To further honor the newly accepted class of 2018, Bwog is rolling out reviews of the freshman dorms on campus considering you kiddos need to pick where you want to live soon. Whether you prefer living in the same building as John Jay, or stay true to your love for Carman because it doesn’t get better, we’re sure you’ll make the right decision (or Columbia will for you). Up next is Furnald (mostly reposted from last month).

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Location: 2960 Broadway

  • Nearby dorms: Carman, Schapiro, and the LLC and John Jay if you’re not super lazy
  • Stores and restaurants: Morton Williams, Ollie’s, Starbucks, Lerner, Hooda’s, M2M, Vine

Cost: $7,110 — the standard frosh rate

Amenities:

  • Bathrooms: One men’s and one women’s bathroom per floor, relatively clean with a slight moldy smell (severity varies from floor to floor). Each floor bathroom has three showers, three toilets, and five sinks. Two unisex bathrooms on the first floor.
  • AC/Heating: Yes.
  • Floor kitchen/Lounge: Nice lounge and almost-kitchen on every floor with a TV, four armchairs, a real dinner table with chairs, and granite countertops. There are two microwaves, a full oven, and an additional stovetop. Most floors have purchased a coffeemaker or hot water heater for communal use.
  • Building lounge: Glorious “lobby” on the first floor where people can hang out, but (as with happens with much of Furnald) mostly use it to quietly do work.
  • Laundry: Clean but tiny laundry facility in the basement with six washers and six dryers.
  • Computers/Printers: Miniature computer lab on the first floor with three computers and one printer.
  • Gym: No dice.
  • Intra-transportation: Two painfully slow elevators on either end of the hall. On the bright side, “There’s no shame in taking the elevator to basically any floor,” one resident said as we got off at four.
  • Hardwood/Carpet: Rooms have hardwood floors.
  • Wi-Fi: Yes.
  • Bonus: Bike storage room in the basement.

Room variety:

  • Singles: tons of singles (~190) that vary pretty widely from room to room, with the smallest at 100 ft. and the largest at a whopping 124 ft.
  • Doubles: a few doubles (~28) that come in two flavors: livable (~175 ft.) and giant (~243 ft.)

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Bwog recommendation:

  • Furnald is clean, the singles are good-sized (for singles), and the rooms look classy because of the hardwood floors.
  • The closed-door floor lounges feel like real lounges and look like an excellent spot to study or bake cookies.
  • Bwog would live here if we wanted to be able to study in our building all the time and we were cool with going elsewhere to party.
  • Granite countertops — ’nuff said.

Resident opinions:

  • “Furnald is one of the greatest places to live at Columbia — its facilities are beautiful and clean, the rooms are nicely sized, most are singles, and all have A/C, which is a pretty huge plus. Furnald residents also seem to have this great dynamic in which most of them know one another; you always see people getting together to study or to hang out. I think we all have a pretty wonderful time here.”
  • “The laundry machines are literally always broken. And the printer is always broken.”
  • “It’s insanely quiet here. I’m in love with this kitchen, but I don’t think it’s worth it. I’m a freshman and I put this as my second choice and I’m pretty pissed off I got placed here. If anyone from Housing or whatever is reading this, know that I’m mad at you.”
  • “Furnald is definitely the nicest place to live freshman year. It’s quiet and there’s not much going on ever, but that’s exactly what you need after a turnt up night elsewhere.”

Gallery: