Housing Reviews 2024: Schapiro

Want lots of amenities, modern infrastructure, and to be close to campus? Don’t mind living in a corridor-style dorm? Move to Schapiro!

Location: West 115th Street

Nearby:

Columbia Dorms: Furnald, Woodbridge, River, Nuss, McBain
Barnard Dorms: 600, 616, 620
Literally all of campus—Lerner, Casa Hispanica, and the Kraft Center are all within a block! Also very convenient if you have an 8:40 or 10:10 in Hamilton.
Food: Hooda Halal (on the same block!), Shake Shack, Sweetgreen, Pret-A-Manger, Starbucks, Wu & Nussbaum, Tom’s Diner, Community Food & Juice, Blue Bottle
Stores: Morton Williams, Ivy League Stationers, UPS, FedEx, University Hardware, Book Culture, Hex & Company, Milano Market
Riverside Park!

Cost: $12,180/year (projected rate for 2024-2025)

Amenities:

Bathrooms: Floors two through nine each have two women’s bathrooms, one men’s bathroom, and one single-use accessible bathroom. Floors 10 through 16 have one women’s bathroom and one men’s bathroom, alternating which is accessible by floor. There are also two single-use bathrooms in the lobby.
AC/Heating: Schapiro is one of the only Columbia dorms with both AC and heating! Residents can control their AC, although sometimes it just turns on randomly.
Elevators: There are three (very fast) elevators, two of which go to the basement.
Printing: Two PawPrint machines are available in the lobby, right past the ID swipe desk.
Lounge: Each floor has a lounge with a TV, a couch, two chairs, a table, and a kitchen area. The kitchen area includes a sink, two microwaves, and two stovetops/ovens. No fridges though. The sky lounge on the top floor has gorgeous views of the whole city, but that lounge is mainly a quiet room for studying.
Laundry: There are nine washing machines and 10 dryers in the basement, which is only accessible via elevators. (Fire hazard anyone?) Doing laundry is super easy; there’s almost always a machine available!
Vending machines: There are two on the first floor—one for food, and one for drinks. However, most of the time the drink machine doesn’t work.
Bonus: There are music practice rooms in the basement, a dance studio, a really cool sky lounge with views of the whole city, and an outdoor courtyard! The Stephen Donaldson Lounge is also located on the first floor of Schapiro.
Room Variety: There are 245 singles and 85 doubles (55 regular and 30 walk-through).

Numbers (according to 2023 data):

62% rising juniors, 21% rising sophomores, and 17% rising seniors.

73% of residents selected into Schapiro as a group during 2022 Housing Selection.

Bwog Recommendation:

I love Schapiro, guys. It has everything! I’m of the firm belief that this is the best corridor-style Columbia dorm. Lounges with beautiful views, updated furnishings, printers, vending machines, single-use bathrooms, a wonderful sky lounge for studying—it has all the best amenities of any corridor-style dorm here. It’s also so convenient how close it is to campus.

Nonetheless, it’s important to acknowledge that a small subset of people really hate on Schapiro. Let’s explore why—likely the fact that doubles are fairly small and that the bathrooms can be disgusting. However, although small, the doubles aren’t suffocating—their inventive layouts make things much better. As for the bathrooms, if you shower in the single-use bathrooms, you’ll have much more space.

As for the kitchens, it’s important to note that in most lounges, students who want to cook claim drawers by putting sticky notes up. There are many students in Schapiro who cook regularly, although you won’t have the same flexibility you would have in a suite-style dorm.

In my opinion, this is the best reasonable dorm option for sophomores and the best option for juniors who want singles.* Otherwise, try your luck at other places. But either way I’ll always be an avid Schapiro lover!

*Note. Broadway may actually be better for juniors who want singles. Don’t ask me though, I’ve only been there once.

Other Opinions:

“The dorm is very close to campus, so it doesn’t take long to get where you need to go, but it’s still outside the gates, so you get the benefits of quiet and independence.”
“It’s close to the park which is nice.”
“There’s nice light that comes in, at least on the 115th side.”
“Quiet and conveniently located.”
“Somewhat social but don’t expect to be besties with your floormates.”
“Close proximity to the Sky Lounge is unparalleled!”
“If you like Hooda Halal, this is the place for you.”
“Potential lack of access to the laundry rooms. We’re not allowed to take the stairs that go to them, and only 2/3 of the elevators access them. Which did cause some worry for me of ‘What if both elevators go out of order?’ Recently two Schapiro elevators did go out of order, but fortunately the one that was left could go to the laundry room.”
“I think Schapiro’s pretty nice! Sky Lounge has a great view. Close to both campuses.”
“The lounges have nice TVs you can connect to and watch movies. Good couch setup.”
“There’s an exercise room by where the access attendants are.”
“The proximity to campus is good!”

Check out our other housing reviews of Schapiro for more opinions and photos!