Iowa State University Top Questions

Dorms are really luck of the draw, and it really depends on what you want. I live in Willow (part of Maple, Willow and Larch). These dorms are all fairly large, but are nowhere near the largest dorms on campus. This year, Larch seemed to be the party dorm and Maple is fairly quiet, but it can change from year to year. However, Friley seems to consistently be a party dorm and is also one of the largest dorms in the country. Smaller dorms like Freeman and Barton are much quieter and tend to have more of a community built around them. The older dorms (Union Drive, old Richardson Court) don't usually have air conditioning but may have slightly larger rooms depending on the dorm. The newer dorms (the Towers, MWL) are air conditioned but are nothing special.

I lived in Larch my freshman year and some of my best college memories came from there. I met one of my best friends on my floor and everyone was very laid back. The doors were always open and the co-ed floors made it really easy to get to know everyone. I still talk to a lot of the girls from my floor. Larch was a lot different from maple because in maple the doors were always closed. Larch was definitely a good place to live for the social life.