To help first year students decide where to stay next year
I've recently seen a few posts made by first year students about where to stay in their second year. As someone who has lived in APJ, ABH and a non-AC hostel, I think I might be qualified to answer your hostel doubts.
Every hostel has its pros and cons. I'll go over them briefly.
APJ pros-
It's the most comfortable hostel. Period. There's AC in the summers and temperature control in the winters.
Every room is inbuilt with mattresses, curtains, comfortable rotating chairs, godrej almirahs and desks
Washrooms are significantly cleaner than the corresponding in the non-ac older hostels
Host of facilities like washing machines, pool table. Any new hostel facility comes to APJ before other hostel.
Cons-
Rooms are extremely small. Not sufficient for 3 people in my opinion, would be perfect for 2. You'll feel cramped coming from ABH/Type 2.
Absence of Mess inside the hostel. You need to walk to VVS or HJB for your food, which sometimes leads to you missing breakfast.
Many have a misconception that there are more "nashedis" in APJ, but that's actually not true. The reason is simple, it's a centrally AC hostel. So when people smoke inside, it's sucked in by AC vents, making rooms smell like cigarette/weed smoke.
Absence of balcony in the rooms
Expensive (obviously)
NON AC HOSTELS
pros-
Mess inside hostels. This is the greatest pro. You can finish brushing at 9:25 and still get breakfast. Also helps on rainy days. (Only exception is JCB, their mess is closed)
Decent space in double rooms, double rooms are larger than apj triple rooms.
Better hostel culture. More bakchodi.
Cheaper
Cons-
You suffer in April-May and January
Tables, chairs are a lottery. Never as good as APJ ones, yes, but it can be anywhere between unusable (jagged, will cut your hand if you hit it's edge) to decent.
Almirahs are just an extension of the wall, cut into stacks. Prone to dirt and dust.
You need to bring your own mattress, own curtains. Very minimal facilities are provided by the hostel-only the aforementioned table, chair, almirah and the cot (a cast iron cot compared to the godrej interio plywood cot in APJ