Housing approacheth. And, unless you’re on top of it, it’s probably coming up sooner than you think. Bwog’s got you covered; we’ll be rolling out two housing reviews per day until no residence hall is left un-reviewed. Prepare to get (even more) excited: this year, we’re reviewing Barnard residence halls, too. Reviews for all! Today’s residence hall is… Hewitt!
Location: The Quad (3009 Broadway)
- Nearby dorms: 600, 616, 620, Sulzberger Tower, The Quad (freshwomen)
- Stores and restaurants: Morton Williams, Ollie’s, Vine, the 116th halal cart, Hewitt Dining Hall
Cost:
- $9,800 for a single (same as all Barnard dorms)
- $8,450 for a double or triple (same as all Barnard dorms)
Amenities:
- Bathrooms: One large gender-inclusive restroom per floor of Hewitt. This means five stalls, and about five showers per floor. This bathroom is cleaned daily by Facilities, along with all the other Quad bathrooms (which are easily accessible to Hewitt residents).
- AC/Heating: No AC. The heating is rarely an issue; it’s generally always the right temperature.
- Kitchen/Lounge: Weak. Each floor in the Quad has one kitchenette which doubles as a lounge, with ovens on every other floor. The second floor does not have a kitchenette, and residents must go to the third floor if they wish to cook, though lounges are frequently occupied by first-years cooking or watching TV.
- Laundry: There is a set of washing machine and dryer on each floor of Brooks. There are several more per floor of Sulzberger, with the most being on the eighth floor, where they are also shared with Sulzberger Tower residents.
- Gym: No gym in the Quad, but Barnard’s gym is just in Barnard Hall via the tunnels.
- Intra-transportation: Accessible via elevators located in Sulzberger or Brooks, as well as the several sets of stairs throughout the Quad. Second floor, however, is only accessible by the staircase through Brooks, just past Furman.
- Wi-Fi: Yes. Barnard Secure.
- Hardwood/carpet: Even better than carpet or hardwood, the floors are linoleum.
Room Variety:
- Mostly singles, with the (very) odd converted double or triple on the 2nd or 8th floor
- Most rooms 16′ x 8′. See floor plans.
Numbers
- Predominantly sophomores, with some juniors and seniors
- Generally where you’ll end up if you just want a single room but are not part of a suite
Bwog recommendations:
- Hewitt is best for studious (read: quiet) and low-key sophomores who just want singles and don’t mind living in the Quad again.
- If you don’t cook or don’t feel the need (or maybe you just love Hewitt food), congratulations! You get to enjoy the Quad Upperclass Meal Plan, second only to the Platinum Meal Plan of freshwoman days past.
Resident opinions:
- “The showers are not reliable at all, temperature-wise. I go to Brooks or Sulz to shower every day.”
- “I don’t cook, so I don’t really mind being on the meal plan again.”
- “I like being so close to campus.” (says a second floor resident, who does not have to deal with first-years up in her space)
- “You can hear the conversations in the next room, but people are pretty quiet.”
- “It’s not hard to get a block of rooms with some friends if you’re not too interested in a suite, or if you just want to live close to campus.”
- “I really like having a closet, and the room came with a bureau, too, and there’s also storage space under the bed.”
- “The showers literally never work right, so I actually only shower in Brooks. But even then, there are only two showers and are usually being used when I go. It’s annoying.”
Hewitt Hall exterior via Barnard.
12 Comments
@Misogynist Wait…I thought Bwog was a Columbia publication….
@Anonymous Columbia UNIVERSITY
@Anonymous COLUMBIA university
columBIA UNIversity
COLUMbia univerSITY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
columbia university
universidad de columbia
@Anon It’s hilarious how your name is “Misogynist”
@CC' 14 That’s what I said in the other Barnard dorm review. Let’s be friends
@Anonymous As a somewhat unadventurous Columbia male, Barnard and all these dorms seem so interesting. I wish I had some Barnard friends so I could spend time in their buildings and experience their college. Unfortunately, the only Barnard student I could name is a girl from one of my classes who probably wouldn’t even recognize me.
@awww that’s cute. make friends!!
@Hewitt Sux I lived in Hewitt last year because I thought I wanted a single and it was absolutely miserable. It’s lonely, you have to share all of your space with first-years so you feel like you’re trapped in your first year forever, and most of your friends live in suites together and aren’t on big meal plans so you feel perpetually left out and have to eat your ten zillion Hewitt meals alone. You may think you like the dining halls at the end of your first year, but 2 years of essentially eating the same four things every day gets unbearable, and if you’re anything like me by halfway through your first semester you’ll spend your entire income on food because you’ll have no food money put aside and you won’t be able to stand the thought of eating Raisin Bran and limp lettuce for dinner for the sixth time that week.
I live in a double in a suite this year and even though I’m on the airshaft (whereas my Hewitt room had a view of the Quad) it’s still so much better than Hewitt in every way. If you can avoid Hewitt, unless you absolutely cannot stand the idea of living with someone (Hewitt and Plimpton are the only places where a sophomore has a prayer of getting a single, and Plimpton is still a gamble), do yourself a favor and don’t live there.
@hewitter I lived in Hewitt last year, and although I thought a single would be so great, I was actually really lonely frequently. If you live there, you need to be PROACTIVE about making plans and being willing to ask for help from others when you’re sick.
@Ignorant non-Barnard Student In a setup like this, if a girl has a guy over and he uses the common bathroom would other girls be surprised to see him in there? I’m just curious, so if anyone could answer from experience…
@millie When i was a fresh bear living in Sulz I would always use the gender-neutral bathroom, because it was just closer to my dorm, and when I found a guy in there it was an unpleasant surprise but I didn’t freak out.
so yeah, it’s no big deal
@i got chu BC'15 Eh, for the most part, it’s more of a like “oh shit, didn’t see you there” sort of feeling for .004 seconds (exactly), then you just move on and do whatever you need to do. It’s more awkward if the guy was there PDA’ing with the girl in the bathroom, because hell, I’m trying to take a piss this isn’t your sex den. But having just a guy there isn’t unpleasant at all.
At the beginning of the year, the RA usually has a floor meeting and there’s a general vote on whether or not we want to keep the bathroom gender inclusive or not (depending on what the majority of the people are comfortable with)