First place: Weatherford Hall 

Each academic school year, the Oregon State University community has a chance to vote for their favorite residence halls out of the 16 located on campus, with the top three winners this year being West Hall, the International Living Learning Center and Weatherford Hall, which was voted first.

Weatherford Hall, located on the OSU Corvallis campus, and is in close proximity to centralized places like the Memorial Union and Dixon Recreation Center, along with academic buildings like Austin Hall, which houses the College of Business advising offices as well as many College of Business classrooms. 

Weatherford is home to first-year pre-business and business majors. Most residents of Weatherford are also a part of the Innovation Nation, the living-learning community for students in the College of Business. College of Business students also have the option of living in Poling Hall located close by in the western dorm quad.  

Weatherford Hall has offices and classrooms for the College of Business. The coffee shop Bing’s Cafe can be found on the first floor of Weatherford, and Shania Nair, a first-year business administration major, said Bing’s being in the building was one reason why she would vote Weatherford in the top three.

Students in Weatherford can choose between four different room types: single, double, triple and quad, with a large majority of the rooms being doubles. A few residents can also enjoy single-user bathrooms, which only have to be shared by a few people, compared to the community bathrooms shared by the whole floor. 

On the first floor of the building, a community kitchen can be found, which is ideal for students who enjoy cooking their own meals instead of eating at the dining halls. Also on the first floor are community lounges and a recreation room, with other lounges and study areas located on different floors of the building as well. 

One of the best things about living in Weatherford Hall is how spacious the rooms and halls are, according to Olivia Handran, a first-year student studying finance. She would recommend this hall to other incoming freshman, adding that even though it is slightly more expensive than her first choice, Poling Hall, the amenities and proximity to other places on campus make it worth it. 

Nair said her one of her favorite things about living in Weatherford Hall is that she is friends with everyone, and is especially close with her resident assistant.

Lucas Bruce, a first-year business administration student also said that one of the best things about Weatherford was how nice everyone is. Bruce said that in his opinion, Weatherford was probably voted in the top three because of how visually appealing the building is from the outside compared to some of the other residence halls, and he enjoys the different study areas throughout the building. 

 

Second place: West Hall

West Hall was voted in the top three best residence halls on OSU’s Corvallis campus, along with Weatherford Hall and the International Living Learning Center. 

West Hall is located on the west side of campus. It is one of two resident halls that is reserved for first-year students admitted into the Honors College. 

Honors College students who live in West Hall can enjoy many different amenities, including “a large lounge on the first floor with cable TV, games, couches and space to study and relax,” which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the University Housing and Dining Services website. The ground floor also features a community kitchen, and West Hall is located next door to the Marketplace West Dining Center. 

A large percentage of the rooms are doubles, with a small amount being triples. All rooms in West Hall also include an in-room sink, and are suite-style, meaning that only a few students have to share a bathroom compared to the whole floor. Griffin Brandstetter, a first-year Honors College student studying math, said he thinks West was voted above other residence halls because of the private bathrooms.

One of Brandstetter’s favorite things about living in West Hall is also how quiet it generally is in the hall. 

 

Third place: International Living-Learning Center 

The International Living Learning Center has been voted among the top three best residence halls on Oregon State University’s Corvallis campus, and has been voted as best residence hall in previous years. The ILLC is one of the more modern residence halls and is located close to Reser Stadium, Gill Coliseum and the OSU Beaver Store.

Residents of the ILLC have the choice of single or double rooms or suite-style double or triple rooms. Although this residence hall houses mainly students who are studying abroad, it is open to any OSU student, regardless of their major or college. 

The ILLC is also home to INTO-OSU, which is “an initiative to increase the number of and percentage ratio of international students at OSU and to improve the overall level of service that OSU provides for them,” according to the INTO-OSU website. 

Along with INTO-OSU, the ILLC also has a grocery store, Cascadia Market, and the coffee shop Cascadia Cafe on its main floor. There are also classrooms and meeting spaces, and each floor features large gathering spaces and a community kitchen. 

Jessica Lucas, a first-year digital communications arts major from Colorado, said that in her opinion, “the ILLC was rated in the top three residence halls on campus because of how new and beautiful the building is as a whole, and how spacious and modern all the dorm rooms and amenities are.” Her favorite thing about living in the ILLC is how the community is so diverse, and she has been able to see that integrated into her everyday life.