on what day does it ever look this pretty

You might have the worst pick of the lot as a sophomore, but not all the options are terrible. McBain aka McPain aka Carman 2.0 might have a reputation that precedes it, but it’s still a very valid housing option and went quickly last year. After reading our review, feed your misery by checking out our other housing reviews for this year. 

WARNING! Columbia’s official online information about McBain is totally outdated, due to the recent renovations. A ton has changed about the building since 2014.

Location: 562 West 113th Street, on the corner of Broadway

Nearby dorms: Some brownstones on 113th, Watt, Hogan, and Broadway

Stores and restaurants: Deluxe, Amigos, Dig Inn, Tom’s, Chase, Milano, Symposium, Community, University Housewares, and ~International~

Cost: $8,166 (cheapest tier, same price as Broadway, Furnald, Schapiro, and Wien)

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: On the second and third floors, disgusting, locker-room style bathrooms with little privacy. On the renovated floors, seven individual stalls with wall-length showers.
• AC/Heating: No air conditioning. Heating is powerful, especially in the shaft.
• Kitchen: Kitchen lounge on each floor. One or two ovens/microwaves/sinks per lounge, depending on the floor. The lower floors have much worse-looking kitchens than the renovated ones.

• Lounges: Lounges of decent size on each floor, which include the kitchens and a “living room” with chairs and a TV. On the first floor, there is a large student lounge and another lounge that was once the fitness center.
• Laundry: One large laundry room on the first floor with about a dozen washers and dryers. Probably a better system than the old laundry rooms on each floor.
• Computers/Printers: One computer lab with six computers on the first floor. Two PawPrint printers by the stairs.
• Gym: A tiny fitness lounge with three machines and a TV on the fourth floor.
• Intra-Transportation: Two elevators that flank a fancy-looking staircase. Also, you have to go through a door to get from the stairwell/elevators to the hall, which is strangely disorienting at first.
• Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood floors in the rooms, carpets in the halls.
• Wifi: Yes. We haven’t heard any complaints about its quality.
• Bonus: There is no bonus for living in McBain. Especially not on the second and third floors.

Room variety:

• Singles: About 40. Two on each floor go to an RA and their rider. They average around 120 square feet, and are unfortunately more plentiful on the unrenovated floors. If you’re looking for a single as a sophomore, it’s a good choice, since they run out quickly due to the RAs.
• Doubles: At current count, 172. Rooms that border Broadway are most likely to be rectangular, as opposed to the L- and T-shapes that tessellate the rest of the exterior. Doubles, generally slightly smaller, border the shaft. They’re all roughly 200 square feet, slightly smaller than Carman doubles.

Numbers:

• For doubles, sophomores are generally entitled to their McBain double. In 2014, all sophomores who applied got in. In 2015, the cutoff for doubles was 10/2278. No matter what, if you have a bad number, you should probably get used to living on the lower floors.
• Singles go quick. If your number is higher than about 250, you don’t have much of a chance at all. Last year, the cutoff was 10/77.

Bwog recommendation:

• If you can avoid it, do not live on the lower, unrenovated floors (2 and 3). The bathrooms smell awful, the lounges are older and dirtier, and the hallways look really ugly. The most important problem on lower floors are the tiny shower stalls, with entrances about 20 inches wide.
• It’s really close to a lot of things you’ll need in terms of food and booze. But if you’re coming here from Carman, the extra 90 seconds getting to class will result in a few late runs to class before you adjust. It’s a generally central location.
• Don’t be the group that uses 10/908 to get doubles on floor 3. Your consideration should be much more based on the floor’s renovation status than on your square footage. If you have the time, go to see the different floors of McBain yourself. The difference is stunning.
• For bonus points, annoy your roommate so much they move out! This will leave you with a coveted McBain dingle, which is surprisingly cozy.

Resident opinion:

• ” It’s not as shitty as people think it is, except for on Saturdays and Sundays when the cleaning service doesn’t come and it is kinda shitty.”
• “Constant classist warfare between un-renovated proletariat floors of 2 and 3, and the renovated bourgeois floors.”
• “The vomit and beer cans littering the floor is only temporary.”
• “The plants in the lobby aren’t real (v important).”