International House Language New York Reviews

Terrific guy at the reception, who explains how to get to your room etc etc...

I stayed here almost 16 years ago and I believe that those were my best days of life, I have beautiful memories here and I wish I could come back and stay again, at least for few days.

Pro: ihouse has a lot of amazing residents with international background and vision. You can make a lot of good friends here.

Cons: extremely poor service from dining hall which you have to pay $4.75 a day. Mattress is not good, cause a lot of bad sleep, leg pain etc.

2010 - 2013. Outstanding memories, from meeting Fed board to wild parties. 100+ nations represented. Also, a great residence option for any MSM & Columbia students, it's basically on-campus for both.

I lived at International House for 2 years, way back in 1975-1977. I attended the Manhattan School of Music while there. I. House was an incredible place to live. I made many new friends from all over the US and the world. I socialized much more with I. House residents than I did with Manhattan School students. I had a room on an upper floor on the river side of the building which gave me a wonderful view of the Hudson. I will never forget my years at this great place. A native Texan, I had always wanted to live in New York. I can't think of a better place to have spent my first years in that great city.

I just moved in. ihouse is fine, but the guy called Gabriel in the ihouse 'Public Safety' is so unprofessional and rude.

When ask them that one of newly installed microwaves (by ihouse of course) in lounge area does not work properly, can you guys come and fix it? He is like 'S**T YOU GUYS CAN NOT HAVE MICROWAVE IN ANY LOUNGE AREAS, I am not fixing it, I am removing it.'

Management should train their employees before coming to work and at least in a better manner. This guy does not even think and deal with things in his way.

Cheap, friendly staff, good place to get friends, surprisingly many and good amenities included: Gym, exercise room, park, library, a bar, and so on. Very good cafeteria as well. Bad ventilation, though, and the bathrooms are often dirty.

A good place serving a good function. Nice residents.

Problem: somewhat arrogant Megan Amouzou, who surely did a lot of good for this world but that doesn't mean she's beyond reproach or doesn't need to be responsible or that she can do anything without review or any accountability. She can be extremely condescending and arrogant without any due reason which is quite strange. A minor suggestion is that the place could be better off if she could please behave in the same way every resident are expected to behave themselves.

Who really oversees and decides if she's doing her job properly? nobody, except the board of trustees, but of course nobody is gonna contact the board of trustees for every detail, they don't have time.

Also the non-stop construction noise does not take any resident input into account, the decision process is set up in such a way that there is not as much review as to if the construction workers are doing jobs properly safely and guess there is just no feedback mechanism to review if any problem or potential problem arises.

Regardless however, most people here are very good, and this venerable institution is truly a gem.

f you re looking for a cheap and clean place to stay in New York, international is the place. With it s cheerful staff, clean rooms and comfortable beds, international house has a very good attributes to its relatively cheap price. It is also close to underground and not so far away from the central manhattan.

Overpriced in the summer even though no one lives there, too hot and humid, rooms without ACs and strict guest policy. I had my brother come visit me and they still asked me to pay for his short stay, they re basically taking advantage of poor students. Was able to meet interesting people and good food.

One of the best experiences I've ever had. I-House is a rich, multicultural community representing students from over 100 different countries.

Beautiful place excellent size auditorium bring your own outside techs

Terrible place. Kicks students out during a global pandemic, against governor s notice

Convenient location for students and safe and good place to live.

I-House is a great place to live , study, and socialize with a fascinating collection of people. I had a wonderful year there.

The years I spent in I-House NYC were THE BEST YEARS of my life when I was living in NYC

Hideous rooms. Small beds (not like the images) and the beds were in plastic wrap to add to the overall dilapidated vibe. Communal areas dirty, and they did not ensure it was clean prior to my arrival in the flat (we're talking mould, cockroaches, the lot). Everyone moves into the flats at different times, so its not like college dorms, therefore it will likely be a complete mess when you get there with all cupboards full and you won't have storage space in communal areas. This additionally leads to the problem of stuff remaining after people have left and you don't know who it belongs to so nothing gets thrown away.

One of my housemates was a complete lunatic, had so many belonging everywhere, was unbelievably filthy and frankly not housetrained (left the gas on frequently and also had candles all over the place) and yet the response of International house was to initially ignore my email, and then after I pushed, said I needed to have a 45 minute interview with the social worker about the housemate in question, at which point they would "draw up a contract" for her to stick to...however as the housemate was already in violation of the initial contract you all sign this seemed like a joke, wasted my time, and was clearly unlikely to resolve anything.

Food here in the canteen is... poor. But if you're desperate, sure. Drinks are overpriced, staff are generally rude and unhelpful, ie you ask a question and they stare at you blankly (this is the most common response) or they will simply point at something without saying anything. All the veg options were tasteless and/or salty. They also haven't really priced meals fairly, so even if you have just say the "meat" from their meal option you get charged for the whole meal.

The activities here are poor. They also have no central calendar to document what's going on, you have to visit their crappy notice boards to see and even then it might not be there. You are forced to rely on unofficial Facebook groups.

Overall, stay somewhere else, it's not worth it. You will meet other people in New York. This place is a dirty cult. I still do not have my deposit back from them also, and they are again, you guessed it, not responding.

Outstanding community of intelligent, progressive, diverse young dynamos.

1 review
5.0 star rating 5/11/2016
I lived at International House for the maximum of three years, and loved it so much that I choose to move into Columbia housing next door after I moved out.

The website will tell you all about things like leadership training, "moral courage" etc, but the real reason that you want to live at International House is the community. Rather than spending grad school living in a random apartment where you barely know a soul, International House has a vibrant community where you'll make some of the best friends of your life. Tons of events are constantly organized by staff and residents (who apply to and are financially compensated for such roles) so that you can just show up and have a good time, then get right back to work once your done. Dinner trips, movie trips, escape room trips, ski trips, paintball trips, cultural festivals, musical performances (both inside and out of I-House), celebrity guests, the traditional Sunday Supper (formal dinner with hundreds of residents), board game nights, tons of parties etc etc.

The individual rooms are small, but you actually have more privacy than in a typical apartment setup. If you're busy and/or need time alone and privacy for whatever reason, it's extremely easy to get it. I-House has an extremely vibrant community, but you take part in it on your own terms.

Lots of amenities: dining room, music practise rooms, tons of study areas, lounges to relax in, a basketball court (where tons of sport events are held each week), gym, doorman, properly organized mail room.

I am currently a resident. It's a great place to meet people and know about different cultures.

I-House is an AFFORDABLE place to live in New York City for graduate students and interns or trainees needing temporary housing. It is a safe place to live. I-House is for both foreign and U.S. residents.

Amazing place with brilliant opportunities to learn, grow and network!

Awesome place and people! Great place to start especially if you're new here.

A great place to stay. Be mindful of the room sizes.

Cheap and clean place to stay. Community is friendly, you will have a good time guarantee it.

Nice place to live and network with people all the over world. It's a 10 minute walk from Columbia campus.

Man if I was young enough to go back to college I'd love to live there!!! They have a bar,serve food,foosball table,lounge area,allow guests,etc..i had a few things that needed attending to and a gentleman named Gabe took care of everything asap going above and beyond!!!

Worst dorm ever. They always say I house is a welcoming community but the reality is that they're just trying to make money out of poor students.

Great place with amazing people from all over the place. I-House puts a lot of events during the academic year which are pretty great. It is safe place because security there 24/7. However the accommodation it self isn't great, the rooms are tiny and mattresses are bad, you will need to get a mattress topper. It's depends what are you looking for

Great place to stay and network. Could have been cheaper. It certainly is a maze. Needs getting used to.

Spent almost 1.5 years there while studying at Columbia. It would easily be one of the best dorms...

Stop please tell me it's not nonprofit there was definitely a prophet going on here wasn't in my pocket it wasn't saving me money I'm going to leave it at that good luck I won't be back