Most freshmen wonder about their living conditions at college, but at Dartmouth one cannot make a blanket statement about where students are going to live.
Suffice it to say that Dartmouth rooms can incite jealousy because they all cost the same in spite of the fact that some rooms are palatial and some, criminally small.
Each cluster has its own unique feel, so it is best to look at them separately.
Butterfield/Russell Sage
These two halls are connected by a performance space and lounge known as the Hyphen. Butterfield is the home of Asgard, the College's substance-free society, which has special events in the Hypen and also plans events for the entire campus.
Russell Sage is another good dorm. Most of the rooms in the hall are triples, though upperclassmen live in some singles and doubles in the hall.
Butterfield is mainly single rooms with a few doubles. Both halls are coed by room.
The Choates
One of the least popular residence halls on campus, the Choates are composed of four buildings on the north side of campus, behind Webster Avenue: Brown, Bissell, Little and Cohen.
These somewhat out-of-the-way buildings were built in the 1950s and they look the part: the four squat buildings are connected by second-floor walkways (occasionally called "hamster tunnels") between Brown and Little and between Cohen and Bissell.
Rooms in the Choates are either singles or one-room doubles, coed by suite. Common areas are at the intersection of the walkways.
East Wheelock
Andres, Morton and Zimmerman Halls, otherwise known as the New Dorms (they were finished in 1987) make up the East Wheelock cluster, which is on the east side of campus, just past the Rip/Wood/Smith cluster.
The rooms in this cluster are some of the best on campus. The cluster has rooms of all shapes, usually singles or doubles arranged around a common room. Every room has a full bath in this cluster.
Though the living accommodations of this cluster are some of the best on campus, due to the nature of the building many residents never get to know their neighbors.
Still, the three dorms have a superb physical plant. All three are connected by Brace Commons, a gathering spot and kitchen on the bottom floor of the cluster.
Because of the size and quality of its rooms, the East Wheelock
cluster is one of the most popular.
The Fayerweathers
This well-located cluster is composed of North, Middle and South Fayerweather Halls, all connected by a tunnel underneath.
The cluster has one of the best locations on campus, just past Dartmouth Row east of the Green.
Though the Fayers, as they are generally known, are some of the older dorms on campus, the buildings are in relatively good shape. The South Fayerweather dorms have a half-bath.
The Gold Coast
This cluster is one of the more popular on campus and for good
reason. Gile, Streeter and Lord halls are located on the south side of Tuck Mall, west of Baker Library, making them conveniently near to most parts of campus. Some of the larger rooms have fireplaces.
The cluster is coed by floor, except in Gile,where it is by room.
Hitchcock
This independent dorm is not assigned to a particular cluster. It is one of the best-located residence halls.
The dorm features one of the best lounges on campus, as well as a location near Baker and the Green.
Hitchcock has doubles, singles and triples. Many freshmen are assigned to triples in the building.
Massachusetts Row
This cluster is probably the most popular on campus. The three buildings of North, Mid and South Massachusetts are well-known throughout campus as a prime place to live.
Mass Row, as the cluster is called, is located just behind the
administrative buildings of the College, on the west side of the Green. Thayer dining hall is just a stone's throw from South Massachusetts Hall.
North and South Massachusetts Halls have mainly singles and spacious one-room doubles. Mid-Mass, however, has two-room triples and one-room doubles, each with their own full bath.
The cluster's reputation as a social hot spot is both an asset and a liability. Sometimes the dorms, which are coed by room, can be noisy into the wee hours of the night, making it difficult to sleep or study.
New Hampshire/Topliff
These two residence halls are arranged into their own cluster. The two buildings run along East Wheelock Street, to the east of the Hopkins Center.
The dorms, which are both coed by room, have many singles, but woe to the freshman who is assigned to one of the cramped one-room doubles on the corners of Topliff Hall.
New Hamp, as the hall is generally called, contains mainly doubles and two-room triples.
One of the major drawbacks of the cluster is the constant noise which comes from Facilities Operation and Management's plant, located just behind the buildings.
Ripley/Woodward/Smith
The cluster, which students call Rip/Wood/Smith, is one of the quieter on campus. Coed by floor, the dorms are secluded behind the Fayers on the east side of campus.
The rooms in the three buildings are mainly singles, which contributes to the calm of the cluster, one of the smallest on campus.
Despite a vaguely dim interior, this cluster is one of the more pleasant places to live on campus.
The River Cluster
The largest single cluster on campus is comprised of five buildings: French, Hinman and McLane, which are all normal residence halls, and Maxwell and Channing Cox, which are upperclass apartments.
All are located on the far western end of campus, past the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration and the Thayer School of Engineering.
Sometimes called the "Foreign Study Program - Vermont" because of its distance from the center of campus (about an 10-minute walk), many students complain about the isolation of being the furthest residence hall from campus.
But the legendary "River bonding" can ease the difficulties of living in what seems to be a satellite of the College.
Each of the three residence halls that contain freshmen have a lounge on the first floor. Rooms range from good singles and three-room doubles to crowded two-room doubles. The dorms are coed by room.
Wheeler/Richardson
These two halls are located just east of Baker Library, in the midst of classroom buildings on the northeast side of the Green.
Wheeler, which faces south and is just across the street from Webster Hall and Baker, has singles, doubles and triples, though freshmen are usually assigned to one-room doubles.
Richardson, which faces west, is coed by floor and also has singles, doubles and triples, many with fireplaces.
The cluster has one of the best locations on campus.
