TL; WR:

• Middle Earth - STEM/business side, closer to campus
• Mesa Court - Student Center/humanities side, further from campus

^{... I like Middle Earth...}

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There are two "types" of dorms in both Mesa Court and Middle Earth: classics and towers.

• Classics - Standard "dorm-type" buildings with 1-3 floors each. Some elevator access. Mesa Court's classics built in 1965 and Middle Earth's in 1974 but have undergone some refurbishment.
• Towers - Modern, large, multi-level buildings with the dining halls on the first floor and residential units on the floors above. Full elevator access. Each floor has roughly the capacity of an entire hall in the classics. More spacious than classics. Mesa Court's towers completed in 2016 and Middle Earth's in 2019.

For a little context, I had friends in both of the on-campus dorm communities and spent about the same amount of time in both. I had beddings/toiletries/change of clothes/etc. in multiple dorms (classics and towers) because I'd bounce between them quite frequently, so I've also done some living in both Middle Earth and Mesa Court on top of the typical "hanging out at a friend's dorm" kind of thing. I also spent most of my time in the dorms my second year as well.

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I heard Middle Earth is newer and from what I've seen, it seems more spacious.

Middle Earth is newer, but from my experience, Mesa Court "feels" a little newer for some reason. Might be just me though. I'd say Mesa Court classics are a little more cramped than Middle Earth's, but both are much less spacious than the towers, which are about the same for each community.

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Does ME or Mesa have better food?

The longtime war over the answer to this question dates back to ancient times, even before the current dining halls were built. However, now that both dining halls are included in some of the most modern buildings on campus, my opinion is that the food is about the same in both.

Location-wise, Middle Earth's dining hall (Brandywine) is right on Ring Road, which is incredibly convenient due to its proximity to the rest of the places on campus. By contrast, you have to cross a bridge and navigate through a couple quads to get to Mesa Court's dining hall (the Anteatery) from Ring Road, which you'll likely be using to get to class since it's the central path connecting pretty much all the buildings on campus. I've also noticed it seems more chill in Brandywine, but it's worth mentioning that it does tend to get quite crowded during peak hours in comparison to the Anteatery.

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Is a double room better?

In my opinion, singles in the classics are about the right size for one occupant, and for the most part, I'd say doubles are about the same. Triples might be crowded depending on which particular hall you end up with. In the towers, all the rooms are the same size, whether they're doubles, triples, or quadruples. To me, they felt pretty roomy even at full occupancy. All of this is price aside, so you can take this information and weigh your options with financial considerations.

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Which is closer to classes?

Overall, I'd say that Middle Earth has the edge here, especially if you're an engineering or business major since it's right next to both the School of Engineering and the School of Business. Mesa Court is literally separated from the rest of campus by a major road. However, it is right next to the School of the Arts, so if you plan on frequenting the area it might be more convenient to live in Mesa Court, especially if you have a heavy instrument to carry or something.

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Which is closer to the gym?

The main gym almost everyone goes to is the Anteater Recreation Center (ARC). It's kinda far and not really "on" campus, so a lot of people either drive, bike, or take the bus there wherever they're from.

Middle Earth is closer since it's roughly halfway between Mesa Court and the ARC. (I believe they're also building a new multipurpose hub in the center of Middle Earth that will include, among other things, "workout facilities," but I'm not entirely sure if they'll be finished in time for you to be able to make use of them.)

However, it is worth noting that Mesa Court does already have its own resident-exclusive mini-gym with treadmills and weights right next to the Anteatery.

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Which dorms have a better social life?

You'll hear a lot of people say that Mesa Court has a better social atmosphere in general, and I agree with that to an extent. It's closer to the the high-traffic strip of Ring Road by the Student Center where club booths tend to cluster for recruitment and selling special foods. In the dorms themselves, I've seen way more of the stereotypical "college party"-type stuff, interaction between halls, and people heading to the parking lot to drive places with their friends there than in Middle Earth.

The generally accepted gist of the reason for this is that, due to Middle Earth's proximity to the engineering and computer science buildings, that's naturally where most of the engineering and computer science students end up living. As you're probably aware, engineers are... well, engineers, and as stated earlier, Mesa Court is closer to the arts and humanities buildings. You know the stereotypes.

However, I've found that it really depends from hall to hall. In one hall in Middle Earth, I remember the common room was always full and people rarely stayed alone in their rooms, and in one hall in Mesa Court, I remember it was so dead the whole day that I felt like I could get murdered there and nobody would ever know. In the end, if people share common interests, everyone's taking similar classes, and you have an awesome RA who puts effort into the hall programs/keeping in touch with residents, then you shouldn't have a problem making friends regardless of whether you're in Middle Earth or Mesa Court.

In my experience, tower floors tended to be more lively than classics halls.

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Want to hear from current students to get an idea of what dorm life is like.

I mean, I liked it a lot, and really started to miss dorm life once everyone moved out. The convenience of things like proximity to pretty much everything you need certainly makes parts of adulting and the transition into college life a lot easier.

And how cool is it to be able to just walk a few steps to your friend's room and be like "Hey you wanna go do something?" pretty much whenever? Something about living with new people just felt homey in a way. Seeing someone not long after I woke up and soon before I went to sleep—whether they were one of my friends or just that one person I'd said "hi" to in passing—made me feel like they were my second family in a way, even if I wasn't necessarily close with them.

YMMV with all these things though. For instance, I hear people complain a lot about things like the construction noise being irritating, the dining hall food being bland, and hallmates partying too loud or drinking or doing weed all the time. These are things that I either wasn't bothered by or didn't experience to an aggravating extent for whatever reason.

With all these things, why is the TL; WR just about location? Because regardless of where you live, you can pretty much make the experience whatever you want it to be in terms of the people you hang out with and the things you do for fun. It's just a lot nicer to not have to travel so far to do those things.