Housing Reviews 2025: East Campus

Apartment-style living; parties; upperclassmen—premier on-campus living.

Location: 70 Morningside Drive, or: across the bridge; right next to IAB and the Law Building; across from Faculty House; up the stairs from Wien courtyard; next to Interim President Armstrong’s mansion.

Nearby dorms: Wien–quick mail center trips!
Stores and restaurants: Arts & Crafts, HamDel, Appletree, Friedman’s, SubsConscious, Dunkin Donuts, Hartley Pharmacy, Elysian Fields and Massawa. Right next to Faculty House and Fac Shack and relatively close to Chef Mike’s and Chef Don’s. In a straightforward path to Grace Dodge as well!

Cost: $13,222 (projected upperclassmen rate for the 2025-26 academic year).

Amenities:

Bathrooms: Highrise suite bathrooms have two sinks, a toilet in a stall, and a tub-shower combination; townhouse bathrooms are nearly identical but have a nicer walk-in shower instead. Two-person flats have a normal-looking bathroom with a sink, toilet, and shower. All bathrooms are cleaned by residents.
AC/Heating: Glorious air conditioning in the summer and controllable heat in the winter. Your temperature control mileage may vary depending on party size.
Lounge: For the high rises, there are lounges on the upper floor of every suite (the even numbered floors) that are rarely used as all the suites have living rooms. The second floor has a large main building lounge with a piano, TV, and kitchen. Within the suites and townhouses, there are large living rooms with couches.
Kitchen: There is a kitchen in every suite and townhouse, and it comes with a dishwasher, oven, microwave, and full-sized fridge. The kitchens in the townhouses are noticeably bigger and are better connected to the living room compared to those in the high rises. Notably, the two-person flats have slightly smaller kitchens with no dishwasher.
Laundry: There are a good amount of washers and dryers in the basement. The machines consistently work, though one or two may occasionally be out of order.
Fire escapes: None.
Bike storage: Available in the Wien courtyard.
Computers/printers: There are computer lounges with one printer each on floors 10 and 18, and there are two printers in the lobby.
Gym: There are exercise rooms located on floors eight and 16. These rooms have treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals in various states of order. Use as you see fit.
Intra-suite transportation: For the high rises, each suite contains three floors: the shared kitchen and living room are on the topmost floor; the bedrooms and bathrooms are a floor down; and there is a suite exit on the third floor. Each townhouse has its kitchen and bathroom on the same floor. The bedrooms are then paired with two rooms occupying a floor—except for the double, which takes the place of two singles on one floor.
Hardwood/carpet: The building halls are carpeted, while the bedrooms and living room are hardwood. The high rises have linoleum in the kitchen, but the townhouse kitchens are hardwood.

Room variety:

Seven all-single six-person suites—one on each floor. Four singles face campus (pretty sunsets!) while two face the park.
Seven all-single five-person suites—one per floor. Three singles face campus while two face the park.
56 (eight per floor) suites with three singles facing campus and one double facing the park.
35 (five per floor) two-person flats. These have two huge singles, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The common area in these flats is mostly just a table in a hallway.
Eight doubles on the sixth floor, each 200 sq. ft. and with their own bathroom.
10 all-single four-person townhouses.
40 six-person townhouses—12 of which have a double, while the rest are comprised of only singles.

Numbers:

Famously mostly seniors—and entirely upperclassmen. According to the Columbia Housing website for EC, for Room Selection 2024, students who selected into EC were 89% rising seniors and 11% rising juniors. The all-single suites were the first to be taken, and they were all taken by rising senior groups.

100% of students who selected into this building participated as part of a group—84% in rising senior groups, 1% in rising junior groups, and 15% in mixed-point groups, with an average point value of 33.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Bwog recommendation:

EC maintains its position as one of the premier housing options offered by Columbia Housing. With an in-suite kitchen, living room, and bathroom, residents get a lot of largely private space to work with. Whether it be extravagant decorations, elaborate dinner get-togethers, or hosting a raging party, EC suites provide the space to do it all. Noise level during the weekends can be a bit high, but there is the silent recognition of that being alright—this is party central, after all! For those who want to host (or go down the hall and attend) parties, EC is the way to go. With its many singles, generally nice amenities, and fully upperclassmen population, EC is also suitable for those who desire a more relaxed environment that is on campus but removed from the busiest parts of it.

Overall, living in EC feels like living in an apartment in the city, albeit with CUID-only access and slightly cheaper rent.

Resident opinions:

“Living in the EC tower has been by far the best dorm experience in my four years at Columbia. The kitchen is fantastic. We decorated our suite to make it feel homey, and, best of all, we have a ball pit!”

“I LOVED living in EC! The best Columbia Housing experience of my four years. The townhouses are superior to the high rises. Yes, the views of the high rises are incredible, but the facilities in general of the townhouses are much nicer and truly feel like apartment living (you also don’t have to have to wait for the long elevator line). The lower townhouses are much better than the upper townhouses, too, just because of all the extra stairs. Moving in and out due to the stairs was annoying, but you only do it twice, and it’s so worth it!!!”