<p>So I was looking at the different frosh housing websites, and I had a pretty good laugh at the Apley Court Description. </p>
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Either you have been sleeping with your local admissions officer, or you're just way too cool for school, because the Crimson Sorting Hat has placed you and 26 other elite young freshman in the finest, most luxurious, most spacious, and coolest freshman dorm this side of the Charles. Below find brief sections on Apley's History, Accomodations, Location, Social Scene, and The Flying Squirrels.
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<p>That got me thinking: which one has the best facilities/most spacious, nicest rooms? Let's try to be objective here and not just pick your own frosh dorm. And I know it doesn't really matter - sorting is supposed to be all random - but I'm just curious. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Grays is quite nice (big, in-suite bathrooms, decent views), but in general, most freshman dorms are very nice. Freshman housing here isn’t too shabby - it’s when you get sophomore housing that things can go south.</p>
<p>Everyone has their own favorites since every dorm has their own good points, and it’s mostly just a matter of opinion about what kind of atmosphere you prefer. (except Canaday)</p>
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<li>Current Canaday resident who spends all her time in Thayer</li>
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<p>I second Grays as a very solid freshman dorm. I was in Wigg which I think is pretty average. Our 5-man suite was a little on the cramped side since it was supposed to be built for 4 but it certainly could have been worse.</p>
<p>Apley Court is, indeed, the best freshman dorm. It’s where the Very Rich Children used to go, in the old days of social segregation. Matthews-Weld-Grays are probably the nicest of the large ones, but I also quite like Stoughton.</p>
<p>As someone who lives in Weld, I’ve got to say that it’s not that bad, but I certainly wouldn’t count it as one of the nicer large freshman dorms - I prefer Matthews and Grays far more than Weld.</p>
<p>In the end, though, it comes down to personal opinion.</p>
<p>thayer is kind of like matthews except i feel the rooms are little smaller, and it also sucks like matthews in the sense that theres no elevator (there might be one but its hard to find? lol) and that can really suck if youre on like the 5th floor. </p>
<p>honestly, frosh dorms dont matter at all, all of them are fine (although i would prefer my own room which is probably easier to get in some dorms than others). people care about houses a lot more</p>
<p>My daughter absolutely loved Mass Hall. The facilities were nothing special (except for historical purposes), but the group was so small (~25) that they each quickly grew to be very good friends with all of them. Many of them are her best friends to this day. Their dorm spirit was so high that they won the Yard Bucket (freshman intramural championship) her year, defeating all those much larger dorms.</p>
<p>But having said that, so also feels that Mass Hall wouldn’t be so good today, because they have since reduced the size down to only about a dozen students. Too small, in her opinion, to form a critical mass.</p>
<p>Small size is nice at Mass Hall, actually. But the real drawback is that you live right on the Square and, literally, 10 times – day or night – your ears will be assaulted by firetrucks and police cars clanging through on various “emergencies.” Good luck on getting a decent night’s sleep.</p>
<p>I have a D who received a freshman dorm assignment that I would consider one of the less desirable. She loved it, became a Peer Advising Fellow, and has asked each year to be assigned to the freshmen in her former freshman location. At the end of freshman year she got Quadded, which some on CC would make out to be exile to Siberia. She loves it and is SO glad, she says, that she wasn’t “stuck” in one of the River Houses. Harvard students tend to bloom where they’re planted.</p>
<p>My daughter was in a tiny, and I do mean tiny, room in Thayer. Loved the location of the dorm but disliked the actual suite layout. There is an elevator in Thayer. During summer programs she also lived in Matthews (I loved that dorm!) and Canaday and liked them both a lot. Oh, and she also lived in Wigglesworth! We used to joke that she was trying to live in every dorm in the yard.</p>
<p>twinmom - how many were in your daughter’s suite in Thayer? My daughter was in a double there and we thought they had a lot of room for just two people. They had both beds in the back room and the front room was very spacious (at least compared to the dorms I stayed in eons ago).</p>
<p>I feel that students are randomly assigned into “yards”, then divided into specifically dorms based on their rooming preferences. There is really no “social” dorm or non-social dorm—the activity level of your dorm tends to depend mostly on the personalities of people who happen to be grouped into your entryway and how active your entryway proctor is.</p>
<p>Apley Court is the loveliest by far. Single rooms, walk-in closets, marble bathtubs, etc. The location is perfectly centralized for all of the important parties, the river, and the majority of classes. Additionally, it isn’t in the yard itself so it feels more intimate and “homelike.”</p>
<p>^^Compared to almost all frosh dorms, Apley isn’t centralized for classes. I’d also say that not being in the Yard would be a drawback for most people.</p>