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West Fairchild (International Studies Residential College)

1861 Sheridan Road

This South Campus residential college goes by many names: ISRC, International Studies Residential College, West Fairchild, Best Fairchild (if you ask a spirited ISRC resident), Worst Fairchild (if you ask a resident of its rival dorm, CRC/East Fairchild) and “What’s that?” (if you ask anyone who lives on North Campus, and probably a large percentage of South Campus residents too). Its naysayers say it is a decrepit building with absurdly tiny rooms and an anti-social atmosphere, but many of its residents love the sense of community, suite/lounge setup and abundant free food. It may not be the dorm for hardcore partiers or aspiring frat stars, but if you’re looking for a small, quiet South Campus dorm with a gigantic pineapple mascot, it may be the place for you.

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Vital stats

South campus

11.0 minute walk to Tech

5.0 minute walk to Norris

1.0 minute walk to The Rock

38 doubles

+ 30 singles

+ 0 triples

106 residents

14'6" by 11'7" room (double)

$10276.0 per single/quarter

$8710.0 per double/quarter

No air conditioning

Residential college

NBN Social Rating: 2.0/5.0

Unscientifically calculated from an average of about five student responses.

What residents say

“I love it. The amenities are everything you need; most importantly, the suite system makes it really feel like home and creates a great sense of community. If you don't know everyone in your wing and aren't familiar with most people in the dorm, that's impressive. It's close to two dining halls and landmarks like the Rock!”

Kathleen Clark, McCormick freshman

“It's a good location for Medill kids, right next to McTrib. Everyone's nice, and you can choose how involved you are in actual dorm activities. The rooms are pretty small, and you'll have space problems if you don't want to bunk your beds. The social areas are nice though, I like the mini lounges in each suite. It’s a quiet dorm, which is nice if you want to be able to do homework. ”

Mira Wang, Medill freshman

“ISRC is a vibrant community filled with some pretty cool ‘cats and delicious food. Because ISRC is so small, it’s been easy for me to make friends and I think people here generally care about one another. We have a pineapple as a mascot – how cool is that?”

Nina Sedeño, Weinberg freshman

“ISRC is generally a quiet dorm, but if you go looking there will surely be people hanging around in a suite somewhere who will chat with you. I also especially like the suites because they bring people out of their rooms. The rooms are rather small, but that is just more reason to use the suites. The location is ideal for South Campus classes because it’s inside of Sheridan Road; however, that means its also farther away from dining halls and requires you to cross the street. ”

Colin Lynch, Weinberg freshman

“It’s a good location if you have a south campus major, but it is not a very nice building itself. The rooms are very small, everything’s a little dated, and compared to a place like Allison it feels very bleak. It feels like a lot of people end up here after having bad priority numbers and just try to make the best of it. ”

Jessica Zeidman, School of Communication freshman

“It’s a great community, everyone’s really welcoming and open to new cultures, and there’s always something interesting going on. There are a lot of cool facilities, like the workout room and the practice room, and a lot of them cater to different interests. ”

Chamaya Moody, School of Communication freshman

“ISRC has small-ass rooms and small-ass closets, but I love the lounges. I also love how everyone here is so close and can just talk to each other. It’s a small community, in every sense of the word. ”

Joanna Ko, School of Communication freshman

What non-residents say

“I think of it as the dorm that nobody really wants to be in.  I don’t know many people that live there, because many of those that do aren’t social butterflies.  But the people I do know that live there don’t have anything good to say about the dorm and it essentially just becomes a place to live.  The most common response when someone tells you they live in ISRC is ‘sorry.’”

Jonathan Shenkman, McCormick freshman

“Residents of ISRC keep to themselves, and it is rather unknown especially to people who live up north. You don't tend to meet many people who live there, especially not in Greek life.”

Elizabeth Tyger, Weinberg freshman

“It's not the best place to live freshman year if you're trying to join Greek life or meet a bunch of people. If a small, tight-knit community is what you’re looking for, ISRC is the place for you. People either love it or hate it. For me it was pretty oppressive in terms of meeting more people, which is why I moved out, but those who enjoy it make life-long friendships and usually join the executive board of the next year. P.S. Munchies (free Wednesday night food) are always on point.”

Mira Staykova, SESP freshman

“What’s that?”

Lucia Godinez and Aiden Fisher, School of Communication freshmen

Vital stats

South campus

11.0 minute walk to Tech

5.0 minute walk to Norris

1.0 minute walk to the Rock

NBN Social Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

Unscientifically calculated from an average of about five student responses.

38 doubles

+ 30 singles

+ 0 triples

106 residents

Air conditioning

Residential college

14'6" by 11'7" room (double)

$10276.0 per single/year

$8710.0 per double/year

Reporting by  Cameron Averill, Kamya Bijawat, Candace Butera, Camille Casmier, Madeline Coe, Sasha Costello, Mollie Leavitt, Hyunjee Lee, Samantha Max, Madison Rossi, Allison Sun, Stacy Tsai, Carrie Twersky, Anna Waters, Wei Wei and Jayden Zvonar

Photos by  Gabe Bergado, Mallory Busch, Bethany DeLong, Timothyna Duncan, Olga Gonzalez-Latapi, Forrest Hanson, Sam Hart, Anne Li, Priscilla Liu, Susie Neilson, Michelle Reisin, Madhuri Sathish, Zach Silva, Jenny Starrs, Megan Suckut, Hillary Thomas, Bethany Tuten and Lucy Wang

Videos by  Natalie Escobar, Alex Furuya, Abby Igoe, Hyunjee Lee, Nesa Mangal, Samantha Max, Rose McBride, Jacob Meschke, Malloy Moseley, Jon Palmer, Jackie Tang, Sarah Turbin, Nicola Traynor, Mira Wang and Mia Zanzucchi

Editing by  Julia Clark-Riddell, Tanner Howard, Jeremy Layton, Samuel Niiro, Preetisha Sen, Carter Sherman and Zack Woznak

Design and development by  Alex Duner, Tyler Fisher, Hilary Fung, Dan Hill, KK Rebecca Lai, Sheng Wu and Katie Zhu

This project is open source. Check it out on GitHub.

Data provided by Northwestern University Residential Services

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