As much as JMU would love to advertise all their residence halls as beautiful, rewarding places to live, there are still obvious winners and losers. AC or no AC, suite style or hall style, we're all paying the same price, so get cozy. Unless you live in Lakeside or the Village, where getting cozy is just too hot. Bring out the box fans.
Bluestone
The Best: Hoffman
Hoffman is nicknamed "Hotel Hoffman" for a reason. It's air-conditioned, with suite-style bathroom, wooden floors, and a location that can't be beaten. Walk out the beautiful front door and you're right at the Hoffman Hall bus stop. Just a short, 30-second walk will bring you right to the Quad.
The Worst: Spotswood
Spotswood is bittersweet. You're lucky enough to have a gorgeous Quad view, with a prime location to all your Main Campus classes, but you're cursed with the only Bluestone dorm without air conditioning. Don't worry, it won't matter too much for most of the year. Bring fans and thank your lucky stars you weren't put in Lakeside.
Village
The Best: Hanson
The Village, in general, has an excellent, very central location, but Hanson Hall has it the best. You're right outside the Hanson Hall bus stop, which is a great place to catch a bus going to East Campus. You're also the closest dorm to UREC. Smoothies and workouts every day!
The Worst: Dingledine
The Village dorms are all pretty much the same, so it's hard to pin down the real loser. Dingledine just has a weird name and it's in the middle of the Village, which seems to be where all the campus diseases originate.
Hillside
The Best: Hillside
The Hillside area dorms are all the same. The only differences they have are in terms of location. Hillside Hall is closest to the Quad and only a short walk up the hill will get you to SSC!
The Worst: McGraw-Long
It's not much worse than Hillside, seeing as they're all pretty much the same. It's just further from everything else.
Skyline
The Best: Potomac
All the Skyline dorms have the hugest rooms, stunning views of East Campus, and air-conditioning, with the small drawback of hall-style bathrooms. Potomac is within paces of E-Hall and Festival, which are arguably the most delicious dining halls on campus.
The Worst: Shenandoah
Just because you have to walk just a little bit further to get to the grilled cheese station in Festival. Other than that, it's just as good as Potomac.
Lakeside
The Best: Eagle
The only time the word "best" can be used to describe Eagle is when comparing it to the other Lakeside dorms. Eagle has no AC, hall style bathrooms, and elevators that always seem to break down, but at least it has the reputation of being fun. You'll make memories in Eagle.
The Worst: Shorts
You've got everything bad about Eagle without the fun of saying you live in Eagle. It's a lose-lose situation. But don't worry, at least you're close to Newman Lake, which is the place to go for lonely crying sessions.
Although JMU definitely has good and bad residence halls, we can all agree that we're still the greatest university on the planet. Remember, we beat Tech in dining hall food. That's all that really counts, right?
