Florida State University has a growing reputation and an active campus in one of the most sought-after regions of the country. It has shot up the U.S. News rankings in recent years, and its acceptance rate has fallen below 30%. Simply put, FSU is a place where people want to be.
If you’re headed to Tallahassee in the fall, consider yourself lucky. You’ll join a select group of students embarking on a journey that will take you through four unforgettable years — and you’ll pick up a valuable degree along the way. Your Florida State experience starts in the dorms your freshman year, and the one you land in can make a major difference in your happiness and well-being. This guide lists the best dorms at FSU.
Table of Contents
- The Best Dorms at FSU: Our Top 7 Choices
- FSU Dorm Life: Things to Consider
- The Bottom Line on the Best Dorms at FSU
The Best Dorms at FSU: Our Top 7 Choices
Azalea Hall
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Azalea Hall, along with its twin, Magnolia Hall, is the newest dorm on campus, opened in 2017. Everything is new, sleek, and shiny inside. The suites are spacious, with two double rooms sharing a bathroom. Azalea also has a limited number of doubles with private bathrooms.
The amenities of Azalea go beyond the rooms themselves. The dorm is convenient to everything — classes, recreation, Greek life. If proximity of food is important to you, it’s hard to find a better spot. Inside the dorm is the 1851 dining area, which hosts a plethora of food options that you can access without leaving the building.
If you want to get into Azalea, you need to get your housing deposit in as early as possible. Housing registration at FSU is first come first served, and Azalea is usually the first freshman dorm to get gobbled up.
Dorman Hall
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Dorman and its counterpart, Deviney Hall, are the second-newest dorms on campus behind Azalea and Magnolia. They were built in 2015 and have almost identical suite-style floor plans to their newer neighbors. The location of Dorman might be the best on campus, as it’s right next to one of the biggest parking garages on campus and a short walk to the library, the gym, and most academic buildings. If you get hungry and the dining hall just isn’t cutting it, a 24-hour Denny’s is right across the street.
In addition to the standard furniture you get in any dorm room — bed, dresser, desk, chair, etc. — Dorman rooms come standard with a mini-fridge, a sink, and a recycle bin.
Magnolia Hall
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Magnolia is functionally Azalea’s twin. They were built at the same time, feature the same interior floor plans, and look almost indistinguishable from one another from the outside. Almost all of the rooms in Magnolia are doubles, and the majority are arranged in suites, with two rooms sharing a connected bathroom. The sinks are in the rooms, which is nice if you just need to brush your teeth and your roommate or suitemate is taking a shower.
The only real nod in Azalea’s favor over Magnolia is the presence of the 1851 dining area. But if you’re in Magnolia, it’s barely a minute walk to get there, as Magnolia and Azalea are adjacent to one another. Some Magnolia residents like not having the dining area inside the dorm, since it means fewer random people trekking in and out of the building at all hours.
Wildwood Hall
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Wildwood Hall is one of the most social dorms on campus. If you want to make friends fast and always know where the party is, try to snag a room here. The dorm rooms themselves are arranged into four-person suites: two people per bedroom with a connecting bath. The sinks are in the rooms.
Wildwood is located right next to the stadium. That makes it a popular choice for freshmen who are student-athletes, particularly football players. It’s also right along the marching band practice route. Be prepared to deal with a little noise if you live here, both from football and band activities and from your neighbors themselves, many of whom are anything but the quiet, introverted type. But if boredom is the fate you’re trying to avoid, you’ll love it in Wildwood.
Bryan Hall
- Room style: Doubles with a few triples
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Bryan Hall is the oldest dorm on FSU’s campus. At three stories tall with a capacity of 131 students, it’s one of the smaller dorms on campus, making it a good option if you want a quainter, less frenetic living environment. Just because the dorm is old doesn’t mean it’s run down or falling apart. It has had multiple interior renovations, and the amenities are top-notch: all rooms come with sinks and mini-fridges.
Bryan is a suite-style dorm with two double rooms sharing a connected bathroom. About 14% of the rooms in Bryan are triples; these rooms have private bathrooms shared by the three residents.
Cawthon Hall
- Room style: Mostly doubles with some triples and very few singles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
Cawthon Hall is another one of FSU’s older dorms that offers a quaint living environment and always seems to foster a strong camaraderie among its residents. It holds just under 300 students spread among four floors, and it’s home to FSU’s music LLC. So, if you love to sing or play an instrument or are just musically inclined in general, you can find your tribe here. That said, if you’re the type of person who can’t study or focus when music is playing at an audible level, you may want to think twice about living in Cawthon.
Cawthon has suite-style rooms, bathrooms shared among four suitemates, and sinks and mini-fridges in the rooms. About 25% of its rooms are triples, a higher percentage than in most FSU dorms. You can avoid getting placed in one of these — which we always recommend freshmen try to do — by getting your housing deposit in early. Cawthon also has a few singles, but they go fast and are often set aside for students with special needs.
DeGraff Hall
- Room style: Mostly doubles with a handful of singles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style or private in-room
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Linoleum
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Meal plan required: No
- Cost per semester: $3,580 (double)
DeGraff Hall is functionally very similar to Dorman; the room style is the same, as are the amenities. DeGraff isn’t quite as new, but it feels just as upscale inside the rooms and common areas. It’s a little farther down the list because of the location. Compared to Dorman Hall, DeGraff is farther away from campus and accessible through this weird tunnel that can get a little creepy at night — definitely bring a buddy if you’re walking home from the library or a Greek house late at night. On the bright side, DeGraff has the most convenient location on campus to The Strip, so if going out on Friday and Saturday nights is a big deal to you, DeGraff puts you right near the action.
FSU Dorm Life: Things to Consider
Florida State’s dorm life can be the most fun you’ll never remember or a nightmare you’d rather forget. It all depends on whether you end up in the right dorm for your personality. And the best dorms at FSU differ from person to person. The aspiring frat bro or sorority girl probably won’t be happy in the same place as the introverted CS student who just wants a quiet place to study and work on coding projects.
FSU housing works on a first-come-first-served basis, which means once you get your deposit in, you can pick from any of the freshman rooms that are available. It’s also not uncommon for there to be housing crunches at FSU, so the students who pick last either get crammed into a triple or an auxiliary space or left out of housing altogether. So, try to move quickly if you can.
Here are a couple more things to consider as you consider your freshman dorm choice at FSU:
Price Is Mostly Irrelevant As a Deciding Factor
Some colleges charge different prices for different dorm buildings, with the nicer dorms commanding price premiums. This is the case at schools like Texas A&M where the nicest freshman dorms cost almost twice as much as the cheapest. At other schools such as UC Santa Barbara, prices vary only by room style and occupancy, and not by building.
FSU is more like UCSB. Almost all of the traditional residence halls have the same pricing structure. Prices vary based on whether you’re in a double room with a suite bath (which most freshman rooms at FSU are), a double room with a private bath, a single room, or a triple room. But the price for a particular room style is the same from building to building. So, you don’t have to weigh living in a newer, nicer dorm against saving money. If you end up in a lousy dorm, you’ll pay the same for it as your classmates living large in Azalea. Again, get that housing deposit in early!
Location Matters
Real estate agents love to talk about “location, location, location.” Well, the same applies to FSU housing. If you end up in a dorm that is far away from where you spend most of your time, you’ll find out quickly what a pain in the rear that is when you’re trekking back and forth across campus in the 90-plus degree Tallahassee heat and humidity.
Think about what you plan to major in and what types of activities you think you’ll get involved in when you get to campus. Are you a gym bro or gal who’ll be spending a couple of hours a day at the rec center? Do you prefer to do must of your studying in the library rather than in your room? Do you want to be close to the music buildings, the frat houses, The Strip?
Familiarize yourself with the campus — even if you haven’t visited yet; that’s what Google Maps is for — and learn where things are. Then, when you pick your dorm, make sure you consider the areas of campus you’ll be spending most of your time.
The Bottom Line on the Best Dorms at FSU
If you can’t have an amazing college experience at FSU, you can’t have one anywhere. There is literally something for everyone. And it isn’t just football games, tailgating, and Greek life. Students from all walks of life flock to Tallahassee: introspective English majors, musical prodigies, future NASA engineers, and the list goes on. All you have to do is put yourself out there to find your tribe.
It starts with choosing the right freshman dorm. The best dorms at FSU depend on what’s important to you and what you’re looking for. This guide lists our favorites, but it’s worth your time to research and ask questions before deciding. Don’t take too long, though — the popular housing options go fast! Good luck and Go Noles!
