Broadway – the view from 114th street

Today, Bwog reviews Broadway – a dorm that isn’t, actually, quite on Broadway. Although, if you live here, you can tell your friends that you’re “in Broadway” and not technically be lying. First stop, Broadway – next stop, Hamilton tickets. Right?

Location: 556 West 114th St

Nearby dorms: Hogan, Watt, McBain, Nussbaum,

Stores and restaurants: MoWill, BoSchwo, Sweetgreen, Amir’s, Haagen Daaz, Starbucks, Nussbaum, Book Culture, Riverside Church, several halal carts

Cost: $8,166 per year

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: Communal bathrooms, two women’s and two men’s on each floor, fairly clean.
• AC/Heating: Both AC and heating. The AC gets incredibly cold and the heating gets incredibly hot, but the units are hard to control and harder to turn off.
• Kitchen: Decent, if small. Each kitchen has two stoves and two ovens, but it’s too cramped for two people to cook at once. They have dishwashers, which nobody uses. The sinks are very shallow. Kitchens are supposedly cleaned every weekday, but cleanliness really depends on the floor.
• Lounges: One on each floor, with fairly big TVs (and remote controls!) The lobby has open seating and an adjacent lounge. The 14th floor two sky lounges, which are quiet, spacious places to study, and have amazing views – you can see the Empire State Building.
• Laundry: One room in the basement with 9 washers and 11 dryers, enough that you rarely have to wait for one to free up. They don’t break too often, but they do get pretty dirty as the semester goes on.
• Computers/Printers: Computer lab on the 3rd floor with eight computers and one printer, additional printer in the lobby.
• Gym: No, but Dodge and Riverside Park aren’t far.
• Intra-Transportation: Three elevators, fairly fast and very spacious, with fancy wood paneling. The ride from the top floors to the bottom is about thirty seconds, without stops. They break pretty frequently, though.
• Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood in the rooms, carpet in the hallways and lounges, tile in the bathrooms and kitchens.
• Wifi: Yes, and it works pretty reliably. (One advantage of being close to campus.)
• Bonus: Really nice views from upper floors, 4 practice rooms on the second floor, close to campus, Reslife offices for West Campus and The Block on the first floor.

Room variety:

• Singles: Most of the rooms in Broadway. Range from a modest 102 sq. ft. to an impressive 134 sq. ft., but most fall between100 and 115 sq. ft.
• Doubles: Three on each floor; one is 200 sq. ft. and the other two are ~165 sq. ft.

Numbers:

• Rising seniors usually get the large singles (cutoff was 30/1505 last year, and 30/2794 the year before)
• Other singles are snagged by rising juniors (cutoff was 20/1775 last year, 20/2585 the year before)
• Doubles are taken by primarily rising sophomores (cutoff for large doubles: 10/2538 last year, 10/1053 the year before; for small doubles: 10/2901 last year, 10/2995 the year before)

Bwog recommendation:

• It’s quieter and cleaner than a lot of other dorms, and definitely nice if you prefer studying in your dorm to going to the library.
• Doesn’t have a huge social sphere, but you won’t be kicked out if you bring a group of friends into the lounge or anything like that. Social interaction can be as involved or as not involved as you want it to be.
• Views on the upper floors are incredible, which is a plus if you like pretending you live in a penthouse.
• The location is close both to campus and to Broadway (the street) – you couldn’t ask for a more convenient location.

Resident opinion:

• “Broadway’s a nice dorm, it’s very close to campus and it has some killer views. The kitchens could be better and the tiny doubles would be hell if you didn’t like your roommate, but overall I like it here.”
• “Lived here for two semesters, passed six courses with a 2.98056 GPA.”
• “I lived in Furnald my first year, and it feels very much like Furnald.”
• “The lounges are quiet and nice places to study. They’re very light and airy.
• “I wouldn’t want to live on one of the lower floors in only because you don’t get a lot of light with an inner facing room.”