Student FAQ
If the answer to your question does not appear on this page, feel free to contact the lottery chair or post to the forum.
Submitting a Review
Why should I submit a review? What is the point of this whole site?
Is ResCouncil or Residential Life going to censor my review?
Can I submit a review for a friend's room? How about for a room that I lived in three years ago?
I want to submit a review, but what kind of information should I include in my description?
Submitting a Photo
Can I submit any photo I want?
What file formats does the Room Review accept?
Residence Hall Information
What do the coed status designations mean?
Submitting a Review
Why should I submit a review? What is the point of this whole site?
This site was designed to have two purposes. Firstly, it is a resource for all students who wish to learn about the various housing options Brown has to offer, good or bad. Nearly every undergraduate will enter the housing lottery at least once in their time at Brown, so everyone understands the stress that can come from picking a random room number on a board and hoping for the best. This site will hopefully enable students to learn the good and the bad about the dorms and dorm rooms across the Brown campus.
Secondly, this site is a resource to the Residential Council. The reviews submitted can give valuable insight into what needs to be corrected in Brown's residence halls.
So, it is asked of you to share what you know about the dorm rooms in which you have lived and with which you are familiar.
Is ResCouncil or Residential Life going to censor my review?
Neither ResCouncil nor ResLife have any plans on censoring a review. If you disliked your room, just tell us why. Anything within reason is permitted (meaning let's keep the language civil). On the other hand, if ResCouncil receives any complaints about certain reviews, they may have to be edited (but we will specifically note that at the bottom of the review).
Reviews edited to date: 0
Can I submit a review for a friend's room? How about for a room that I lived in three years ago?
Of course. If you think you have some knowledge about any room on campus that you would like to impart upon others, please submit a review. It does not matter if you live in the room now, three years ago, or never, your opinion is welcome.
I want to submit a review, but what kind of information should I include in my description?
So what makes a good review. Well, think of it this way, what do you or did you always want to know about the room you selected in the housing lottery? Below is a sample review. Of course you don't have to be quite so detailed, but it should give you some things to think about when submitting your own.
Location: Mead House 223
Mead 223 is just above the last arch on Benevolent street. It's on a whole row of singles (mostly juniors). There are only two freshman on the whole hallway, so it really isn't too loud. Living next to a semi-busy street can be annoying at times because the lights can shine in your windows. Overall it's not too bad though.
This room is a spacious single. It's about 11'6'' wide by a little under 15' long. The room is actually about 2 feet wider than most of the Keeney singles (the benefit of living next to a stairwell). It has a vinyl tile floor (it's in pretty good shape) that gets a bit gritty during the winter months.
The room stays pretty comfortable during the academic year. The heat works well, but doesn't fry you like some rooms (in fact, it's actually one of the rooms that Facilities Management monitors with heat sensors to set the heat for the entire hallway).
The furniture leaves something to be desired. The chair has no arms and is too low to sit comfortably at the desk. The dresser is a tall dresser (so it cannot be used as extra desk space, though it does take up less room). The bed has not been replaced in years. Where most Keeney singles have metal frame beds (the classic dorm room style), 223 has an old wooden bed (and an old mattress to match).
Built into the room is a good sized closet (big enough to store your luggage and your clothing). The big plus is that it has a sliding door, so you can actually hide stuff in there. There is also a built in bookcase on the outside wall of the closet, which is pretty nice.
Outlet strips are located along both of the long walls. Cable and telephone are in one corner, two data (internet) ports are in another corner. Not the most convenient setup, but you shouldn't have to have wires running across your room.
Kitchen is about 50 paces down the hall, bathroom just around the corner (with three more on the same floor).
Submitting a Photo
Can I submit any photo I want?
Within reason, yes. We ask that all photos be relevant (meaning representative of the room and helpful to others who are interested in the room). We also ask that you do not upload any photos without the permission of the photographer.
Try to minimize the number of people in the photo. Ideally, you should have no recognizable person in the photo. If you must, make sure you have that person's permission before uploading it.
Any photos that break any of these rules or are deemed inappropriate by the powers that be (Residential Council, Residential Life, etc) will be removed.
What file formats does the Room Review accept?
In designing the photo album, we tried to be as flexible as possible in terms of what photo formats the site will accept. Currently, the site supports the uploading of GIF, JPG, PNG, and WBMP files. However, JPG files will work the best.
Why? Quite simply, the site will convert any other file type you upload into a JPEG for storage. This conversion usually goes well enough, but we make no guarantees.
The site also automatically reduces the image size to no larger than 700 x 600 pixels. This is done to save space, and we cannot see any compelling reason to add support for high resolution photos. If you can think of a good one, let us know.
Residence Hall Information
What do the coed status designations mean?
There are a few different coed designations used on the Room Review site. Please note that we cannot guarantee that these are up to date, and you should check with the Residential Life web site to confirm the coed policies.
The standard setup of a residence hall is coed 'By Room.' This means certain rooms will contain only males and other rooms will contain only females. Beyond that there is no separation.
The other commonly used designation is 'All Suites/Apts.' This designation means that suites and apartments in that building may house both males and females, though not in the same room within the suite or apartment. All other rooms outside of suites and apartments are coed by room, unless otherwise specified.
Note also that some spaces in certain residence halls are designated as single sex. These spaces often vary each year and may not be marked accordingly in the Room Review. You are advised to view the Office of Residential Life web site to confirm these locations.