Texas A&M is a top university with an excellent reputation and a rabid alumni base. Its graduates don’t say, “I went to Texas A&M.” They say, “I’m an Aggie.” If you want to attend a college that gets into your blood and becomes part of who you are, this is the place for you.
TAMU has a large student body and plenty of opportunities for students to get involved on campus. It all starts with your freshman year in the dorms. You want to make sure you end up in the best housing situation for your own personality and mode of living. Here is a guide to the best dorms at Texas A&M.
Table of Contents
- Dorm Types at Texas A&M
- The Best Dorms at Texas A&M: Our Top 5 Picks
- Texas A&M Dorm Life: Things to Consider
- The Bottom Line on the Best Dorms at Texas A&M
Dorm Types at Texas A&M
The dorms at Texas A&M come in six unique styles. The first step to choosing the best dorm at Texas A&M to fit your needs is to understand the differences in the six styles of dorms. Here are your options as a freshman:
Corridor-Style Dorms
These are standard, run-of-the-mill college dorms. They feature mostly double rooms arranged in long hallways (or “corridors”) with bathrooms shared by the entire floor, or least the entire hall.
Commons-Style Dorms
These are your standard dorm suites: two rooms with two people each, connected by a bathroom shared by all four suitemates.
Modular-Style Dorms
These dorms feature mostly double rooms with a private bathroom in each room. The bathrooms in the modular dorms are only shared by you and your roommate, making these a popular option for freshmen who value privacy.
Ramp-Style Dorms
These uniquely laid-out dorms feature mini-floors, or “ramps,” that have four rooms each. They feature a mixture of single and double rooms. Two rooms share one bathroom, meaning you’ll be sharing yours with either one person or three people depending on whether you’re in a single or double suite.
Balcony-Style Dorms
The balcony-style dorms feature suites of two rooms connected by one bathroom. The rooms are mostly doubles, with a few singles available. What sets this dorm apart is that the rooms open to the outside, similar to a motel. The upper floors feature a balcony hallway.
Hullabaloo Hall
Hullabaloo Hall is the newest freshman dorm on TAMU’s campus. It features modern single and double rooms arranged into suites with bathrooms shared by two to four students. It also offers a host of amenities, such as a multimedia room, community learning center, and private study areas.
The Best Dorms at Texas A&M: Our Top 5 Picks
Haas Hall
- Location: Northside
- Dorm style: Modular
- Room style: Mostly doubles with some singles
- Bathroom style: In room (shared with roommate)
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Carpet
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Cost per semester: $3,708 (double)
Haas Hall is one of the most popular freshman dorms on TAMU’s campus. It’s located on the Northside, away from the hubbub of campus, but it has a social vibe while still providing a quieter, calmer living environment. Because the dorm is of the modular style, your bathroom is located in your dorm room and only shared between you and your roommate. No hall bathrooms or Jack-and-Jill suite baths shared with another room. This makes Haas an extremely popular choice for freshmen who are picky about their bathroom.
Haas is conveniently located to the Northside parking garage, dining halls, bus lines, and academic buildings. It has central A/C and recent updates to its interior. At $3,708 per semester for a double, it’s one of the more expensive freshman dorms on campus, but based on its popularity, many residents find it worth it.
Lechner Hall
- Location: Northside
- Dorm style: Modular
- Room style: Mostly doubles with some singles
- Bathroom style: In room (shared with roommate)
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Carpet
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Cost per semester: $3,708 (double)
Lechner Hall is another Northside modular dorm with mostly double rooms featuring private bathrooms shared only between two roommates. As with Haas, there are a few single rooms available in Lechner, but they’re hard to come by. Students with disabilities or documented medical conditions get priority, and after that, it’s first come first served, so make sure you get your housing deposit in early. TAMU doesn’t use a lottery to assign rooms. You can literally pick from anything available (based on class year) at the time you register for housing. But you can’t do that until your deposit is in.
Schumacher Hall
- Location: Northside
- Dorm style: Balcony
- Room style: Doubles, singles, and apartments
- Bathroom style: Suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Ceramic tile
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Cost per semester: $2,520 (double), $3,583 (single), $3,916 (apartment)
If you prefer the idea of a motel-style balcony dorm rather than interior hallways or corridors, Schumacher is a popular choice. It’s also located on the Northside. The double rooms there cost almost $1,200 less than in a modular-style dorm, and you can snag a single in Schumacher (again, get your deposit in early) for less than a double in a dorm like Haas. Schumacher also has a limited number of apartment-style suites available at a slightly higher cost, but these tend to be the first to go.
The other big difference between Schumacher and the modular dorms is that the bathrooms in Schumacher are suite-style, so you’ll share yours not only with your roommate (assuming you’re in a double) but also with the occupants of the room next door.
Dunn Hall
- Location: Southside
- Dorm style: Modular
- Room style: Mostly doubles with some singles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes
- Flooring in room: Tile
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Cost per semester: $3,708 (double)
Dunn Hall is one of the few modular dorms on TAMU’s campus that is located on the Southside rather than the Northside. Many students prefer living on the Southside because it’s right in the heart of central campus. With a room in Dunn, you’ll be close to most of the academic buildings and main dining halls, as well as to Kyle Field, the Student Rec Center, and The Quad. For this reason, freshmen who prioritize their social life and want to be where the action is usually gravitate to dorms on the Southside.
If you want to be in the thick of the social scene but also in an upscale dorm with new renovations and plenty of amenities, Dunn Hall might be a good choice for you.
Hart Hall
- Location: Northside
- Dorm style: Ramp
- Room style: Doubles and singles
- Bathroom style: Suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes (window units)
- Flooring in room: Carpet
- Laundry facilities: Yes
- Cost per semester: $2,100 (double), $3,163 (single)
Hart Hall is one of the best dorms at Texas A&M because of its unique layout and low price. It’s the only ramp dorm on our list and one of the only on campus. Because each ramp effectively acts as its own floor, its residents tend to get very close. Many of them choose to room together in subsequent years at TAMU, whether on campus or in an off-campus apartment. You’ll share a room with one other student at most, and Hart Hall offers many singles on a first-come-first-served basis. The sooner you get your housing deposit in, the better the chance you can snag one if that’s what you want.
At only $2,100 per semester for a double and $3,163 for a single, Hart Hall is an absolute steal for campus living. (For comparison, students at CU Boulder pay more than $8,000 for a shared dorm room with a hall bathroom and almost $9,000 for a shared dorm room with a suite bathroom. They also don’t get a discount if they end up in a higher-occupancy room like a triple or quad.)
Hart isn’t plush — think cinderblock walls and window A/C units — but it’s plenty comfortable and a blast to live in. If saving money is a big deal to you and your family freshman year, Hart Hall is the perfect living option.
Texas A&M Dorm Life: Things to Consider
In addition to understanding the differences between your housing choices at Texas A&M, there are a few things in general about TAMU dorm life that you should consider.
Price Matters
Unlike at many schools that charge the same price or close to the same price for all rooms of a certain style and occupancy (such as CU Boulder and UW Madison), Texas A&M has a huge variance of price points for its freshman dorms. A double room can cost just over $2,000 for the semester in a dorm like Hart or closer to $4,000 in a dorm like Haas. So, in addition to deciding whether you prefer a particular dorm style over another, consider what you and your family are willing and able to pay before you get too attached to one dorm.
The Campus Is Huge
Many freshmen don’t realize just how massive Texas A&M’s campus is until classes start and they embark on their first hike to their 9 a.m. class, only to arrive 15 minutes late because they failed to realize just how far away it was. You can start on one end of TAMU’s campus and walk seemingly forever and still not reach the other end — it’s that sprawling.
Before choosing a dorm, it’s a good idea to figure out where most of your classes are likely to be. This will depend on your expected major (which we understand can and often does change). Once you get a good idea of where you’ll be spending most of your class time, you can focus on dorms in that general area. Most parts of campus have a good mix of the different dorm styles.
Corps vs. Non-Corps
Texas A&M is a Corps of Cadets school. Corps of Cadets is a student military association on campus. Students perform drills, attend leadership classes, and often participate in the ROTC program, receiving a military commission after graduation. About 5% of TAMU’s student body are Corps members. If this is something that interests you, understand that it will limit your dorm choices. Corps members are housed with other Corps members, as they have required daily drills and formations, along with other leadership and team-building activities.
The Bottom Line on the Best Dorms at Texas A&M
Texas A&M is one of the largest universities in the country. It offers just about every type of living arrangement you can imagine. Because the choices are so varied, we recommend doing a lot of research before committing to a dorm. The best dorms at Texas A&M for you might not be the same as for someone else. However, don’t deliberate for too long, because TAMU works on a first-come-first-served basis. As soon as you get your deposit in, you can hand pick from any dorm room available at that time. Enjoy your freshman year at Texas A&M, and Gig ‘Em!
