My daughter has attended the Destination Imagination World Finals at UT Knoxville four times now, and she’s stayed in a different dorm each time, so I have far more intimate knowledge about some of the dorms than I really ever wanted. Here’s a link to a PDF file with floor plans of the different dorm layouts.
They stayed in Clement Hall last year, and that wasn’t bad. The beds were movable, and there was a half-wall separating the desk area from the sleeping area. The desk area, unfortunately, is shared. They were doing renovations to the hall this year, though, so I imagine it’ll be much improved by fall. Humes Hall was much the same. Both featured bathrooms in between each suite, meaning that four people share one bath (I thought it was a huge improvement over the community bathrooms).
Hess Hall, where we stayed this year, was a stark, musty, fiberboard-smelling place that fairly screamed “Freshman Dorm”. The communal bathrooms were at the end of each hall, and if she’s in there, I’d strongly suggest good shower shoes. The beds were on solid wooden platforms, so there’s no space for under-the-bed boxes there, but the closets were fairly large and there’s additional (if somewhat inaccessible) storage space above the closets. Hess does have the advantage of providing each dorm dweller her own desk.
Um…and one of the times, come to think of it, they housed the New Mexico teams in the Downtown Hilton. I liked that one best, but I imagine it’s not actually an option for students.
Wherever she stays, she’ll want her own pillow and as much of her own bedding as possible. The beds all seem to be the standard “twin long” provided in most dorms, and those linens are available in a lot of stores around August and September. The pillows supplied by the dorms provided my daughter and her friends with hours of amusement, since they were the “Chem-Soft” brand, their tags boasted of their softness and “breathability”, and they made an immensely satisfying “thunk” when slapped against each other. Think “plastic pillow” and you’ll have the idea. The blankets were none too clean (although it’s quite possible these bedding items were being replaced after our group left - we saw mattresses being carried to dumpsters the morning we checked out), and they were extremely thin, and the towels were also tiny and thin. If I were going to stay there for any amount of time, decent linens would be among my most prized possessions.
If she’d like a little privacy, a room divider might not be bad. Cost Plus and Target, among other places, sell screens that are not too expensive. I also second the suggestion of getting her a nice throw rug (or maybe two) to cover the depressing linoleum floor.