Housing Review 2025: Plimpton

Plimpton could be your future home! In fact, I’ve heard there’s gonna be an opening in a Plimpton suite on the 13th floor very soon.

Location:

1235 Amsterdam Ave. (121st and Amsterdam)
Nearby Dorms: 537 W. 121st, and Columbia dorms EC and Wien.
Nearby Dining Halls: Grace Dodge and Chef Don’s.
Nearby Stores and Restaurants: Dunkin’ Donut and Appletree deli are right below Plimpton. Some other restaurants nearby are Massawa (Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine), Pho Amsterdam (Vietnamese cuisine, highly recommended), Dun Huang (Chinese cuisine), and Dragon Sushi (Japanese cuisine).

Cost: $13,122/year, $6,561/semester, according to the Barnard Bursar for the school year of 2024-2025.

Amenities:

Bedroom Furniture: Single bedrooms include one twin XL bed, one wardrobe, two dressers, and a desk with a chair. Double bedrooms are slightly bigger and include two twin XL beds, two wardrobes, four dressers, and two desks with two chairs.
Bathroom: One shared bathroom for the suite. Fairly small, but quite modern, including one toilet, one sink, a towel rack attached to the wall, and a medicine cabinet above the sink.
Lounges and Common Areas: There is a dining table with four chairs in each suite. On the first floor, there is a study lounge, a computer lab, and a piano lounge. There is also a courtyard outside with some tables and chairs, but the gates are locked most of the time.
Kitchen: Every suite has a kitchen with a refrigerator, oven, gas stovetop, sink, and plenty of cabinets.
Laundry: There is a shared laundry room for the entire building in the basement, with six washing machines and six dryers.
A/C and Heating: There is a heater in every bedroom that can be adjusted to the settings off, low, and high. The air conditioning switches to heat around October.
Intra-transportation: A flight of stairs leading to the main entrance of the building, and then two elevators and two sets of stairs in the lobby, though only one set of the stairs leads to the basement.
Gym: Dodge is just a short walk away.
Wifi: Barnard Secure and Barnard Guest are both available.

Room Variety:

Besides the lobby, the layout of every floor from floors two to 15 is identical, containing four six-person suites in an A, B, C, D configuration.
Each suite has four single rooms and one double room. The double is located on the farthest corner of the suite and has two windows, while singles only have one.

Stats:

There are about 300 students living in Plimpton, mostly Barnard sophomores and juniors, but the occasional CC and SEAS residents.
Suites first go up in the six-person lottery, and then the remaining rooms go up in the 123 lottery a few weeks later.
In the 2024 lottery, eight seniors, 87 juniors, and 146 sophomores were picked into Plimpton.

Bwog Recommendations:

Plimpton is great if you’re looking for an independent living style, while still being at a relatively decent proximity to campus. It takes around ten minutes for me to walk to the Columbia main gates for class or if I want to eat at a dining hall, and I can wake up late and still be on time for my one class at Teachers College because it is just a couple blocks away.

Residents Opinions:

“The walk is a bit annoying during the winter, but worth it when it’s nice out.”
“Not a fan of the motion sensor overhead lights in the common area. I would recommend buying a shared lamp.”
“Dunkin for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“I love Appletree.”
“If you’re a sophomore who really wants a single, Plimpton is perfect because it’s mainly single rooms.”
“My room is very cozy.”
“Dark.”
“Your experience very much depends on your suitemates. I personally love all 4 of my 5 suitemates.”

Photo gallery: