Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
ML
Molly Weston ’10: “Mary Lyon is a lovely dorm–as a sophomore with a bottom-half-of-the-wait-list number I have a very large above-ground two room double. I have also appreciated being near the rest of my sophomore friends and the breakfast room is great. Private bathrooms are especially nice. However, the distance is a persistent, significant annoyance, especially when you are late to class and on weekends when the shuttle does not run in the morning.”
Lucas Sanders ’08, ML 2nd RA: “ML is a great place to live with nice large rooms and private bathrooms for pretty much everybody. If you don’t mind getting to know people in the dorm and creating community life it’s a great place to live. But if you see your dorm as a place to just be at night it’s a little bit more inconvenient.”
Natasha Tonge ’11: “Be ware of the giant cockroaches. But otherwise it’s a nice dorm, I like it. The walk gives you a lot of time for reflection. I’ve become a better bike rider. My time management right now is much better than if I’d been in Willets. My dorm doesn’t smell like vomit and your’s does.”
Mendez ’08: “With the exception of the basement, which was a wretched hive of scum and villainy, ML was easily made to feel like a home, not just a house. The comfort of hardwood floors, private bathrooms (with bathtubs), and pleasant coloration had a lot to do with this feeling. I loved living close to the Crum, and the walk didn’t bother me except in extreme weather or really late at night. The worst thing about ML for me was my tendency to leave things at home by accident.”
Allison Barlow ’08, RA: “The rooms are spacious and the bathrooms are usually private–shared
with 2-5 other people and accessed from the rooms themselves. It’s a quiet dorm, but there is still hall life as people tend to stay in, especially in the evenings and on weekends. And the folks are only as weird as everyone else on this campus. We also have the amazing Breakfast Room in which residents cook hot, made-to-order food for you! According to Liz, the BR will be redone over the summer so it should be a really nice lounge next year. The walk is beautiful, though frustrating when you leave something behind, but there are lockers on campus for ML residents and the shuttle runs mornings and evenings. Overall, I love ML–I gave up my first cohort senior number to be an RA here.”
Strath Haven
David Burgy ’10: “Strath is a pretty nice place to live. It’s clean and quiet. Each room has its own bathroom, and the bathrooms get cleaned every week. Laundry is free and the views of the woods are great, especially during the fall. The blinds in the rooms are new. The lighting situation is what you make of it, and some of the rooms have nice carpets. The internet, however, can be a little spotty. Also, the location is off-campus, which is a hassle. I would choose to live there again if the location was a little better. Overall, it’s a great place to live as a sophomore.”
Andrea Pien ’08: I’ll admit it, I had to justify living in Strath Haven to my friends. After all, I am a senior, and I didn’t have a bad lottery number. I think Strath Haven is a great place to live if you consider yourself independent – there are kitchens in the 2-room doubles, and huge fridges with freezers, a sink with a disposal, and an oven, which are excellent if you like to cook, or are interested in learning how to cook. Also, there is air conditioning in the summer and an elevator and a book club and cute senior citizens. Oh, you also have your own bathroom (with a tub!). People think that living in Strath Haven kills your social life, but I have actually found it to be the opposite. For one, Strath spaces are awesome, and people like to come hang out and eat home-cooked meals! Additionally, when I’m on campus, I’m usually in public spaces instead of dorms, so I see people more often than I actually would if I lived in, say, Wharton. If there’s a possibility that you’ll be picking into a Strath room, I’d recommend that you come check them out beforehand, because some rooms have more furniture left in them from previous residents.
Worth
Revan Williams ’09: “Worth is a pleasant dorm to live in. The architecture gives it a classic look and the courtyard is beautiful in the spring, although muddy/floody in the autumn and winter. On party nights there can be a lot of noise, but nothing that a closed door or window can’t fix if you need to study.”
Woolman
Revan Williams ’09: “Woolman is like living in a home – it’s very spacious, private, and domestic. Although far from Sharples, it’s pretty close to most academic building.”
Meggie Ladlow ’09: “Homelike feel…nothing really I didn’t like, but I wouldn’t live there again because there are no singles. And I’m spoiled.”
Hey DG, is there any way to combine the dorm articles into one? That way it won’t seem like these choices are second-class or simply an afterthought.
There weren’t in any way intended as an afterthought—it was simply a matter of what our healthy reporters could get in on which day.
Unfortunately, if we combined this with our previous story, most readers wouldn’t see it (who reads things twice?).
Woolman does too have singles.
Meggie and Revan do not currently live in Woolman. I think it would be great to make sure that people who live in the dorms now have a say (which this article mostly does). Dorm environments change so Woolman might be different from how past residents remember it. On that note, Woolman is amazing and there are four singles!
Sorry, I guess what I really meant was blockable singles, or rather, singles that are conveniently arranged for the people I block with.