Tri-Towers Dorm Reviews at ISU

I was a resident at Tri-Towers as well as a resident assistant at Tri Towers and my experience was quite undesirable. As a resident assistant I got to see a lot more of the dorms, I got to know the faculty of the building and had the opportunity to learn about what it takes to run a dorm. However, I learned that I did not enjoy living in the dorms at Illinois State University. At the beginning of my freshman year, I lived in the Hewett/Manchester dorm, but they made me live in the lounge with no windows and three other people instead of the regular room with one roommate that I paid for. They did this to me because they did not have any more rooms available due to allowing in too many new students. After weeks of living in that environment, unloading my stuff and trying to get organized, they made me pack all my stuff within days and move all my stuff across campus to live in Tri-Towers. At Tri-Towers, I was put into yet another lounge with three other people instead of the regular room with one roommate that I had paid for. This lounge had windows, but there was mold in it that caused me to get a facial fungus later in my experience. The dorms were not clean and the food was not the most appetizing thing either. There were a lot of things that I believed needed improvement even before the pandemic. However, through the pandemic these problems that I noticed before only seemed to get worse. I was a Resident Assistant 2020-2021, and expected the cleanliness to be way more thorough due to the pandemic, but it was actually the opposite. It seemed very rushed and half clean. There were consistently balls of hair clogging the drains and mildew in the shower; it was very difficult to get clean in a dirty bathroom. I have also had several male janitors walk in on me while I was in the bathroom with no knock or warning. Personally, I believe the conditions of Illinois State University dorms are unacceptable and would not be a healthy living space for a new and excited college student.

My experience has been good and peaceful. Maintenance cleans the bathrooms twice a day, and vacuum the halls. Although my University is the oldest university in the State, they have been able to keep up with cleanliness of the place. Our RA’s make sure everything is kept intact and no one is disobeying the rules. They also make our time here enjoyable, as we plan fun activities every month. Movie nights, game nights, and door decorations. My experience in Tri Towers have been great!

Overall, I had a pretty good experience living in Tri-Towers. Our floor advisors were very involved and friendly. One of the more clean dorms that I have seen and the location was not bad at all with outlets to a bus system.

Tri Towers was a great experience if you are looking to find friends. Its very accessible and easy to meet new people regardless of where you are in the buildings. The walk to campus was not bad at all, but there is a bus that I strongly suggest utilizing.