<p>See thread title.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why this question matters, given that Yale freshmen can’t choose where they will live freshman year. Even if they are able to request affiliation with a parent’s or sibling’s residential college, they have no control over the freshman dorm (e.g., if you’re a Saybrook or Pierson legacy, you will end up at L-Dub no matter what)…</p>
<p>It’s true, no choice, and a lot of times the best freshman housing leads to worse upper class housing, and vice versa (example: Morse and Stiles have awesome dorms on Old Campus, and Saybrook and Pierson are pretty nice one you escape Ldub).</p>
<p>Anyway, Farnam, Durfee, Lawrance, and Welch are all pretty nice. Suites of about 6 or so (some exceptions) with a pretty good number of singles. Those are housing for JE, Morse, Stiles, and Davenport. JE is the only place you’ll get awesome housing every year you’re at Yale, because JE is objectively the best.</p>
<p>Lanman-Wright for Pierson and Saybrook is…well…it’s a rite of passage. The colleges are beautiful. Vanderbilt (for Branford and Berkeley) and Bingham (for Calhoun and Trumbull) are pretty middle of the road - not a lot of singles and there’s not much room but the situation is better than L-W.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about freshman housing in TD or Silliman, where freshmen live in college, but they seem decent enough.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is definitely the best in this sense: their best rooms are astonishing and their worst rooms are only not very nice. I haven’t checked out TD or Silliman, but all the other entires that I visited on old campus had a wider range in quality. I stayed in a Vanderbilt dorm whose common room was roughly 350sq ft and there wasn’t any need to bunk the beds (though most dorms don’t need to do that).</p>
<p>Durfee, Farnham, Lawrence, Welch are all really nice. Lots of singles and huge doubles.
Vanderbilt is beautiful but bedrooms are a lot smaller.
LW is alright, I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be, but bedrooms are small and overall it’s not as nice/new looking as the other dorms.
I don’t know much about Silliman/TD.</p>
<p>JE isn’t objectively the best. Farnam is very good, but JE sophomore housing isn’t as good as many other colleges, and JE has to annex a very large number of juniors to McClellan (which at least has the advantage of being a great location and very close to JE). </p>
<p>Vanderbilt is, in my opinion, the most beautiful freshmen housing. Every room (except the basement) has beautiful wood paneling, most of the common rooms have great window seats and huge windows, and the entryways have ornate tiling. But there are almost no singles (maybe 5-10% of people will get a single), and the doubles are small. The basement is not pretty like the rest of vanderbilt, but they are great suites because the bedrooms are much larger (and often given to juniors for annex housing). </p>
<p>I’d say the best freshman dorms (like everyone else says) are Durfee, Lawrence, Farnam, and maybe Welch. L-W is the worst, and Bingham is next to last. But Bingham is still quite nice. The rooms are small, but it is a very interesting building, and the tower has an elevator. And there are more singles than L-W or Vanderbilt, and some large suites, which is nice to have. </p>
<p>In any case, all the housing at Yale is good, even if you’re in L-W. Plenty of froco applicants in Pierson and Saybrook are clearly willing to live there a second time.</p>
<p>I realize that I can’t choose my freshman dorms, of course, but this was a question more of curiosity than anything else.</p>
<p>I’m a legacy at a certain residential college as well, so I already know where I’ll be next year.</p>
<p>What college does Vanderbilt feed?</p>
<p>@ahhhmotherland - which college will you be in? I’m going to be in Davenport!</p>
<p>Sweet, I’m gonna be a D’porter as well!</p>
<p>I need to defend Bingham’s honor. It isn’t that bad. The rooms are not that small at all, our common room is spacious, we have a lot of singles (my suite had 4 singles - maybe this is only the Calhoun side of Bingham, or maybe just my entryway), we have one of the 2 laundry rooms in the basement, elevator in the tower (which makes moving in and out A LOT easier, even if you have to cross over on the 5th floor), and the Chaplain’s Office (with free ice cream and goodies) in the basement. </p>
<p>Vandy is not THAT amazing. Yeah the wood paneling is cool, but their common rooms are not that big, considering they have to put their desks in there because there is no room in their TINY doubles (they actually rival LW).</p>
<p>LW is “bad,” but social. Farnam, Durfee, Lawrance and Welch (to me) seem so similar - in-suite bathroom (which means they have to clean them), big common rooms, decent number of singles. The princess suites in Welch, though, are supposed to be amazing, despite having to trek to the 4th/5th floor to them.</p>
<p>In sum, I really think they’re a lot similar than you would think (except for Vandy and LW).</p>
<p>Vanderbilt - Berkeley and Branford
Bingham - Calhoun and Trumbull
LW - Pierson and Saybrook
Welch - Davenport
Farnam - JE
Lawrance - Stiles
Durfee - Morse</p>
<p>So I’mma be in Vanderbilt Hall next year. Is there any chance of me getting a single if I’m from Branford? I wrote in my housing form that I wanted one…though i dunno how seriously they’ll take me. I gave a few good reasons. Would it be worth it to email the Dean or something?</p>
<p>Also…does anyone have pictures of Vanderbilt Hall?</p>
<p>Out of simple curiosity, why would you want a single?</p>
<p>One major perk in Lawrence and Farnam are the open fire doors. Almost every single suite is connected almost every other suite internally. Essentially, floors in each dorm become long corridors punctuated by unlocked doors. For most, it’s an ideal combination of privacy and social fluidity. Durfee’s fifth floor is very similar.</p>
<p>Also, to echo kwijiborjt, you’ll be happy in any room in any dorm. Suite living is great.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt Hall:</p>
<p>[Whiting-Turner</a> - Yale University, Vanderbilt Hall](<a href=“http://www.whiting-turner.com/projects/yale-university-vanderbilt-hall.html]Whiting-Turner”>http://www.whiting-turner.com/projects/yale-university-vanderbilt-hall.html)
<a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9cSQx6NYzrU/SxPsx3_--eI/AAAAAAAAMuk/FfO334Zi9DI/s1600/vanderbilt+hall+yale.jpg[/url]”>http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9cSQx6NYzrU/SxPsx3_--eI/AAAAAAAAMuk/FfO334Zi9DI/s1600/vanderbilt+hall+yale.jpg</a></p>
![http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9cSQx6NYzrU/SxPsx3_--eI/AAAAAAAAMuk/FfO334Zi9DI/s1600/vanderbilt+hall+yale.jpg[/url]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9cSQx6NYzrU/SxPsx3_--eI/AAAAAAAAMuk/FfO334Zi9DI/s1600/vanderbilt+hall+yale.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Thanks! Are there any pictures of the actual rooms, though?</p>
<p>i’ll also be in Davenport next year! and i’m a girl, so i’m hoping/praying for a princess suite…but i’ll be happy either way =)</p>
<p>I would just like to note that the worst rooms on the Old Campus at Yale are still much better than what people endure at some other colleges, where there is no common room (except perhaps for an entire hall or dorm), and people may even be triple-bunked.</p>