Students Respond To Party Dorm Rankings

According to an online college question-answer site, two of America's biggest party dorms can be found right here on our very own Foggy Bottom Campus.

CampusSplash.com, a website aimed at answering any and all college-related questions, released its second annual list of "America's 15 Biggest Party Dorms" last week. GW's Thurston Hall and Ivory Tower both made their way into the top 10, with Ivory coming in at number eight and Thurston coming in at the number three spot.

According to Campus Splash, Thurston is "the quintessential freshman experience at GW. Partying 24/7." Thurston, commonly known as "Thirsty Thurston," has a national reputation as a huge party dorm. However, when asked to comment on Campus Splash's rating, surprisingly few Thurston residents thought they deserved it.

"Given that the top [party dorm] is located in the middle of the fraternity section and the second consists of six 5-story buildings, there's no way Thurston could reasonably be next up," said Zack Humayun, a freshman living in Thurston this year. "It couldn't be as crazy as a freshman-sophomore mixture in the center of a bunch of frats or the equivalent of three Thurstons stacked on top of each other." 

GW Housing offered space in the freshman dorm for substance-free living and honors students for the first time this school year. Some students say they have noticed a change in the overall Thurston atmosphere.

"I think that it is hyped up," said freshman Evin Feldman, another Thurston resident. "Though there are a lot of parties here, the parties are more like a dozen friends drinking together together rather than 30 people in a room with loud music. I think most people rather go to frats, clubs, or out somewhere else to drink. A lot of kids here don't want to party in Thurston because of the constant threat of UPD walking in."

In Campus Splash's 2010 rankings, Thurston came in at number twelve. The site writes that "the quality of the party scene seems to match up to the quality of the dorm itself." 


"The fact that I get in an elevator on a Sunday morning and there are beer cans everywhere and, once, vomit in the corner, and I tried to reach the door and the handle was ripped off, says something about my dorm," said Ivory Tower resident Johnny Carmona. "People party here all the time."


Ivory Tower also made Campus Splash's most recent list of "The Best Dorms in the Country," coming in at number seven. The list did not include Thurston.