Cromwell Dorm Rooms

I'll start off by saying that the rooms at Cromwell are pretty nice. They'll comfortably house two people and all their belongings, no matter how you set up your room. That said, there is precious little information about the rooms, and TCNJ does a poor job of providing more to the resident.








The Floor:
The Floor plan will show you that there are several types of rooms.
-The most common is the standard suite. Six people live in three rooms, and share one bathroom.
-Each floor has several single-resident rooms. Most singles are paired, and share a bathroom with another single.
There are a couple exceptions, but the vast majority of rooms in Cromwell fall into those two categories. I know for a fact that the fifth floor on Cromwell has a 3-person apartment where most lounges are located, but those rooms are very uncommon.


There are usually 50(ish) people to a floor, with two Community Assistants per floor. TCNJ does a great job during Welcome Week, so by the end of the first week you'll be very close to your floor. 








The Rooms:
The standard suite is built for two people. It has two beds, two closets, two desks with chairs, and two small dressers that fit inside the closets. The beds are usually bunked, but you can un-bunk then if you want. My roommate and I didn't un-bunk our beds because we liked having the extra room. Since TCNJ doesn't provide pictures of the dorm rooms, I went and took my own.

Room 1:

 Room 1 was similarly laid out to room 3.

Door on the right goes directly to the hallway, with the left side leading into the bathroom.

Showing the backside of the room. Everyone wave hi to Mike...

Room 2:

 Room 2 has the furniture, but is laid out differently because of the location of the door.

 The beds have two small drawers underneath them. I ended up keeping my spare supplies underneath.

 As you can see, that side of the room was a bit cramped, albeit still usable.

 The window.

Room 3's Photos:

The closets along the wall nearby the door. Each closet is approximately 4' wide and 6' tall. We put the refrigerator and the microwave in the space behind the door and next to the closets.

The bunk beds. The College recommends to buy a twin-extra long, but I'll address that later.

 The desks have two drawers, and another small filing cabinet underneath them.

 The closets/dresser combination.

The beds alongside the windows and the desks. 

Dorm Lighting:
I will say one thing about the rooms. During the day you'll get plenty of sunlight through the windows, but at night you will need to have your own lights. There is no overhead lighting in any of the dorm rooms. You're going to need a lamp with at least three lightbulbs in your room, otherwise it'll be too dark to function.


A really popular model that I saw in the rooms was this 5-headed lamp. I bought this one, and it worked pretty well, once I stopped using incandescent light bulbs. Interestingly enough, the "Eco-friendly" lightbulbs worked so much better than the standard light bulbs. They didn't have that sickly yellow glow, and they won't burn you if you accidentally brush up against it.


Look for this type of light bulb when you go shopping next time:

Buying sheets & supplies from The College:
About halfway through summer TCNJ sends you a nice packet saying, "Buy our sheets, because normal ones won't fit our beds!". They also are very kind and send you another packet that allows you to buy shower shoes, towels, wash cloths, shower caddies, ect...


Buyer. Be. Warned.


Buying towels from this service was the biggest mistake I made. Most people would expect that a towel to dry you off. But instead these towels will leave you sopping wet, and to add insult to the injury, leave you completely full of fuzzy wet lint. 


The rest of the products weren't too bad. Personally, I had several holes in the bottom of my shower shoes, but I was the only person who I spoke to who had that issue. 


The sheets were a bit of a hit or miss also. If you do buy them, make sure you wash them and dry them on low heat ONLY. If not, they will shrink so much that you can barely fit them onto the top half of the mattress. Next year, I'm going to forgo them, and buy my own sheets.








Overall, the dorms at Cromwell are a great place to live. Every dorm will have its quirks, and this resource is here to make sure you're prepared for some of Cromwell's. You are going to have a great time at TCNJ, and you can be sure you'll look back on your days in Cromwell with a smile.


Resources:
TCNJ's Page on Cromwell:
https://www.tcnj.edu/~reslife/assignments/housing-fye.html#cr
TCNJ's Cromwell floor plan:
https://www.tcnj.edu/~reslife/assignments/floorplans/cromwell.pdf






More questions? Send me an email! 
My address is LivinginCromwell@gmail.com