The Varsity College Park, college-park-md

The building is okay nothing special, an older complex near UMD. The rooms are nice. They were a little dirty on move-in (hair around the edges, carpet a touch grimy), but nothing unacceptable.(Floor plan 4X4A ~$1200) The appliances are older but work perfectly fine. The unit comes fully furnished with a three-person couch, a two-person couch, a coffee table, and a TV stand — all fine. Many complain about the bar noise but I found it to be a non factor. I lived in a unit pretty above the bar and found it was only really bad on the weekends and Tues(Cheap drink night) usually lasting late into the night 1-2am. Cars do often rev in the parking lot but don't stick around long. The staff does a great job at keeping the gym spotless as well as the public bathrooms and game room. The hallways can smell but that comes with any college unit. The reason I'm only giving a few stars comes down to a couple of experiences. Everyone's will differ, but here's mine. A worker came to my unit without any notice and demanded to enter. I told him I'd received no notice of entry and that he'd have to come back. He claimed he didn't need to notify me, argued with me, and the exchange turned hostile while I was in my own home. Management handled the situation appropriately afterward, and the property manager in particular was great. Second, the payments. Like a lot of buildings, they use an online portal. I was overcharged once, and rather than refunding the account that was charged, they simply credited it toward my balance. That would be fine normally, but I needed that money back ($434) so I had to go through my bank to recover it myself. Doing so the building charged me a fee for that ($35). I would say that this building is a great option for CS and Engineer majors in particular the buildings are legit 5min from the front entrance. And even with the events I would still say this is a solid choice. Just understand your renters rights living here.

Im not one to write reviews at all but this was HORRIBLE. I moved in around august last year into a absolutely disgusting unit, had to BEG to get my walls repainted and carpet replaced because of the god knows what stains that were everywhere. Apartments are supposed to be checked and cleaned before moving in, it was not. The kitchen was filthy. The gym has maybe two working machines along with 90% of the dumbbells missing, and they kick you out of the gym at noon to clean it for an hour no matter how many people are clearly using it. Study rooms were nice didnt have an issue there. The elevators were broke for WEEKS, and as of now i believe 2 of the main ones are broke yet again. Took WEEKS to fix. The amount of times the fire alarms seemingly go off for no reason at absurd times is ridiculous i shouldnt be told to evacuate my apartment for 3 nights in a row at 2 am just to find out theres no reason i had to. Maintenance requests, ppffttt what are those, expect long wait times if you need something or a half of a solution instead of actually fixing it. I believe we have new maintenance people, which is what prompted me to write this, as they are doing idk what, i am in my apartment using the bathroom and i hear a knock on the door and then someone came in. Did not say maintenance, did not give time to even get to the door to open it. YOU CANT JUST WALK INTO SOMEONES APARTMENT WITHOUT ADDRESSING WHO YOU ARE OR KNOCK ONCE THEN HELP YOURSELF as you dont know if someone is home or not. The ONLY good thing about this place is the court yard and if you have classes near the SPH, which at that point you are better living next door at University View.

Been living here for over a year now (just renewed), and it’s honestly gotten a lot better. Management fixed the WiFi, elevators (at least for a period of time—they’re broken again), and package delivery system. My roommates and I are lucky to be in a unit facing the courtyard, so we don’t have to deal with Looney’s. Overall, it seems like management is trying a lot harder. Still a lot of issues that could use more attention, but I guess it takes time.

I thought I was getting a deal for signing late at $999 a month, but they changed the lease last minute to $1050 without telling us, and would not honor our initial signing deal despite me and my roommates sharing proof of the original lease shared with us. They then charged the full monthly charge for only five days in August (our lease started on the 19th). Normal apartments would only charge about $200 (prorated amount). Not only that, but my roommate switch was taken from our apartment during the time we let maintenance in (I am not accusing them of taking it, but Varsity refused to reimburse her via the insurance policy because they required a police report who then said they needed permission from the apartment complex). Upon move in, it was clear that the entire apartment hadn't been cleaned in God knows how long. Not to mention, the fridge was broken and the amount of drain flies in an empty apartment was shocking. The only upside was that there were no roaches. The WiFi was incredibly slow during any normal time of the day, and the same blaring beats from Looney's would play all night from Thursday to Sunday. I could get over the Looney's music, but police would also play their sirens for 4 hours on top of that and just loiter and drink outside their cars too. (Every now and then be prepared for some randoms screeching a cappella sounding like a dying cat.) Honestly I would have saved the same amount money but much more time and peace if I lived anywhere else. It's much better to be charged upfront than to deal with all of the secret or downright nefarious charges associated with this terrible building. Not to mention, they later charged us three months after winter break because they had previously "undercharged" us even though me and my roommates had turned down the heating and upped the AC while we were all away for winter break. The only reason Varsity has more than 3 stars is because they often offer signing deals or bonuses for good ratings way before people actually move in. This place is a joke. DO NOT LIVE HERE.

Fire alarm sounds constantly, been woken up and asked to evacuate countless times (including middle of the night, early mornings, throughout the day). As I write this, it is 7 AM and has been 15 minutes and counting that the fire alarm has been sounding. Upon moving into the Varsity I arrived with my front door lock completely broken, the closet door not attached, and the AC broken. Took weeks of begging to get a portable AC to the unit. Throughout the year have continued to experience broken amenities (AC/ heat, dish washer, dryer). All of which took weeks of calling down to front desk, maintenance requests, and even having to personally ask maintenance workers to check the room. For the price of rent, the lack of timeliness from maintenance and staff is cruel & the utter disregard for resident's needs is astounding.