Housing Reviews 2024: 537 West 121st Street

By Bwog Staff on Mar 05, 2024

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Your home away from home. 300+ average in the Housing Lottery required.

Location: 537 West 121st Street and Broadway.

Nearby dorms: Plimpton. Kinda?
Stores and restaurants: Right above Olive Tree Deli, Broadway Au Lait, and not too far from Nikko Hibachi, Appletree Market, Massawa, and Dunkin Donuts. If you’re committed, you’re close to restaurants on La Salle Street and Broadway.
Cost: $12,438 per year ($6,219 per semester), according to the Barnard Bursar.

Amenities:

Bathrooms: Each suite has a private bathroom.
AC/Heating: Yes, and yes. The heat can be overbearing.
Kitchen: The suite kitchens have refrigerators, a sink, an oven, and a table.
Lounges: Spacious communal lounge on the first floor with an additional lobby bathroom.
Laundry: The laundry room is in the basement, which is a little scary.
Gym: Nope!
Hardwood/Carpet: Linoleum.
Wifi: Each suite has its own wifi router—bye-bye, Barnard wifi.

Room Variety:

Singles and doubles in three to five-person suites.
- Some of the singles are very spacious and were originally doubles. Contrarily, some of the doubles are very small and are definitely not meant for two people. You’re gonna be squished.

Numbers from the 2023 lottery:

Out of the 102 students who picked into 121 in the 4/5/6 Lottery or the 123 Lottery, 78 were rising seniors, and 24 were rising juniors. Sorry 2023 sophomores.

Bwog recommendation:

121 is the dorm you want but can never have. It’s got a comfortable amount of space, nice kitchens, and if you luck out, a balcony/fire escape. The walk to campus is short and sweet, perhaps not the best for the chronically late to class but comfortable nonetheless. However, what they don’t tell you is that there’s only one completely non-shafted 121 suite alignment, and there’s usually only one or two units available in the 4/5/6 Lottery. Plus, if you select into a 121 suite with a double, that double is TINY. You’d do better in a Sulz Tower double, a 620 suite with a downtown view in the D or C suites, or a Plimpton single. There are great restaurants nearby, but you basically have to walk to Plimpton to eat there anyway. Oh, and there’s no subway right outside your door. But yayyy singles!

Resident opinions:

“The fire alarm goes off so easily when you’re cooking.”
“I really like it, it’s a bit quiet but it’s a nice distance from campus.”
“I’m on a lower floor so we get less light in most of the rooms since it’s mostly shafted.”
“The common spaces in 121 are great, but that comes at the expense of the bedrooms which can be shockingly small. The location is also not super convenient, as it is far from campus and the subway.”
“The best part of 121 is the common spaces.”