Staff Writer- Sam Paulsen
Photo credits: Hailey Mueller
The school year at Gustavus is finally underway. I hope you enjoyed your homework-less summer, because now you need to gear up to study. Where better to study than one of the many academic buildings on campus? As a sophomore with some experience, I will guide you through a comprehensive list of academic buildings, so you can figure out what fits best for you. Whether you are an Old Main stan or can’t stop studying in Beck, academic buildings are very important to your Gustavus experience, and I’m here to tell you where you need to be!
Gustavus offers a wide variety of buildings, but it’s important to know what an academic building is. Does Lund count? Doesn’t the interpretive center have classes? What about the library? Well my friends, all you need to know is that if your primary reason for going to that building is to study or to take a class, then that is an academic building.
9 Confer and Vickner Hall: Coming in at last place is Convick, and it’s not really close. As an English and Spanish major, this is where I spend most of my time and I can say from experience that I wish I didn’t have to. Although I love its quirks, like the lounges on each floor and the Culpepper room, every time I enter I feel like I’ve entered a Sunday school and not a college campus.
8 Schaefer Fine Arts – Studio Art: Admittedly this rating is mostly due to the layout of the building feeling so cramped and full. Every time I enter Schaefer’s studio arts building, my deeply hidden claustrophobia sets in. The lack of water bottle filling stations also dampens its ranking heavily. Very few quality study spots is also an irritating feature. Despite its quirks it still has its fun brick charm.
7 Mattson Hall: Once again, this is a building I do not find myself in very often as it is reserved for almost exclusively nursing students. Mattson suffers from an unfortunate lack of true size, as it doesn’t have a second story and is essentially a clone of Prairie View. What Mattson lacks in size, it makes up for in quality as the inside is very well furnished and feels full of classrooms and medical supplies.
6 Schaefer Fine Arts – Music and Theater/Dance: Although most non music majors will never enter Schaefer’s music and theater/dance building unless to get to the STEAMery, it is still a delightful building with plenty of wonderful quirks. Björling unfortunately suffers from a heavy case of Cold War construction. The entire design of the building feels like a maze and can be hard to navigate. Once you get the hang of navigating, the building becomes much more enjoyable with plenty of high quality practice rooms and solid study spots sprinkled throughout. A wonderful bonus is that your ears will always be blessed with the sound of incredible melodies.
5 Olin Hall: Olin has one of the best features of any building on campus that helps it to stand out, which is the observatory. Whether you’re taking astronomy classes or watching the northern lights, the observatory will always be one of the best places to be on campus. In addition, Olin also has wonderful study spots throughout and great classroom layouts. Olin would be far higher on this list if not for its one fatal flaw which is a lack of windows. Despite the large window in the entrance of the building most classrooms feel quite dark and gloomy without much natural light.
4 Old Main: Although it is possibly the most iconic building on the whole Gustavus campus, Old Main suffers from a flaw of being unfortunately, as the name suggests, old. The wooden chairs help fit the aesthetic, but are not comfortable to sit in. Most of the flaws of the building are irrelevant, as the Old Main offers the best room on campus, the third floor Åke & Kristina Bonnier Reading Room and Jewish Studies Library. If you have never been to this library you are missing out and need to spend your next study session there.
3 Alfred Nobel Hall Of Science: The largest building on Campus slots in at the number three spot. Nobel has some of the best classrooms in all of Gustavus and simply feels amazing to be in. The study spots in the building are wide in variety and high in quality. No matter where you go in Nobel you can always find a spot to get work done.
2 A.H. Anderson Hall: When talking about buildings that do their job perfectly, Anderson is a prime example. Each classroom in Anderson feels like an elementary or high school quality classroom. The atrium is one of the best study spaces on the entire campus, and can be used for so many purposes. This all pales in comparison to the ability to study on a balcony, which is a feature almost entirely unique to Anderson.
1 Beck Academic Hall: The most commonly used building on campus, and for good reason. Beck has it all from great study spots to wonderful classrooms with comfortable chairs. It is no wonder that almost every club meets in Beck. No matter what you are looking for, Beck has it. Beck is the Swiss army knife of academic buildings, an all in one tool that can be used for anything.