroom, game room, laundry rooms and community kitchens.
Hullabaloo offers four different dorm styles, giving students the option to have a single room, double room, or a single or double person suite. All of the rooms are single gender by room or suite. Each room or suite has a private bathroom that is cleaned weekly by the custodial staff for the hall.
Right outside of Hullabaloo is a courtyard with tables, chairs and barbecue pits, as well as a grassy area with a basketball court and open space to play frisbee or other games on.
However, since it is such a hot spot on campus, it is one of the most expensive dorms on campus. Additionally, being on Northgate and near the railroad means that there can be a lot of noise in the hall.
Modular style dorms
The modular style dorms on campus are Appelt, Clements, Eppright, Haas, Hobby, Lechner, McFadden, Neeley, Rudder, Underwood and Wells. These dorms all look the same on the inside, with only minor differences. All of the modulars offer double rooms with private bathrooms that are cleaned weekly, as well as TV lounges, laundry rooms and study rooms. They are all decently aged, with well-kept amenities, bathrooms and furniture.
Most modular dorms have community kitchens or will have a kitchen by fall 2020. The only modulars that do not and will not have a kitchen are Wells and Lechner.
The Southside set of modular dorms includes Appelt, Eppright, Rudder, Underwood and Wells. These five dorms are located between the Commons, the Quad and Southside Garage. Southside is a quieter area on campus, but does have Starbucks on the Quad, the Commons dining hall, Aggie Express and Southside Marketplace, as well as a grassy area known as the “ModQuad” with barbecue grills, picnic tables and hammock poles.
Southside also has the only single gender modular dorms. Appelt is all-male while Rudder and Underwood are all-female dorms. Wells contains both genders, but is single gender by floor. All other modulars are single gender by room.
The remaining modulars — Clements, Haas, Hobby, Lechner, McFadden and Neeley — are all located on Northside. These six dorms are close to Northgate and Sbisa, as mentioned with Hullabaloo. This means they are also close to the Hullabaloo Starbucks, Aggie Express and mailroom. However, they are closer to the train that runs next to Wellborn Road.
If you will be spending a lot of time on West Campus, Clements Hall is your best bet for distance since it is close to the underpass beneath Wellborn.
Commons style halls
The Commons halls are Aston, Dunn, Krueger and Mosher. Located on Southside, these four halls are connected to the Commons dining hall, game room, Community Learning Center and Student Computing Center. There is also a lot of study space in the Commons area, as well as a mailroom.
Each dorm has laundry rooms as well as study areas and TV lounges. Commons halls all have double suites, with two two-person bedrooms connected by a shared bathroom that is cleaned weekly. Mosher and Krueger both have two community kitchens in each hall, and Dunn will have two as well by fall 2020.
The reason the Commons halls came in third is because the rooms are smaller than the modular rooms and share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom, but cost the same or more than the modular dorms.
Corridor style halls
All three of the Corridor halls — Moses, Davis-Gary and Legett — are located on Northside, close to Northgate, Hullabaloo and Sbisa. Legett is on Military Walk, right next to Academic Plaza, giving it a good central/Northside position.
Both Davis-Gary and Legett are female-only dorms, and Moses is single gender by floor. All three offer single person options, with Davis-Gary giving a double apartment choice and Legett and Moses having additional regular double rooms. All the rooms and furniture are well-kept. These halls all have community bathrooms, but each room contains a personal sink. Each hall also contains a community kitchen, laundry room and TV lounge.
As some of the cheaper dorms on campus, these three offer some of the best amenities, location and quality for a lower price.
Ramp style halls
Walton and Hart Halls are the two ramp style dorms that offer the cheapest on-campus living options. Walton is located on Northside. Hart — situated between Military Walk, the Memorial Student Center and Academic Plaza — is classified as Southside. Location-wise, Hart is ideal for easy access to some of the main buildings and resources on campus, as well as being fairly close to food options in the MSC and Sbisa.
These two older halls offer single and double rooms with suite style bathrooms. Each room has a sink outside of the bathroom for convenience. They also have fairly small closets. Due to their age, the temperature is maintained by window units and radiators. However, the insides have been renovated to have hardwood floors like all other dorms on campus. Each dorm also has a community kitchen and laundry room.
Balcony halls
The Balcony Halls encompass what is known as the FHK Complex (Fowler, Hughes and Keathley Halls), as well as Schuhmacher Hall. These four are located on Northside, near Hullabaloo, Sbisa and Northgate. Each dorm has a laundry room and study rooms, and all except Hughes have community kitchens.
Fowler and Schuhmacher offer single rooms, double rooms and apartments. Hughes offers only singles and apartments, while Keathley has only doubles and singles. Both double and single rooms share a suite bathroom with the adjoining room, but the apartment has a private bathroom.
When it comes to price, these halls are definitely on the lower side for the double room options.
The reason these dorms rank low is due to the lower quality of the dorms as a whole, as well as the outside access via the balconies that give this style its name. Since each room opens directly to the outside, the rooms are less secure.
For a comparative chart of prices, styles and amenities, visit reslife.tamu.edu/apply/rates.