Having been a resident at the Grad House for 2.5 years and a Resident Advisor there for two years I can say that I wouldn't have chosen any other student housing during my studies at U of T. The kind staff, great RA team and prime location is what lead me to stay for my entire grad studies and apply to be on their team. I was very sad when I had to leave two years ago after I graduated! If you are a student looking to make some extra money you can also apply to be a RA (resident advisor) or a EA (entry assistant). Which is what I did! The rooms do feel like concrete boxes but this lends to relativity soundproof living spaces where your other suitemates (ranging from one to three) can enjoy privacy. But sometimes the rooms do feel a little damp (over 35% humidity). The rooms also vary dramatically by floor and layout. For example my room on the third floor facing Harbord St had a tiny window covered by signs outside the building so there wasn't much natural light, but rooms on the sixth floor facing inside the courtyard have full length windows in the kitchen and rooms. Therefore, if you are moving in and you have a choice of rooms I suggest taking a look at your options first depending on your preferences. The amenities are great at this location. There is a large student lounge in the main level with a ping pong table, piano, pool table, comfy chairs and a separate movie room. There are also laundry services on this floor which can get pricey if you have a lot to wash each week but there are also giant clean sinks that you can do hand washing in for no cost at all. The outside courtyard is also available to students and has a reflecting pool surrounding it which adds to the atmosphere as well as a BBQ which is used very frequently by residents in the summer. The is also a private study room which can be access from the second cup on the main level which can be booked out. This private study room has projectors, private bathrooms and huge windows. There is also a very nice reading room on the top floor which I frequently used to study with classmates and this does not require booking. The campus gym is literally across the street, libraries, great food options and Spadina subway station 7 minutes away. Free dinners are provided almost monthly by the RAs. Residents bring their plates to the common room and are treated to whatever type of food the team chose for that meal (Sushi, Greek, Caribbean, etc). These are always well attended (couple hundred of students get free dinner) and they either stay down in the common room to chat with their fellow students or can take their free meal back to their room. Lastly if you are thinking about going to grad house while at grad school I highly recommend taking advantage of all the programs the residence advisors (RA) plan! Every semester there are large building wide parties (Halloween, Christmas, St Patrick's day etc). Guest who do not live in the building are also welcome! There are groups run by the RAs which vary every year but are free to join by residents. Past groups have included running, baking, cooking, theater appreciation, intramurals, photography, and the list goes on and on. Not sorry for the long review because I enjoyed this experience so much even though I moved out almost two years ago now.

They are liars. I can’t accept that I get one room in the basement!!! I spend more than 1000 dollars to live in the basement! It looks like a jam! I never know that they have some grad rooms in the basement! So if you plan to apply for a grad room, be careful, you have the chance to get a basement! I can’t stay in the room anymore. I am very angry!What a terrible experience!

Very close to Rotman building. Good place for graduate student to live.

It was great for my first few two years staying there but so many problems emerged since a year ago. The new residence life team is nothing but deplorable. Most of front desk attendants are rude, lazy, and dismissive. RAs are very slow replying to emails. A lot of my issues were never ended up being solved and they always try to just give me excuses or run-around when I confronted them with issues.

Good location if you’re a student and new to Toronto. Rooms are fine for the location, cramped but okay. The only major problem with the rooms is they do not block out noise effectively. Your living experience will largely depend on how well you get along with your roommates.

Just okay to be honest. The maintenance people do a great job and will respond quickly. The walls could do with some painting. Residents are generally mature and nice. The building ran out of water once. A little expensive to live in. Close to the U of T campus if you school there.

The staff were fine. The building itself is fine-ish. Pretty much no two rooms look like each other, which means one person can get big windows and the other one can get very tiny ones. Really weird in that regard. (And they don't let you know these details beforehand, really.) The rooms are pretty small I would say. There is a lot of "raw-concrete" type of aesthetic going on, and I REALLY didn't like it. There are rooms that are in the basement and I think they might not have any windows, so watch out for those. There are nice events going on there every once in a while, which is nice. The convenience of being on campus and close to everything is nice though. As with any situation with roommates, your experience will largely depend on what roommates you have. I would say, as a foothold for your early months, its a good place so you can search for a better place. But, you can get much better value for the money you are paying here, if you rent somewhere else. (I just liked the convenience of not having to worry about my place to stay for the first semester.)

Great location and lovely staff. The rooms could have been better considering the rent ($980-1100 per room). Most rooms are part of a 4 room, 2 storey suite with a shared kitchen, two bathrooms, and two showers. There is a cozy reading room and a nice communal lounge with a theatre room, a music room, and pool + ping pong tables.

Lives there for more than a year, great experience!

The room is okay. I don't know why they forgot to paint one side of the wall. My real problem is with the facilities here though. The laundry room is TERRIBLE! At any given time, 75% of the machines are broken. I don't think anyone cleans them either.

Wonderful! Staff was great! The Service Desk staff were especially kind and considerate. Alim was especially nice. I would give 6 stars if I could. :) Rooms were well maintained and there was a great sense of community and acceptance.

Modern, bright, secure building and environment. Always buzzing with students and lively. Parking is a.little expensive underground, typical to downtown Toronto.

An iconic building to mark as a gate of the university.

Very poor quality suites. The only good thing is the location. Poor temperature control. Very overpriced. Oh and they also make you fill out a form at the beginning, and if you don't notice damage that was there initially and write it down, you'll pay for it in the end. Basically a Walmart version of a Scandinavian prison, except you have to pay almost 1.5 k dollars per month to stay there.

1) You do not have rights that typical renters do. They will use this fact to jerk you around, raise rent freely, and have fewer responsibilities to you. 2) Moved my room during exam season, provided no compensation, no flexibility. They will give you less than a month of notice too, and act they are doing you a favour by giving you up to a week to move things. Their communication is completely lacking too, taking weeks to respond to simple requests. They do this to around 10% of the rooms to make room for renovations. 3) The AC doesn't work that good in most suites and they take a long time to turn it on in the summer, so be prepared to have a strong fan. 4) Noisy. Construction on the roof (this has seemingly been a perpetual problem), construction around the building is easily heard early in the morning. 5) Any request to change rooms will be mostly ignored and take a long time to get anywhere. Never tried this, but friends gave me horror stories of trying to move rooms and having to go through multiple rounds of meetings with RAs and problem roommates to no success. Obviously if you're incompatible with a roommate, no amount of "talking it out" will solve the problem. 6) Your preferences are completely disregarded when they select you for a room. No matter your selection for low noise, high cleanliness, etc., you will not get any of these. 7) Theft. Be ready to immediately pick up any food/grocery deliveries. These will be stolen if unattended. 8) Smoking. Even though smoking is prohibited, you will regularly smell it in the hallways and occasionally in your room. Cigarettes and marijuana. Can be strong enough to impact your sleep etc.

I agree with what S says. They don't try to solve the problem. Just excuses on adhoc basis. I don't understand why there should be so many RAs who are never responsive. Don't consider those who are in charge of making decisions and rules in this facility as a part of educational institutions. Do not expect that they would care for residents as students that they should take care of. I don't see any differences from management companies that run condos, except that they are less professional and experienced. They have forsaken their work ethics in favor of bureaucratic conveniences. The exception is Miguel from the maintenance team. He is the only staff that one can certainly say that he or she sincerely cares for students and does one's best to help them. The whole Gradhouse staff should learn from him.

1. It is surrounded by construction sites so there is much noise. It may wake you up in the morning almost every day for several months. If you value quietness and productivity, it probably won't be a good place for you. The psychological stress caused by noise can accumulate and affect your mental health. Before you may avoid this problem by choosing a room facing robarts instead of spadina but now there's a new construction site in that direction too. 2. You can get really inconsiderate roommates who rarely clean their mess after cooking, play videos very loud, lack boundaries and use your stuff without permission. Communication may work for a short time but never expect you will be free of this stuff. 3. Lots of activities for residents, which is good for newcomers to build social connections at first.