Website ranks Truman residence halls 14th

Truman is ranked 14th on the "14 Schools with the Best Overall Dorms" list on CampusSplash.com's new division, DormSplash. Truman received a 3.9 on a five-point scale.

The first "Dormy Award" lists, released March 1, are compiled from approximately 7,400 student reviews. Students rank room size, cleanliness, parking, location/convenience, bathrooms, kitchens, study environment, resident attractiveness, social scene and the hall staff.

Allan Gannett, CampusSplash co-founder, said he hopes DormSplash assists students in making housing decisions.

Any four-year public or private school was eligible to make the ranks, Gannett said. Georgia State University was ranked the best overall dorm in the country with 4.3 points, and the University of Missouri-Columbia was second with 4 points. Washington University in St. Louis received 3.9 points, at 10th.

John Gardner, director of Residence Life, said although he is excited for Truman's presence on the list, it is not fully accurate because Truman's ranking is based off of less than 30 student reviews.

The 15 schools with the most respondents range from 287 to 81 student respondents.

"It's so hard to compare one school to another school and one living environment to another living environment," Gardner said. "I look at it more as we scored a 3.9 out of a five-point scale, and I think that's pretty good."

Gardner said he hopes students are honest in their feedback so Residence Life can use that information in the future.

Residence Life issues surveys throughout the year on different topics, and the Educational Benchmarking Inc. satisfaction survey is issued in November. Feedback is generally positive, Gardner said.

"We're certainly a competitive school," he said. "I think especially with renovations to our physical facilities, now we not only have a first class program with a great student staff, a great living and learning environment, but now we have the first class facilities to parallel with that."

The DormSplash rating will not affect housing in any way, he said.

Senior Aimee Vander Wal said she heard about Truman's ranking on DormSplash from some of her friends. Vander Wal transferred to Truman from William Woods University, where she lived in two different residence halls. No residence halls at William Woods received a Dormy Award.

Although the residence hall she first lived in was "questionable," there were some aspects of it that were better than Truman's residence halls, Vander Wal said.

"I will say something about [those rooms]," Vander Wal said. "They had space in those rooms — ridiculously more than Truman. It was kind of a shock coming to Truman and seeing the size of the double rooms."

She said the other dorm she lived in was nicer than those at Truman, a main reason being the size and set-up of the community style bathrooms.

Vander Wal said one contributing factor to the quality of living at William Woods was the smaller size.

But Vander Wal said she thinks the ranking accurately reflects Truman's living conditions overall, even though she has lived in better on-campus housing. Truman's ranking probably stems from the recent renovations to multiple residence halls, she said.

Vander Wal said she thinks most Truman students have positive experiences living on campus, no matter which residence hall they live in. She said DormSplash could be resourceful for incoming Truman students and their parents because deciding where to live is a big decision.

Gannett said the ranking is beneficial to students because they can voice their opinions, which can then be seen by the housing departments at their universities.

"I think [the rankings] are good information for people to have," Gannett said. "I think a lot of times student complaints tend to go into a vacuum — and student compliments. So if they like housing, I don't think universities ever really get recognized for that."

He said Truman's presence on the "14 Schools with the Best Overall Dorms" list reflects the University's housing department.

Besides the "14 Schools with the Best Overall Dorms" list, other lists on DormSplash include the best and worst residence halls, biggest party residence halls, residence halls with the most attractive residents and residence halls with the best resident or student advisors.

Other divisions of CampusSplash are being developed, including GradSplash, which will include a graduate school admissions predictor, available in April.

The complete Dormy Award lists can be seen at http://campussplash.com/annual-dormy-awards-launch-of-dormsplash-a-dorm-review-website/.