Typical Room

There are only two different types of rooms in Pierce- singles and doubles, and because of the size of the rooms there are not many different arrangements of the furniture. First-years are almost always assigned to doubles, which are 9' X 11' with large bay windows, and the second-years have singles.

Each double has two beds along each side wall with open space in the middle. Also along each wall are desks and shelves. There are two closets in each room with drawers, shelves, and hanging space. The bay windows offer light and some extra space, along with a big shelf or window seat.

Rachel shows off her room.

"The rooms are over-hyped and touted as being the smallest living quarters ever, but they aren't that bad considering you spend a majority of your time in the lounge or in other people's rooms. It's very useful to have some kind of entertainment and always have a stocked fridge with food and beverages, but be careful of moochers."

"People will try to tell you that the rooms are extremely small, but it isn't really true. The freshman doubles are about the size of the standard freshmen doubles that I saw when I was visiting other schools. It's just that a lot of the other dorms here at Chicago have much bigger rooms. An advantage to having small rooms is that we aren't tempted to stay in them too much, so people hang out in the lounge more. Our house functions like a real house in some ways with the lounge as our living room or family room."

A typical Pierce room includes:

• 2 beds
• 2 desks
• 2 long bookshelves
• Large bay window with shelf and pull-down shades
• 2 closets with armoires and bars for hanging clothes
• 2 large bulletin boards
• 2 trash cans
• 2 mirrors in closets

Click to see a room plan.

Click to see a hall plan.

Molly decorated her entire ceiling with cranes.

Jorge's room.