Residential Hall Spotlight: The Quad

The Quad

As a first-year, you will be living in one of three residential halls: Sulzberger, Reid, or Brooks. These halls, along with Hewitt Hall, comprise what's known as the Quad.Here's a description of each of the three possibilities.

Sulzberger ("Sulz"): Coveted because of the mere fact that it is the only hallway with air conditioning, which is definitely an asset in those hot summer months.  Although I was lucky enough to be placed in Sulz my first year, the other dorms aren’t too bad temperature wise, just remember to bring a fan!

Sulz/Reid (and how it works!): Sulz, Reid, and Brooks are described as individual halls, but that is technically not the case.  Because of the Sulzberger Tower, a housing option for upperclassmen, the design of The Quad includes a “Sulz” hallway, but also a “Sulz/Reid” hallway that is split up into Sulz (with air conditioning) and Reid (without air conditioning). The Sulz hallway has its own RA, the Sulz/Reid hallway has its own RA, and the Brooks hallway has its own RA.   

 

The room of Alyssa Blackman '17 and Jenna Beers '17 in Sulz/Reid

Brooks: With its own entrance and deep cherry wood doors, Brooks Hall is a great hall to live in.  Although the gate closes at 10 PM and during extreme weather, the secondary entrance gate is a great way to quickly enter The Quad without having to go all the way around to the main gates.  Brooks has its own entrance and elevators, and the Brooks side is also where valuable services and spaces are such as the Brooks Study Lounge, Primary Health Care, Furman Counseling Center, and Well Woman.

My first-year room. (Sorry about the mess!)

Room Size: As Margeaux mentioned in a post earlier, do NOT worry about the roommate selection process; Res Life is generally so spot on.  However, I am also aware that a lot of anxiety stems from how big the room is.  I moved to New York expecting the living-in-a-shoebox scenario that I have often heard about in Manhattan. I can honestly say that is not the case at all.  The rooms are pretty big as far as dorms go, and I have never felt as though I lacked space.    

Sharing a Bathroom: So, yes, you are living with at least one roommate, and, yes, you have to share a bathroom with an entire hallway of people.  Although this may sound like the worst thing in the world right now, there are actually many positives to sharing a bathroom.  There are typically two bathrooms per hall: a gender inclusive one, and a women’s only one.  The set-up is like that of a public bathroom, with various individual stalls and a couple of sinks with mirrors.  There are also showers, and it depends which floor you are on as to whether there is a separate room for just showers or if it is still in the space of the bathroom and sink area.  One thing I really liked about corridor style housing is that you never have to clean your own bathroom (yay)!  Facilities will clean out the bathroom often twice or more a day, which is probably more than you would if you were in charge of cleaning it yourself.  Another thing is that because there are so many bathrooms, showers, and sinks, you probably will never have to wait for one to open up, which is always convenient.

 

The view from my Sulzberger 8th Floor Room

Floor Bonding: One great thing about this corridor style housing set up is that everything is connected.  If you have a friend in Brooks and you live in Sulz, you can just walk through the hallways and get to the room.  At the end of my first year I found that my best Barnard friends were actually the ones that lived on the 8^th floor. We all spent so much time together and it was so easy and convenient to see them.  The corridor style set up is definitely instrumental to hall cohesion among the students who live on your floor, and it’s a really great experience to have all of these friends so easily accessible!

Maria

Sunset at Columbia, as seen from a room in Sulz/Reid

 

Residential Hall Spotlight: Hewitt Hall

As first years, you will be living on The Quad in a double, triple, or four-person room, and on one of three hallways: Sulzberger, Brooks, or Reid.  However, there is a fourth hallway, Hewitt, which houses upperclassmen.

As you consider which college to choose, you will need to consider not only freshman dorm space, but also what kinds of spaces are available to you as an upperclassman.  With its location on campus, beautiful views, and the fact that it offers single rooms, Hewitt is definitely a residential space to strongly consider.

Students living in Hewitt are again living in a corridor-style space, but this time in single rooms.  They still take the same elevators as the rest of the students living on The Quad, and use the same laundry rooms.  They also use the kitchen and lounge space that is available to everyone living on their floor.

Living in a single after freshman year gives students a unique opportunity to enjoy their own space after having adjusted to the college environment.  As you should while living with a roommate (or roommates!), you have an opportunity to really make the space your own.

Shown below is the Hewitt single of Tiffany Kontoyiannis (BC ’16), who has really taken the opportunity to make her room her own!

 

Stay tuned for more spotlights on the various Barnard residential halls!

 

Maria

Top 5 Dorm Essentials

It’s never too early to start thinking of what to bring with you to college! I remember I started making my dorm room checklist several months before I actually moved in. Although it is super fun to shop for posters, bed spreads, and funky decor, I now realize that I had overlooked some practical items while I was deciding what color pillow ase to get. I have compiled a list of 5 essentials that may seem obvious or not, but living without them would be a struggle.

1.      Flip-flops (plus a spare pair): I love being barefoot. In the summer, you will rarely see me in shoes. But, trust me, you don’t want to be barefoot in the communal showers in the residential halls. Even though our wonderful facilities team cleans all of the shared bathrooms daily, it is inevitable that they will get dirty throughout the day, especially because many people utilize the spaces. Wearing flip-flops is just sanitary. Also, bring an extra pair because it is common for flip-flops to rip apart and it is hard to find a pair for a relatively low price (the Columbia ones are cute, but it can be expensive, especially if you’re just going to use them in the bathroom). 

2.      Area rug: It’s just nice to stand up on something warm and fuzzy when you wake up in the morning. Pick a fun color or design. It’s going to be one of the first things you’ll see in the morning, and it’s always good to start the day off with something cheerful. The rug might even become your motivation to wake up for an 8:40 class.


The area rug in my dorm

3.      Water heater and instant food/coffee/tea: It’s 3am and you have four more pages to write of your resource paper… you need a little snack and a caffeine boost, and everything is closed. Stock up on the instant mac n’ cheese packages and tea/coffee bags because there are going to be some of those nights (hopefully not too many).

4.      First aid/medicine kit: I usually don’t get sick so I completely overlooked the importance of having OTC cold medicines on hand. Well, I got sick for the first time in college during reading week (which is the period before finals saved for studying), and it was snowing out. Just my luck. You don’t want to go out to the pharmacy when you’ve got a raging fever. Also, small things like Advil, Tums, Band-Aids, tissues, and cough drops come in handy.
.

My first aid collection

5.      Anything that will maximize storage space: The (only) thing Barnard lacks is space. Get bins to put under your bed, hangers that can hang multiple pieces of clothing, hanging shoe rack, etc. Be creative! Click here for an awesome Seventeen article on tips for expanding dorm room space. 



Your room will come with either a closet,
or some kind of armoir like this.

Hope this helps you make your dorm room checklist!

 

Sarah

 

P.S., Don't forget photos...

The Roommate Matching Process

Hayley and me on move-in day!

Once you confirm that you will be attending Barnard, you’ll receive a survey from Barnard ResLife that includes questions about when you like to sleep and wake up, your study habits, and some of your interests. When I filled out this survey the summer before my freshman year, I tried my best to be honest about my living style, likes, and dislikes. I had read about how Barnard ResLife hand-matches roommates based on these surveys, so I put some trust in the system and tried not to worry too much about who I’d be living with in the fall.

When I moved into my dorm at Barnard in August, I quickly learned how well my roommate, Hayley, and I had been matched. Not only had we answered our survey questions about sleeping, tidiness, and studying in similar ways, but we also found that we were similar in ways that weren’t even a part of the roommate matching survey. For example, we have both mastered the task of ignoring our alarms in the morning, much to the dismay of our other hall mates. We both enjoy Broadway shows, though Hayley is much more knowledgeable about everything related to Broadway than I am, and continues to be the person I turn to when I want to know more about a show. We both appreciate the music of the early 2000s.  We understand each other’s senses of humor, and she has never judged me for consuming a box of cereal in one sitting, due to our mutual love of this great breakfast food.

Our last night as first-year roommates called for some
celebratory toothbrushing

So my advice is to answer the survey honestly, and try not to worry too much about your future roommate. Don’t judge your future roommate based on her Facebook profile. In general, Barnard does a great job of pairing roommates who live really well together, even if your roommate isn’t your best friend.  Regardless of if you’re best friends or not, living together often does create some inside jokes between you and your roommate. And if you’re as lucky as I was, you’ll gain a really great friend. 

Margeaux

 

In our suite in Plimpton this year