West Hall is the runt of the Derb, sporting a modest 5 floors as opposed to the 9 that the three other Derby dorms have. It's a decent place to live, especially now that the renovations are almost finished. We were told that there would be a piano room and kitchen at the start of the year. Unfortunately it took them over an entire semester to finish those. I was most looking forward to the piano room when I decided to move into the dorms, but my dreams were crushed all too quickly and for all too long.
The bathrooms in West were recently renovated and now feature 4 "pods" in each bathroom. Each pod has a shower, toilet, and sink. At first I thought this was a weird idea, but as soon as I first saw it I changed my mind. The idea is actually very cool. It can be a problem, however, in the morning when all 4 pods are taken by guys needing to shower last minute before their class. While the idea is cool and I don't have to worry about people listening to me poop, it still needs a little work. For awhile there were no soap dispensers in the pods, but that was fixed. I'm now waiting for paper towel dispensers or hand dryers to be put in each pod. Personally I'm a fan of paper towels because they're so much faster. Right now there is nothing in the pods to dry your hands with. There is only one hand dryer in the main area where the pods all meet, and it is slower than molasses. You're better off flicking the water off of your hands. The showers are also extremely disappointing. It is incredibly rare to have a hot shower. While showering used to be something that I enjoyed and did often, now I have been discouraged by the terrible shower quality and my hygiene has taken a hit because of it. (Pro tip: If you don't like being cold after your shower, you're out of luck. However, choose one of the pods without a window, it'll be more bearable.)
For a little bit of background, you should know that for my first two years at K-State I lived in the Jardine apartments. Other than the 10 minute walk from campus, I had no complaints there. I even enjoyed that walk. Now, as a third year student I chose to do things backwards and go into the dorms with my brother who is a freshman this year. In hindsight, this was a poor decision because West (and I'm sure all the other dorms) cannot possibly live up to the expectations set by Jardine.
One thing that is nice about West is the fact that it is connected to the Derby Dining Center. The Derb is a beautiful place with amazing food. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they need help. Unfortunately this fact speaks more to the quality of the Derb rather than the quality of West. For this reason I cannot rate West any higher.
The first-floor lobby is great to hang out in. It has a fire place, aquarium, large TV, print station, and a bunch of seating. Other floor lobbies are boring with only a couch and some chairs. However, still some of the best times have come from hanging out in the boring lobbies.
The dorm rooms are mediocre at best. From the beginning of the school year (Fall 2016) my room was hot and humid. We tried using fans for circulation, leaving it alone, opening windows, etc. Nothing worked. The humidity made the entire room smell like mildew because the air was so heavy and wet. My towels couldn't dry. It was disgusting. Imagine climbing into a wet bed. That's how nasty it was, and there was nothing we could do about it except to wait for the winter. Not sure how this was on other floors, but I know that my floor at least took a beating when it came to the heat. There were multiple times where the air conditioning was wonky on the entire floor leaving everyone to live in their own sweat. Since winter, we have not had a problem with the humidity (hallelujah), but because of how uncomfortable that process was I cannot recommend the West dorm.
Hope this helped.
If you are considering entering West, I would reconsider. Obviously you will meet great people who will become close friends, but you can do that anywhere on campus.
West Hall is a US University based in Manhattan, Kansas. West Hall is located at 1400 Old Claflin Rd, Manhattan, KS 66502, USA.
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