On Dorms

I got a comment from a reader asking if I could do a post on dorms. So here it is! : )


The dorms at berkeley include the following: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Bowles, Foothill, Stern, and Clark Kerr. Out of the units, unit 3 is the oldest (after the others got reconstructed) but it is also the closest one to campus. The food sucks although a rare few seem to enjoy it. The food usually consists of pizza, pasta, noodles, fruits, salad, desserts, etc. Nothing special. Unit 1 and Unit 2 are close to Crossroads - another dining center. In my opinion, Crossroads has the best food out of the dining commons. A friend of mine has a suite in Unit 2 and it's really nice. Nothing like our hole of a place in Unit 3. I live in a triple, but luckily, my roommates and I keep to our spaces pretty well so there's never an issue of space. My room consists of one bottom-top bunk bed, and another top bunk bed with two connected desks below it and one  desk by the wall. We have three closets (some triples only have two closets, so the girls have to split them or one has to use the drawers), 4 drawers by said closets, and 4 smaller drawers below the bottom bunk bed. We have a mini fridge and a microwave on top of it. There's not much room for anything else hahaha. The view from our room is killer. Since we live on the 7th floor, we get a view of San Francisco and the bay, and the view during a sunset is breathtaking. The bathrooms/showers are all coed- about 6-7 showers and 4-5 bathroom stalls. Right when I walk out of my dorm, there's Cafe 3 - the dining commons for Unit 3, and beside it is Bear Market -a small market where you can buy cereal, drinks, condoms if you will. hahaha. Cross two streets and you arrive on campus.







Bowles is the all-male, castle-looking dorm. I've never been inside but it looks really cool from the outside. Supposedly, the rooms are all quads- two rooms with bunkbeds and a central room with desks for studying.





Foothill, like its name implies, is on top of a hill, with Stern. It's right by the Greek Theatre so residents of Foothill and Stern get to listen in on free concerts every once in a while- might be distracting when you're trying to study though. It's surrounded by trees and wood so there's a cabin-esque feeling about it. Foothill and Stern are closest to the engineering and math buildings so a lot of engineering majors choose to live there.






Stern is the all-girls dorm located on the hill by foothill. A friend of mine told me that 'it's nice and quiet most of the time, which makes it a good place for studying, and the people are friendly (thought most of them are focused on studying so you probably won't have the same social atmosphere like at the units or even at foothill.'

Clark Kerr is farthest from campus, with missionary style buildings.  


Other than what the buildings actually look like and where they're located, the rooms/food are all pretty similar. Also, what you put down on that list when choosing dorms matters only slightly since the rooms are given through a lottery system. The higher your number, the more likely you will get your choice dorm. It sucks, I know... So I was really glad I was put in Unit 3, mainly because it was closest to campus and is known as the most 'social' dorm. 


So, if you want the social dorms, pick one of the Units. If you want an all guys dorm, pick Bowles. If you want to be close to engineering/science/math buildings, pick Foothill or Stern. If you want an all girls dorm, pick Stern. And if you like the missionary style feel, pick Clark Kerr. 


I hope this helps somewhat when picking your dorms :) Goodluck! 


-K