Sherman Hall

I love this place. It’s my home away from home.
Pro: it has all you would need. It has a small exercise room (I don’t recommend it since it’s small and old and the ARC is super close, but good enough when it’s snowing outside and you want to move your butt without braving the storm), a computer lab (with net tech staff, color printing and scanning machine), two laundry rooms, an ice machine, 3 vending machines, 2 public bathrooms (for guests), a study room (this is a secret room that most people don’t know but you can reserve it online and use it, very good for group meeting), 2 community kitchen (so if you want to cook/​bake something once a while), a conference room, a TV lounge, a recreation room (pool, table tennis, etc.) and friendly stuff. It’s also great if you have only one more semester to go so you don’t get stuck with a one year lease. There are community programs every Monday held by the RAs and every Tuesday night the community programs at Daniels Hall (another GUD Hall) is also open to Sherman residents. It doesn’t have a dining hall so you don’t have to buy a meal plan at all while you do have the option to purchase an IT meal plan or a university meal plan like other students. It has free wifi and TV table so super good and convenient. All utilities included and your bathroom will be cleaned by professional building service worker every week during school.
Con: it’s small and not good for party because of the ²⁴⁄₇ quiet hour policy, but how much room do you need when you come back from school for resting? It doesn’t allow cooking utilities but you can have a coffee maker, a blender, or a water boiler. You can only control the temperature and on/​off of your heating/​AC but you don’t have the control to switch from heating to AC, vice versa. You may not be able to get the kitchen if someone else reserved it before you but that happened to me only once for the last 4 years.

Don’t choose Sherman if you like space. Choose Sherman if you like being alone (because boy, can you be alone here) and don’t want to deal with finding an apartment and all the associated hassles. It’s also pretty cheap as far as university housing goes (cheaper than a triple at ISR was for me, after subtracting the meal plan of course).
I have no problem microwaving the majority of my meals, or just eating foods that don’t require heating/​cooking, and not eating out all of the time. I do end up spending about $ 120/​week on miscellaneous food and groceries since I don’t have a car, though, so you might find it harder on a budget.
Pros:
— No roommate
— Big-​ish closet
— Pretty nice desk
— Decent shelf/​cabinet/​closet space for storage
— Comes with mini-​fridge/​freezer and microwave
— Kitchen is pretty easy to reserve and you can usually find a time to cook whenever you want
— Located about a block from the Psych building and pretty close to the quad and green street
— I have not seen a cockroach. This is a pro because I’ve heard some horror stories. Shudder.
— You can usually find space in the basement or lobby area to study with a friend with wireless internet
— I love ResNet. Most of the time.
Cons:
— Small room
— Shared bathroom can be awkward at times
— Closets can be a little… musty
— Beds are thin and can be quite stiff
Other:
— That is one weird fire alarm

Sure, Sherman has it’s issues. The rooms are no bigger than prison cells, and the design of the bathroom doors allows your roommate to walk into your room at any time.
I really love the location, and after living here for two years realized that I don’t need that much space. The staff are incredibly friendly, and are good people. This includes the RD, RAs, housing staff, maintenance staff, and building service workers.
I wish there was a dining hall, because eating at IT sucks.

The fact that a university dorm has a Unilocal page should raise some eyebrows.
Do you like staying in a room that you can’t pace around in? A room that may have the same square footage, or even less than that of a walk-​in closet? When I transferred down to UofI, I wanted a single room, and Sherman seemed like a nice place. I got my single room… but it was smaller than I could possibly imagine…9.5×9.5…with floor tiles that would come off the floor.
So you can’t pace in your room, can’t fit a decent sized TV, and share a bathroom with suitemates. Many of the rooms also have HVAC issues: the unit would either blow 80+ degree hot air, or 60– degree cold air… middle was achieved on an extremely rare basis by pure luck.
Did I mention there is no university dining hall either? You can get an IT meal plan… but then you are confined to eat only at IT (in my opinion, the flexibility to eat at different halls with a university meal plan is important). If you get a university meal plan, you have to walk a few blocks to Ikenberry, which is fine until it rains or snows.
Location is okay since it is somewhat close to the Quad and also to the ARC, but because of the prison cell rooms, no dining hall, messed up HVAC, etc, I moved out after a semester (moved to Lundgren Hall, WAY better). Yes, I actually packed everything up, took it all back to my parents’ place, and then moved back in when the next semester started. That should say something.
To be fair, I do know a few people who had one semester left in school, and stayed here while eating out all the time/​microwaving food. They didn’t like it, but just dealt with it so that they were not stuck with a year long lease. Though, staying in a friend’s living room for a semester may be better because at least then you can cook…
Spare yourself

Yes, it’s University Housing, but they are a business and I sure wish someone had told me about this place. The rooms here are like prison cells and are roughly the size of a built in closet. While the furniture is decent, don’t expect to fit anything else in. Bathrooms are shared with a suitemate, so you get to hear a stranger go to the toliet at regular intervals.
Disregard for comfort is paramount, including turning off the heat completely when it still gets down to 32 at night. Kitchens are shared with roughly 300 people and are correspondingly disgusting. Dining halls are far away, so your only good options are «cooking» with your microfridge or eating out.
The only advantage is that you don’t have to deal with subleasing and housing staff clean your bathroom.