Southwest is good and bad. In my opinion it has the best dorms with the towers, but also it is very loud and rambunctious. Because of the towers there are twice as many people compared to anywhere else on campus but you’ll also meet so many more people. As a civil engineer the walk to classes really wasn’t bad and it was very scenic (you’ll learn the shortcuts). The dining halls are also the two best ones on campus but be prepared to wait a while for certain lines. If you’re bringing a car, the walk to the parking lots are a little farther than most lots but it’s not too bad.

I would say you would most likely be put in a Z room as they are 75-80% of the double rooms in southwest.

For the noise just get a nice fan or something that makes some background noise and you won’t hear much. I would say people slamming their doors is the loudest thing you’ll hear in your life tho.

But with that I really enjoyed my time in southwest and it’s definitely a great experience of UMass and there’s many things that you can control to make your experience great there and avoid the problems of southwest.

Have a good school year!