Location: 47 Claremont

• Nearby dorms: Relatively far from other Columbia dorms. Elliot and 600s are close though.
• Stores and restaurants: Morton Williams is the closest option. Westside’s a considerable schlep. But Fairway is only a short walk away. Starbucks, M2M, and the Halal carts are all frequented, but kiss Chipotle goodbye. You can order in, but it’s often hard for delivery people to find the dorm.

Cost:

• $7,874

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: One per suite, so that can put you at seven heads to one shower. But they are spacious, and renovations make them look less like murder rooms, and more like hotel toilettes.
• AC/Heating: No AC, but the Claremont wind tunnel and an open window can cool things down considerably. Heating is a bitch and a half. Hulking radiators are hooked to a central thermostat, so that only when all rooms fall below a certain temperature will the heat kick in. Likewise, the radiators will only turn off after all the rooms reach ridiculously high temperatures.
• Kitchen/Lounge: Aside from EC townhouses, these are some of the largest and nicest kitchens available at Columbia: ample counter and cabinet space, full fridge and freezer, ovens with gas burners, large trash and recycling in the kitchen, and new microwaves complete with fans/vents. On the downside, the kitchen doubles as the lounge for a suite, with a dinky table and a few chairs.
• Laundry: Laundry in the basement, fairly standard and never that busy.
• Computers/Printers: Computer lab also in the basement, and the NINJa printer there is frequently jammed.
• Gym: No gym.
• Intra-transportation: One elevator, mainly used by those living on the 5th and 6th (the two highest) floors. Fairly speedy, but it is an old elevator with a pull door and has on occasion broken down with students inside for a few minutes.
• Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood.

Room variety:

• 6 3-person suites, all singles.
• 6 4-person suites, all singles.
• One 5-person and one 5-person suite on the first floor (one double and the rest singles in each).
• 10 7-person suites, two large doubles, one large single, one medium single, and one infamously small single (as little as 80 sq. ft.).

Numbers:

• Since Claremont has the only 3-person suites on campus, it’s basically guaranteed that they’ll go to all-senior 3-person groups. (This year, there is only one 30-point 3-person group.)
• The 4-person suites generally go to seniors who couldn’t snag EC or Hogan. Around 30/2200.
• The 7-person suites are mainly for juniors and sophomores. (There aren’t any 30-point 7-person groups this year). The current trend is needing at least one junior to have a point value greater than 10 to feel safe about Claremont.

Bwog recommendation:

• Seniors should consider the 4-person suites as backups for EC and Hogan. But with those kind of numbers, you may be able to get into decent singles in a not-so-windy location.
• With the only 7-person suites on campus, Claremont is ideal but unlikely for sophomores.

• “Barnard security will give you swipe access into the tunnels, and the new access at the northern points of campus, cutting though the gates by the Diana and through NoCo, make this one of the easiest dorms for those who frequent upper campus. Using the tunnel systems under NoCo and Barnard, one can crawl all over north campus without ever breathing fresh air.”
• “Food options are sparse, but use this to practice ordering in. Or cook. The facilities are great for it.”
• “Be nice to Marcia, the building’s porter—she will clean your suite well every week, but it is not her job to take your massive bags of trash to the drop in the basement.”
• “Three RAs for the whole building, a slew of mostly unmonitored fire escapes. You do the math.”
• “Non-CU super gets things done very quickly.”

Gallery:

Photos by Jason Donenfeld.