A fun slideshow over at Time showcasing the changing US college campus.
For those who are wondering, The princeton Review keeps a lovely list of the top ten dorms:
From the Princeton Review’s Best 366 Colleges of 2008, which surveyed 120,000 students across the country, here are the 10 colleges and universities with the biggest and most luxurious dorms around.
1. Smith College (Northampton, Mass.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $34,186 |
| Room & Board: | $11,420 |
| Enrollment: | 2,634 |
Smith’s unique campus residential system puts all its students in houses instead of dorms. Each house has at least one professor serving as a House Fellow who usually makes it a point to attend house teas, candlelight dinners, “and altogether make students feel important and valued.”
What the students are saying: “Country-club comfort.”
2. Loyola College in Maryland (Baltimore, Md.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $36,450 |
| Room & Board: | $10,790 (with $3,000 meal plan) |
| Enrollment: | 3,580 |
What the students are saying: “People have walk-in closets so large they debate what kind of room they can convert the closet into.”
3. The George Washington University (Washington, D.C.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $40,687 |
| Room & Board: | $9,920 |
| Enrollment: | 9,700 undergraduates |
Students at GWU live in theme-based apartment-style houses custom-tailored to student interests. First-years can apply for any one of eight themed houses, including the Crawford Business & Entrepreneurship House, the Mitchell Hall Culture & Arts House, and theScience Village at Mt. Vernon.
What the students are saying: “In my freshman dorm, I have a kitchen and a bathroom that is shared with my three roommates.”
4. Scripps College (Claremont, Calif.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $37,950 |
| Room & Board: | $11,500 |
| Enrollment: | 888 |
Nearly every student at Scripps has a single, and all the dorms feature a living room with a grand piano and fireplace.
What the students are saying: “Ridiculously luxurious” and “We have the best on-campus housing I have ever seen! I mean, I have a balcony, a walk-in closet, a sink and two windows!”
5. Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, Pa.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $36,540 |
| Room & Board: | $11,520 |
| Enrollment: | 784 |
Students don’t just love the accommodations at Bryn Mawr, they’re also big fans of the food: Bryn Mawr came in at number four on the list of the top 10 schools with the best campus food.
What the students are saying: “Unparalleled” and “cavernous” dorm rooms.
6. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Mass.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $1,625 (all admitted undergraduates receive a four-year Olin Scholarship to cover the $35,000 tuition) |
| Room & Board: | $12,400 |
| Enrollment: | 304 |
Besides awarding all undergraduates with a four-year full-tuition scholarship and providing them with great dorms, Olin was also rated number seven in the Top 10 Best Campus Food list.
7. Pepperdine University (Malibu, Calif.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $36,770 |
| Room & Board: | $10,480 |
| Enrollment: | 8,300 (3,000 undergraduates) |
All campus housing is nestled at the foot of the Santa Monica mountains, overlooking the surrounding city, hills, and ocean. Pepperdine’s undergraduate housing, which includes suites and apartment-style living in addition to the traditional residence hall, offers maintenance, some housekeeping, on-site barbecue grills, and beach volleyball courts.
8. Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $33,932 |
| Room & Board: | $11,748 |
| Enrollment: | 1,525 |
The five residence halls on Pomona’s South Campus offer both single and double rooms and amenities like central kitchens, laundry rooms, and TV lounges. Mudd-Blaisdell Hall, home mostly to first-year students, has a sun deck on the roof and also houses the Gibson Computer Center, open to all South Campus residents. There’s a piano in the lounge at Wig Hall, which is just north of “Wig Beach,” a large grassy area bordering the Pendleton Swimming Pool, with a softball field and volleyball and basketball courts.
9. Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine)
| Tuition & Fees: | $38,190 |
| Room & Board: | $10,380 |
| Enrollment: | 1,716 |
First-years live in residence halls, but as an upperclass student, you can request to upgrade to one of the college houses or apartments. Bowdoin gives house residents a budget to cover student activities — parties, concerts, art shows, community service outreach days, and annual events like the school-wide Olympics or softball tournament.
The dining experience is even harder to beat: Bowdoin ranked number two in the country in the Best Campus Food category.
10. Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, Calif.)
| Tuition & Fees: | $36,825 |
| Room & Board: | $11,470–12,695 (with 16 meals a week) |
| Enrollment: | 1,200 |
CMC offers hotel-style amenities to students in its 12 residence halls, featuring both suites and traditional “hallway”-style dorm rooms, and its campus apartment complex.
What the students are saying: “Our rooms are great, and we have cleaning service that takes out our trash cans, dusts our rooms, and stuff.”
